Time, Effort, and Authentic Ingredients Help Märzens Shine in the Fall

We're firmly in the fall season now, but October is quickly coming to an end. It's an appropriate time to feature a classic Märzen, an iconic beer style that's a hallmark of this month. Malty, yet balanced, and very approachable, a Märzen is the beer style you'd find in each of the massive tents at Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany. Many American craft breweries brew their own versions that measure up to the taste and quality of a German Märzen, and one of them is Fest Devious from Epic Brewing Company. 

Part of what goes into making an excellent Märzen, also commonly known as an Oktoberfest style, is the length of production time compared to many beer styles. As a lager, fermentation happens at lower temperatures than ales, and at a lower speed. Longer storage in the fermentation vessel, or possibly lagering tank, after primary fermentation is also necessary for the yeast to settle out and clean up any unwanted flavor compounds so they don't make it into the finished product. To nail the flavors of a Märzen, the recipe must call for the appropriate types of German malt and varieties of German noble hops, and the right amounts of each. When all the aspects of the brewing process come together, a great Märzen is hard to beat this time of year.

Epic Brewing has facilities in Salt Lake City and Denver, but Fest Devious is brewed primarily at the Salt Lake City brewery and sold for retail in 22-ounce bombers. It pours a rich, clear, copper color with nice carbonation. Munich malts make up the majority of the grain bill, and they really come through in the aroma of bread crusts and molasses. There's no hop presence in the aroma, but the noble hops definitely shine in the flavors. They add a spicy, floral character to complement the prominent malt flavors of caramel, biscuit and nuts. There's a lingering sweetness in the finish, probably more than in most classic Märzen examples, but it doesn't go overboard. Fest Devious is a fine version of a balanced, clean, delicious European amber lager.

You may have had your fill of the Märzen style at Oktoberfest celebrations in late September and throughout October, but if not, you can almost certainly still find bottles of Fest Devious or many beers like it. When you enjoy one, consider the extra time and effort that went into making your beer as authentic as possible.

Two Boulder Beer Company Hybrid Styles That'll Hit the Spot

As I detailed in my recent post about Flipside Red IPA from Sierra Nevada Brewing, fall is an especially good time for beers that meld a large amount of hops with a rich, robust grain bill. Such hybrid styles are a great answer to this season of transition, offering the best of warmer weather beers and colder weather beers. Today we explore hop-forward beers with even darker, more complex malt profiles. I'm giving you a two-fer from Boulder Beer Company: Flashback India-style Brown Ale and 35th Anniversary Imperial Black IPA.

Both beers are anniversary beers for Boulder Beer, which was founded in 1979, making it Colorado's oldest craft brewery. Flashback was first brewed for Boulder Beer's 30th anniversary, but it's now brewed year-round. 35th Anniversary was brewed this year as a one-time beer, though perhaps someday it may get the same revival treatment as Flashback. These are both great examples of beers that balance big, bitter hops flavors with a significant malt presence, providing a unique beer drinking experience born out of American craft brewing ingenuity.

Flashback is a cross between an American IPA and a brown ale. Aspects of both elements really shine, but also come together really well. There's a big hop aroma, along with caramel, chocolate, and a slight roastiness in the nose. The beer feels medium-bodied, much like an IPA, with a slick mouthfeel. Flashback has a crisp, spicy hop bite right up front, with hop flavors of citrus and pine. The rich malt backbone adds flavors of caramel and toffee without being overly sweet. A bitter finish lingers on the palate, leaving an impression that this beer leans slightly more toward an IPA than a brown ale.

35th Anniversary Imperial Black IPA is a definite step up in strength from Flashback, with a darker and even more complex malt profile. It pours a very black color, and has an aroma of floral, crisp American hops, roasted barley, and coffee. Hop flavors jump out first, and then comes a rich roasty maltiness of chocolate, coffee, dark fruit, and a bit of char. 35th Anniversary is a crisp, balanced, medium-bodied, hearty black IPA. When enjoying this beer, hop lacing lingers all the way down the glass, adding a nice visual touch.

I recommend trying both of these delicious beers, or similar ones available in your area, if you have a chance anytime soon. They're sure to satisfy and challenge your palate through a variety of powerful flavors.

Platt Park Brewing Adds a GABF Medal to a Whirlwind First Year

During the first week in October, Denver again played host to the Great American Beer Festival, the largest celebration of craft beer in the United States. The competition portion of the event gives breweries large and small a chance to show how good their beer really is, at least in the eyes of seasoned beer judges. Most judging categories had dozens of entries, and some had more than 300 this year. A number of first-year Colorado breweries came away with a medal, and one of them is Platt Park Brewing Company. This south Denver brewery took a silver medal for Gump's Vienna-style Lager, and I was able to try a glass when it was re-released this weekend.

Platt Parking Brewing has had an exciting and interesting year since it opened in late spring. The brewery opened as Denver Pearl Brewing Company, but quickly ran into issues with its name. Two other breweries had claims to the words "Denver" and "Pearl," respectively, so rather than try to fight a legal battle, the owners of Denver Pearl decided to change names. The new name was unveiled in early September, and it's been smooth sailing for the brewery ever since. I had stopped in when the brewery first opened to try some of their beers, and finally made my return visit on Friday night to get a taste of their medal-winning Gump's Lager.

The GABF judges are not obligated to award medals in each of the 90 beer categories if they don't think enough entries are worthy of such prestige, so a silver medal means that Gump's Lager really is an excellent beer. As a Vienna-style lager, it pours a clear golden brown with a prominent white head of foam. It has an aroma of cracker, biscuit, and earthy, floral hops. Gump's Lager has a very clean lager taste, with malty flavors of bread and biscuit, and a strong noble hop flavor that gives it a spicy, earthy quality. Substantial bitterness comes through on each sip, along with a clean, dry finish. It's a balanced, crisp, delicious lager that would go well with many different foods, or is just fine on its own.

Along with Gump's Lager, Platt Park Brewing has a really nice variety of beers on tap right now. Several others I sampled on this visit are a smooth and creamy pumpkin ale on nitro, a sour Berliner Weisse that's more tart than most of its kind, an excellent schwarzbier, a very tasty barrel-aged amber ale, and an imperial IPA that's loaded with crisp citrus hop flavors. Platt Park Brewing is located in the heart of a hip, historic Denver neighborhood, and its taproom that's friendly for families and dogs makes for a great place to spend a couple hours socializing and enjoying some great beer. Give it a try soon if you have the chance!

A Balanced Dose of Hops & Malt Helps Define Great Fall Seasonals

When it comes to craft beer, a taste of the season is very personal and subjective. We all have different preferences, so it's a good thing fall seasonal beer choices cover a wide range of styles and flavors. Like a lot of people, I often have more of a taste for big citrus hop flavors in the summertime, and go to the maltier side of beer in colder months. It makes sense, then, that an appropriate fall seasonal, or even a spring seasonal, combines such elements into a crisp, hearty, well-balanced beer. Flipside Red IPA by Sierra Nevada Brewing Company is a fall seasonal release that does just that, providing thirst-quenching hop flavors with a healthy dose of malt to back them up. It's one of many Sierra Nevada beers that showcases the wonderful qualities of American hop varieties.

There's so much that can be said about Sierra Nevada's history and contributions to the craft beer industry. The brewery, based in Chico, California, opened in 1980 and was considered to be a pioneer and key player in the craft brewing revolution. With its iconic Pale Ale, Sierra Nevada helped start the trend of brewing aggressive, bitter beers with large amounts of American hops. Unlike many breweries, Sierra Nevada brews using only whole-cone hops, rather than hops pellets. While the hops flowers are still dried immediately after they're harvested to lock in their oils and essence, the whole cone goes into the wort boil, and possibly the fermenter if the beer recipe calls for dry-hopping. Sierra Nevada also utilizes a combination of traditional hop varieties and experimental hops, creating unique new flavor profiles with their beers. Each brewing ingredient is important, but Sierra Nevada seems to give extra attention to hops, and this emphasis is reflected across the majority of their lineup.

Despite this attention to hops, Sierra Nevada makes sure their beers have the malt presence to maintain balance and superb drinkability. With Flipside, you get a truly American beer style that lets each element really shine and come together beautifully. It pours a deep amber color, with an aroma of fresh hops, grapefruit, pine, and toffee. A crisp, zesty character comes through on the first drink, with citrus flavors of grapefruit and lemon, a bit of pine, and a balance of malt that tastes like caramel and toffee. Sweet, bitter, and very satisfying, Flipside unleashes a variety of flavors that seem just right for the season. As a seasonal release, Flipside can be found only for a limited time. With Sierra Nevada's nationwide presence, chances are you can pick some up if you look hard enough.

Flipside is just one example of a beer with a complex grain bill that complements a big load of hops. Keep an eye out for features on the blog about beers that show even more depth and intensity on the malt scale while also delivering a pronounced hoppy bite.

Hop Harvest Season Gives Way to Fresh Hop Beers in Local Taprooms

This time of year yields a special type of beer from craft breweries. I'm not talking about a seasonal style that's traditionally served in the fall, but instead a category of beers that can be brewed only at a specific time of the year. If you walk into any number of craft breweries right now, you can probably find a beer that's been brewed using fresh hops, or wet hops. When hops are harvested, they're typically dried and then pelletized to be used year-round. They can also be used right off the vine when they're fresh, going into the batch wet and whole. Hop harvest occurs in the late summer, so hops that were picked and used fresh this year are currently getting their chance to shine in fresh hop pale ales and IPAs.

Colorado isn't historically known for growing hops, and most of the hops used by Colorado craft breweries come from outside the state. That's one reason fresh hop beers are special for Colorado craft breweries. It gives them an opportunity to use home-grown hops and support local farmers. Colorado hops growers celebrated a record harvest this year, thanks to an increasing number acres being used for this purpose, mostly on the Western Slope. That means more fresh hops to go around for any craft brewery who wanted to purchase them for immediate use.

I had a chance to enjoy a delicious fresh hop beer recently at Jagged Mountain Craft Brewery, an excellent downtown Denver brewery that's been open for nearly a year. The beer, Hop Sponge I, is one of several fresh hop beers Jagged Mountain brewed for tappings that coincided with the 2014 Great American Beer Festival. Hop Sponge I is a Fresh Hop Belgo-American IPA that called for 37 pounds of fresh Cascade hops, all from Paonia, Colorado, in a full batch on Jagged Mountain's 10 barrel brewing system. It pours a beautiful dark orange color, and has an aroma of fresh citrus and lemongrass. With one sip, you can tell this beer was made with fresh ingredients. There are flavors of orange, lemon, pine, grass, and some subtle fruity esters derived from Belgian yeast. Hop Sponge I has a bitter bite up front, but the fresh fruit flavors overtake the bitterness for very pleasant and smooth finish. It's a crisp and refreshing yet substantial beer, at 7.5 percent ABV.

Fresh hop beers like Hop Sponge I won't last long, so stop into Jagged Mountain or another fine local craft brewery soon to try them. It's a chance to get a taste of the local land, support both local brewers and farmers, and enjoy unique flavors that come around just once a year.

An Avery Fall Seasonal Double Feature

Today I'm giving you a double shot beer feature with two fall seasonal releases from one brewery. The first is a big beer, and the other is undeniably massive. Avery Brewing Company certainly brews its share of tame and sessionable beer styles, but an ever-growing list of beers that edge up to and go well north of 10 percent ABV give it even more clout in the national beer scene. The Kaiser and Pump[KY]n are two such burly and strong beers from this outstanding Boulder brewery. The Kaiser is an imperial Oktoberfest lager that's released annually in August. Pump[KY]n, a new beer from Avery, was just released as part of the barrel-aged series. It's an imperial porter brewed with pumpkin and spices and aged in bourbon barrels.

There's a lot of ground to cover between these two beers, so let's jump right in. With The Kaiser, Avery elaborately combines an array of German malt and hops to create an Oktoberfest that hits all the usual notes but on a whole other level. It pours a dark copper color with plenty of clarity from the lagering process. A rich aroma includes earthy noble hops, Munich and Vienna malts, and a sweetness like maple syrup or honey. The sweetness is more restrained in the flavors, which feature a subtle hop spiciness and a biscuity malt character. The 9.5 percent ABV strength is apparent in the taste, giving it a slightly boozy element. Despite that, The Kaiser is a delicious, well-balanced beer that finishes clean.

The Kaiser may seem rather tame compared to the monster of a beer known as Pump[KY]n. I enjoyed this 17.2 percent ABV sipper on draft at Parry's Pizza, one of the Colorado beer bars lucky enough to get a keg of it. Pump[KY]n is black as night with a medium body, and has a huge aroma of bourbon, roasted barley, and pumpkin spice. An aggressive bourbon flavor hits the palate up front and lingers on the finish, accompanied by flavors of sweet dark malt, subtle pumpkin and spices, coffee, and chocolate. While this beer is a unique and excellent example of a barrel-aged pumpkin beer, it's definitely not for the faint of heart. Pump[KY]n is relatively smooth for its enormous strength, but it takes a developed and seasoned palate to truly enjoy this kind of beer.

If you're so inclined, these are two special fall seasonals worth trying while you can find them. On the other hand, you can also scale back on the alcohol content and try a very tasty Gored Pumpkin Ale from Avery. Whatever suits your festive mood this fall, Avery has you covered.