Collaboration Fest is a celebration of teamwork making the dream work. It’s a beautiful thing when passion and partnership collide. The resulting super nova of unique beer is something that once a year, Denver beer lovers get to watch with glittering eyes. What will they come up with next? One can never be too certain, but one thing is unrelentingly clear… once you’ve had that perfect collab brew, you’ll never get to have that beer again. It’s a one and done, tournament of taste buds. There’s a bittersweet exquisiteness about the fact that it’s a once in a lifetime experience every time. The Hopper Team was so excited to be part of covering this event for Two Parts, and saddled up for the challenge of reviewing dozens of delicious beers.
The Hopper Team’s Top Pick:
Liquid Mechanics Brewing Company and Wiley Roots Brewing Company hit a proverbial home run with the bases loaded before the Rockies even had their home opener with Pimm’s Yo! Everyone was a buzz about this sour blonde bombshell. It was quite literally a Pimm’s Cup beer cocktail with juniper, ginger, strawberries and beer all rolled around with some mint. I think the Hopper team safely had 3 rounds of this one, but it was sessionable, coming up to bat at 6% ABV, so we were safe on first with this one in tow.
Kris’s Top Picks:
New Image Brewing and Molly’s Spirits collaborated on a beer that was so buttery and flaky, we were immediately in sweet tooth heaven. The I can’t believe it’s butter Stout was all of our most favorite “c” words: caramel, coconut and cookie (Colorado, collaboration, cold…. ahhh, we digress.) This big beer was a heavy hitter, but oh so satisfying. It was all the things a baked good would want to be if it were mature enough to be of drinking age. We had so many questions regarding the origin of their top secret butter notes that we nearly lost ourselves in the hunt for answers.
The Summit County Collaboration featured a wheat wine that was brewed with Dillon DAM Brewery, Angry James Brewing Company, Broken Compass Brewing, The Baker’s Brewery, Pug Ryan’s Brewery, Outer Range Brewing Co. and Breckenridge Distillery. Basically all your favorite Summit County hangouts decided to get together and make one really amazing gin-based, farmhouse style wheat wine. There was some seriously palatable attitude in the altitude group’s submission. The aromatics of the gin really wanted for someone to make up a word like “nosefeel” to describe it best. I think Maggie and I will spare you that, but let’s just say if it were a perfume, I might have worn it. The taste was clean and unique and while not juniper heavy, the botanicals were well balanced. This one almost had me wondering if I should take up wine over beer (almost).
Intrepid Sojourner Beer Project and 105 West Brewing Company punched up the teamwork with a Barrel-aged Imperial Saison. White oaky Chardonnay anyone? Yes, please, saison lovers. Step back and be thrilled to death by the performance in the center ring. The heavy hitting brett and lactobacillius yeast strains did nothing but party down for three months while this beauty aged. It was smooth, tart and crisp. Packing a punch like its wine counterpart, it was 11% but drank like an easy 6. If you haven’t had the pleasure of checking out these two breweries, we at the Hopper highly suggest it. They’re innovative and feed my inner gypsy soul with their global love of flavor.
Maggie’s Top Picks:
While on the subject of chardonnay, one of our other favorites of the day was the Wine Not, a chardonnay saison hybrid, brewed by Diebolt Brewing Company and Invictus Brewing Company . Though my initial assumption was that these brewers aged their saison in chardonnay barrels, they actually added 13 gallons of chardonnay must to a 42 gallon saison base. Quite a hefty ratio. The result was a delicious surprise, which was quite wine forward both in taste and at the 9.7% ABV mark. The idea was to appeal to a larger drinking audience, and we think they hit the nail on the head. It was a beautiful combination of beer and wine that could tempt even those most averse to beer.
Our local team over at Jagged Mountain Brewery along with Montana’s Uberbrew (out of Bilings) jumped into the hazy IPA craze with the Lupulin Smoothie made with golden and rolled oats. Though hazy IPAs have become a popular style, this collaborative used Cryo Hops, which was a new term to us on the Hopper team. Cryo Hops are just what they sound like, whole cone hops that have been frozen. The freezing process removes the vegetal, sometimes unpleasant, taste of the hops while leaving the wonderful aroma and complexity. This hop style also adds a unique peppery finish to the beer, which we thought was quite a hit!
On the other side of the beer spectrum comes the Railbender Black Sour from Living the Dream and Hideaway Park Breweries. Imagine the best black forest cake you’ve ever tasted, but in beer form. Incredible, you say? We thought so too! This truly inspired brew was a perfect balance of rich dark flavors, much like the base chocolate cake of a black forest, with blasts of acid from the raspberries to cut the richness. The brewers wanted to create a sour beer, but with a stout style. While most dark sours are on the funkier tasting side, this beer was perfectly balanced and did not carry the funk, but rather got its tartness from the raspberries themselves. Another session easy drinker, at 4.8%, this beer will both bring back old memories of and conjure new cravings for dessert.
If you’re looking for a brunch beer, the Fruit of the Brew kettle-soured New England Style IPA from Boulder Beer Co. and Bristol Brewing Company is a must. If you’re like me and can never decide between cranberry juice and orange juice, co you decide to just mix them together, this is the beer for you. While part of the IPA category, the orange and cranberry puree added a juiciness and cut the bitter flavor, leaving you with a delicious sip that perfectly melds the flavors of brunch.
One of the most interesting collaborations was the Hazy Hipster Milkshake from Vail Brewing and Lone Pine Brewing. Another in the IPA category, that wasn’t your typical IPA. The brewers added oats in the mash, creating the hazy appearance and vanilla after the boil making this brew especially silky and creamy. There was certainly hop flavor in this beer, but as Lone Pine Brewing Co. is based in Maine, they added local blueberries, which really rounded out the fruit flavors. Though the name of this beer did not immediately excite me, the first sip absolutely did. The blueberries came through in the way I’m always hoping for when I hear that a beer contains blueberries, and the sweet creaminess cut the bitterness from the hops in the just the right way. It truly did taste like a scrumptious, well balanced, 7.5%ABV milkshake.