Grimm Brothers Elevate Old World Brewing With Styles Like Munich Dunkel

The world is full of lesser known beer styles, and American craft brewers are introducing these styles to beer drinkers in cities and towns across the country. Sure, it's amazing to travel to the places in which historic beer styles originated, but such a trip isn't necessary to expand your beer knowledge and enhance your palate. The European beer culture, including Germany and the surrounding area, holds so much history and tradition going back centuries, and some craft breweries focus primarily on the many styles associated with this culture. One such brewery is Grimm Brothers Brewhouse in Loveland, Colorado, and one style they brew is a Munich Dunkel lager called The Fearless Youth.

Grimm Brothers, which was founded by avid homebrewers, appropriately melds the European beer styles they love so much with the folk storytelling of Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm. The famous Brothers Grimm were German academics who, throughout the first half of the 19th century, collected and published the many iconic folk tales that we're all familiar with today. The Grimm Brothers Brewhouse categorizes their beers into three different series, with the names Legends, Fairytales, and Fables. Each beer name or piece of label art ties into an element of Grimm storytelling, so the marketing theme runs cohesively throughout the entire beer lineup. Grimm Brothers Brewhouse isn't just a fun marketing gimmick though. Their beer is quite excellent, and has been recognized as such with several medals at the Great American Beer Festival in recent years.

The Fearless Youth, which falls into the brewery's Legends series, is an approachable and delicious dark lager. It's a Munich Dunkel, a style of brown lager that originated in Munich, Germany. Its rich, dark color and malty profile is most influenced by the toasted Munich malt used primarily in the grain bill. Fearless Youth features an aroma of Munich malt sweetness, bread, and toast. Flavors are rich and malty, like molasses, bread crusts, and biscuit. Hop bitterness is low, but prominent enough to keep the sweetness and rich character in check. It's a medium-bodied beer with a creamy mouthfeel and a clean lager finish. While Fearless Youth isn't considered a fall seasonal, it definitely pairs well with a cool, crisp fall afternoon.

Much like a related style, the Oktoberfest, a Munich Dunkel is an example of straightforward German lager brewing that highlights the complexities of German malt. Lagers take longer than ales to produce due to the time dedicated to cold conditioning, but great lagers like Fearless Youth are proof that some things are definitely worth the wait.

At Diebolt Brewing, Craft Beer and Family Go Hand In Hand

There's something very appealing about the concept of a neighborhood brewery and taproom - the kind of small, independent business that not only fits well into its surrounding area, but also enhances it by bringing people together for a common interest. Diebolt Brewing Company in northwest Denver is just that type of craft brewery, with a focus on producing great beer and positively impacting the local community. It's also a family owned and operated brewery, and much of this family's heritage is reflected in their beer offerings.

Diebolt Brewing opened in September of 2013, and recently celebrated its first anniversary with a weekend-long party. Dan Diebolt, a long-time homebrewer, and his son, Jack, had the dream of opening a brewery in Colorado, and chose to set up shop in the Sunnyside neighborhood. Their space is in an old warehouse property that has character but remains simple and unassuming, much like the older homes and commercial spaces in Sunnyside. The Diebolts also decided to brew on a 15-barrel system, more robust than the systems that many other newer, small breweries use. A larger system, though a more expensive initial investment, gives Diebolt Brewing the capacity to brew more beer per batch, as well as the flexibility to brew on their own schedule.

When Diebolt Brewing opened their doors, they featured a lineup of straightforward beer styles. But it was their intent to also offer beers that reflected the family's French heritage, and they definitely fulfilled that intent in their first year of business. They've become known as a craft brewery with an emphasis on French-style beers, which helps them stand out even more in Denver's bustling beer scene. On my recent visit during the anniversary weekend, I observed a lineup that covered a vast selection of styles. The tap list included nearly ten beers, with another handful of barrel-aged beers offered to celebrate the anniversary.

I ordered a selection of tasters, as I often do, to get a thorough taste for Diebolt's beer. What I found was excellence across the board, with flavors and attributes that matched each beer style very well. A French ale featured earthy hop flavors, prominent malt, some fruity esters, and a dry finish. A Bière de Garde, or French farmhouse ale, had similar flavors to the French ale, but was a bit maltier and sweeter. I tried the saison, which was a delicate, refreshing version with crisp fruit flavors. The weizenbock delivered rich, sweet flavors of cherries and other dark fruits. An IPA, called Diebolt International Ale (DIA), featured a simple malt profile and unique hop flavors contributed by three different continental varieties of hops. It was spicy and bitter, with flavors of lemon and grapefruit. One barrel-aged offering I tried was the bourbon barrel À Votre Santé, a dark Bière de Garde. Very rich and decadent, it exuded flavors of bourbon, malty sweetness, and caramel.

I could go on about the other beers I tried at Diebolt Brewing, but you should stop in and try some for yourself. Neighborhood charm, personal service, and great beer make this a destination in Denver for beer lovers to explore.

Smaller Bottles Mean Big Value for Funkwerks Fans

The saison style is everywhere these days, and now Colorado craft beer lovers have more options for enjoying two great versions from a notable Fort Collins brewery. In the past month, Funkwerks, Inc. began packaging its Tropic King Imperial Saison and its standard Saison in 4-packs of 330 ml, or 11.2 ounce, bottles. Both beers were previously available in 750 ml bottles only, and I applaud the move by Funkwerks to offer the smaller format.

When compared to a 22 ounce or 750 ml bottle for a higher-end beer, customers can almost always find value in smaller formats like 4-packs of that beer, if they exist. The cost per ounce is lower, sometimes substantially, and smaller bottles mean that the consumer can drink a smaller quantity in a sitting if they choose. Tropic King, a stronger and very complex imperial saison, is a particularly great value to have in 4-packs, much like the recently featured barley wine from Crazy Mountain Brewing Company that's also now available in this format.

Funkwerks was incorporated in 2009, and opened its taproom in late 2010. It specializes in versions of the saison style, and branches out from there to other intriguing Belgian styles. The saison style, also known as a farmhouse ale, originated in the Wallonia region of Belgium. It was brewed in the cooler months to be served to farm workers throughout the warmer months. Its popularity in Belgium dropped off for some time, but has resurged in recent decades, due in part to the boom of American craft beer culture.

I like to compare the rise in popularity of saisons to that of IPAs. Both are styles that leave a bit of leeway for different interpretations, so flavor profiles may vary widely. Like IPAs, many breweries have at least one different version of a saison, with varying strength and character. In short, beer drinkers love saisons, though for reasons other than why they love IPAs. Saisons are heavily hopped but lack a pronounced bitterness, and have substantial fruity flavors derived from the yeast. IPAs, though quite bitter, also deliver fruit flavors, but this is usually from the hop oils and components, and not as much from the yeast.

Tropic King is a wonderful example of a stronger, or imperial, saison. It pours a bright orange color with a big frothy white head of foam. In the nose, aromas of Belgian yeast, orange, melon, and a spicy, peppery character come through. The flavors that follow are an intricate blend of citrus and tropical fruits, pepper, and an appropriate amount of funk. Tropic King is a sturdy beer with a medium body, somewhat creamy mouthfeel, and a dry finish. The yeast strain used for fermentation works very well with all the beer's ingredients, creating delicious and complex esters and phenols. Like everything I've had from Funkwerks, Tropic King is a great Belgian-style ale that would give many Belgian imports a run for their money.

Alaskan Pumpkin Porter is a Deliciously Dark Fall Seasonal

I held out as long as I could, but I finally gave in this week. The temptation was just too great! Yes, I'm talking about the onslaught of fall seasonal beers that have been hitting the market since early August. Don't get me wrong - I love all varieties of fall beers, but I like to keep seasonal beers in their proper season. Now that we're in the second week of September and it's starting to feel a bit like fall in Colorado, I decided to crack open a bottle of Pumpkin Porter from Alaskan Brewing Company.

Pumpkin beers have evolved over the years, and range from lighter and very sweet to robust, strong and quite complex. Regardless of where it falls in this regard, a pumpkin beer should very pleasantly unify the base beer style with fresh pumpkin and usually a mixture of spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove. The Alaskan Pumpkin Porter is a fine example of letting the base beer, in this case a porter, speak for itself while adding another layer of depth and drinkability with a huge addition of pumpkin and other ingredients in the brewing process. August marked the first time Alaskan released Pumpkin Porter, which is a rotating seasonal beer for the brewery. Alaskan Brewing, located in the capital city of Juneau, was founded in 1986. Pumpkin Porter is just the latest great beer released by this iconic brewery.

Pumpkin Porter has the kind of medium body and moderate carbonation that's consistent with the porter style. In the aroma, appetizing smells of sweet and dark malts, a slight roasty character, and pumpkin pie spices prepare you for what's to come. The taste is filled with flavors of chocolate, spices, raisins, plums, pumpkin, and a hint of smoke. This is a delicious, multi-layered pumpkin beer that's unlike most, and makes an excellent dessert-like treat to sip on during a fall evening.

Fall is just beginning, much to my pleasure as a craft beer lover. Fall seasonal beers take on many different forms, from traditional offerings like Marzen Oktoberfest to pumpkin beers, black IPAs, and more. If there's a fall beer you'd like me to feature, drop me a line!

With a Great Salmon Recipe, Try a Scottish Ale Like Laughing Lab

There's a beer out there to go with every meal. Pairing beer with food has its guidelines; for example, matching comparable flavors, like a sweeter beer with a sweeter dish, or choosing a beer that has contrasting flavors to balance out the meal. Ultimately, there's a lot of room for creativity and experimentation to come up with a pairing that pleases your palate. A great food and beer pairing should enhance both parts of the dining experience, and my latest pairing experiment did just that. I paired Laughing Lab Scottish Ale with my wife's cedar plank salmon recipe, successfully complementing the wide array of flavors in the food and beer.

Laughing Lab is the flagship beer of Bristol Brewing Company in Colorado Springs. This year-round beer has been brewed since 1994, the year Mike and Amanda Bristol founded their brewery. Over the years, Laughing Lab has racked up numerous medals at the Great American Beer Festival. Its malty, balanced, and sessionable nature, in addition to fun and iconic label art, has helped make it a favorite among craft beer lovers all along the Colorado Front Range. These aspects also make it great to enjoy with food of all kinds.

Our meal included fresh wild-caught salmon with a dipping sauce and a sweet potato. The salmon was topped with a glaze of honey mustard, olive oil, dill, salt, and pepper, and the dipping sauce was made up of plain yogurt, dill, horseradish, scallions, salt, and pepper. Obviously, a lot of spicy, herbal flavors to go along with the light yet meaty richness of the salmon. The sweet potato was topped with butter and brown sugar to give it some sweetness. As a medium-bodied beer, Laughing Lab provided the right balance in terms of mouthfeel - sturdy enough to match the food, but not overpower it. The flavors were also the perfect answer to the complexities in the meal. The beer's maltier profile features nutty, biscuity flavors with a slight sweetness, followed by a hop crispness on the finish. These pleasant malt flavors matched the more rich aspects of the meal very well, and the hop presence was enough to complement the spicy flavors from the horseradish, dill and honey mustard.

This is definitely a pairing that's worth trying again. On the other hand, maybe I'll go in another direction with a beer pairing the next time I have this dish. The endless possibilities are a big part of what makes enjoying food and beer so much fun.

For Strange Craft Beer Company, Life After Litigation is Good

The buzz and chatter surrounding trademark disputes in the brewing industry is getting loud lately, especially in the Colorado craft beer scene. Denver Pearl Brewing Company, which opened in the spring, is announcing its new name this Saturday, Sept. 6th. After pressure from Pabst Brewing Company, which owns Pearl Brewing in San Antonio, and perceived pressure from a fellow local brewery bearing the name "Denver," Denver Pearl chose to forgo a legal battle with either brewery and will brew under another name going forward. It's an apt time for me to shine a spotlight on another Denver craft brewery that underwent its own name change this year, Strange Craft Beer Company.

Strange Craft, formerly known as Strange Brewing Company, was started by head brewer Tim Myers in 2010. In the fall of 2012, Strange was hit with a threatening legal letter on behalf of a shop in Massachusetts called Strange Brew Beer & Wine Making Supplies demanding a name change. The letter cited confusion for its customers with the existence of a company called Strange Brewing, although more than 2,000 miles separate the two businesses. Strange responded with an offer to help promote the supply shop, while retaining its name, but the shop's lawyers rejected the offer and dug in their heels. After months spent fighting the dispute, Myers and his team settled with the shop and changed their name to Strange Craft in March of this year.

Fortunately, the name change was a rather minor tweak that didn't really affect Strange Craft's branding and reputation. Though it started small as a one-barrel brewery, Strange Craft has grown a bit in the last several years and is known in the Denver area for its great beer and friendly attitude. Strange Craft has garnered some major awards already, including two medals at the Great American Beer Festival, and a 2014 World Beer Cup gold medal in the fruit beer category for its Cherry Kriek. Speaking of that delicious fruit beer, Strange Craft also collaborates with Epic Brewing Company to conjure up an amazing blended beer called Strangely Epic. The blend combines Cherry Kriek with Epic's Big Bad Baptist Imperial Stout, creating one heck of a beer drinking experience.

I had a chance to try a wide selection of Strange Craft beer on a recent visit to the taproom, which is located near downtown Denver at 13th and Zuni. Myers and his team dabble in a full range of styles, from hop-forward pale ales and IPAs to Belgians, to darker styles like porters and stouts. The quality is high across the board, with some creativity thrown in as well. The ZORA Rosemary Pale Ale is a very enjoyable herbed beer with a depth of crisp flavors. Others that really stood out are the Le Bruit Du Diable Farmhouse Ale and each of the IPAs on tap. The Breakfast Grapefruit IPA, IPAphany IPA, and 1000 Barrel Imperial IPA are all intricate and different in their own way, highlighting the unique hops varieties used in each. Honestly, you can't go wrong here with whatever style fits your mood.

Though their situations aren't quite the same, I'd say Denver Pearl can look at Strange Craft and rest assured that a trademark issue won't derail its brewing hopes and dreams. Strange Craft has achieved success with its excellent beer and by embracing the local craft beer community, and there's no reason why the soon-to-be-former Denver Pearl can't do the same.