That John Denver Was (Not) Full Of Shit Man!

The Colorado wrap-up.  Since my last post I have: visited Great Divide and Avery, Libations and Davidson's Liquor, bought 10 new beers, hiked the Williams and Waldo Canyons and driven to the summit of Pikes Peak.  I am now throughly exhausted.

First the beer.  Great Divide was great (see what I did there?).  I attended their monthly 'Hop Disciples' meeting where we discussed the attributes, uses and merits of various hops they use in their beers.  The guide told us that 75% of the country's hops are grown in the Yakima Valley of Washington State (I really want to visit!).  The hops: Perle is from Germany and is what's called a bittering hop (that is it used only to contribute bittering); Columbus an American varietal that serves dual purpose as both a bittering and an aroma hop;  Simco is one of the few trademarked hops that can only be grown by one farmer in the Yakima and is world reknowned for its extremely high alpha acids (responsible for the bitterness hops impart) and its fruit and pine aroma--the guide said that Simco was pretty much responsible for the extreme beer/IPA craze in American brewing--here's to you Simco; Amarillo is an American aroma hop and known for its fruit smell; Czech Saaz is of course Czech and is the quintessential Pilsner hop; Hersbrucker is a German aroma hop; Golding is an English aroma hop made famous by that country's pale ales.

So, after the lesson we were given samples of three of Great Divide's, both before aroma hops are added and after.  For each style we were asked to guess which hops were used.  Anyone with the right answer was given a free pint in the tap room.  I did surprsingly well.  The first one we tried was their Denver Pale Ale.  After tasting the cask version and the bottled version I guessed Golding and was correct.  This was a somewhat educated guess as I was aware that Golding is a pale ale hop.  Next we tried the Titan IPA.  IT was interesting to see the difference between the cask, which was somewhat hoppy but not that much, and the aroma hopped bottled verison which was extremely fragrant.  I smelled some melon and remembered that the guide had said that he got melon from the Columbus hop.  Got it right!  The third beer was a little tough.  This was the Hercules Double IPA and we had to guess both the bittering and the aroma hop used.  The first sample smelled exactly like the Titan's cask (not surprising).  Then I sniffed the aroma hopped version.  It was like snorting a line of hops.  Almost overwhelming.  I guessed Simco for the bittering (obviously) and then debated between Amarillo and Columbus for the aroma.  Went with Columbus thinking they might have used the same for both IPAs and got it wrong.  So close! 

Anway I won two free pints and got to sample to homebrews that were brought in by local homebrewers.  They were godawful--I mean godawful-- and I'm happy to report ours are much better.  Then I went to Avery.

When I say that Avery was my worst brewery experience ever, that is putting it lightly.  They did everything wrong.  They had the worst bartenders in the history of the food service industry.  I waited 15(!) minutes on three separate occasions in order to get samples of their beers.  They were moving like their legs were stuck in molasses.  The tour was almost worse--the tour guide looked and acted exactly like Mark Zuckerberg--their facilities were cramped and their fermenters were located outside!  The guide said they were heavily insulated, but seriously, who does that?  Also their beer was terrible.  I went there hoping to become a convert and left an apostate.  Nice job Avery!

Turned off to breweries and their stupid smugness (they soon forget that it's people like me who are willing to drop 15+ dollars on their beers that keep them in business) I decided to visit some specialty liquor stores.  Wowzers!  Here's what I got:

These were picked up at Libations.  They are, left to right, Port Brewing Co.'s High Tide Fresh Hop IPA, an American IPA, Green Flash's Double Stout, The Bruery's Mischief, an unfiltered bottled-conditioned Belgian Strong Ale, and The Lost Abbey's Judgement Day, a Quadrupel.  All are from California and three are breweries we've never tried.

Today I went to Davidson's to track down Russian River's Pliny the Elder.  Not an easy thing to find.  I called my local shop and they told me that they get two cases a month and that they sell out immediately.  In fact it's so popular that they have to limit purchases to one bottle per person.  It better be good.  I called Davidson's and they had two left so I had them put one on hold for me while I made the hour-long trip to pick it up (that's right, I drove two hours round trip for a bottle of beer, what of it?).

While there I found some others that I had to try (of course):

 

Meet Goose Island's Bourbon County Brand Stout, a bourbon barrell aged Imperial Stout, Pliny the Elder, Russian River's Damnation, another Belgian Strong Ale, and Russian River's Supplication, an American Wild Ale.

Finally there's:

 

Odell's brand new Woodcut No. 4, an Oak Aged Double Marzen-Style Lager, and Mikkeller's Beer Geek Breakfast, another Imperial Stout.

Phew, that's alotta beer.  Now I have to get these suckers home in one piece.

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