Brewer : Steamworks Brewing
Beer : Colorado Kolsch
Official Description : Colorado Kolsch has earned two silver medals at the Great American Beer Festival and another silver medal at the Word Beer Cup. It is a light and crisp derivative of German-style Kolsch bier with a hint of sweetness. This quenching ale is a perfect outdoor companion!

Ingredients :
Style : Kolsch
ABV : 4.85%

Drinkable : First Kolsch. Smells like a standard lager. A little sweetness to that crisp finish which randomly leads to a bitter after taste. The bitter after taste is pretty off putting.

Buy Again : No.

http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/steamworks-colorado-kolsch/20198/

May 31st, 2013 was the glorious day when the “Vancouver Craft Beer Week 2013″ kicked off!  Held at the Roundhouse Community Centre in Yaletown Vancouver this event was put on by Vancouver Craft Beer Week and Craft Beer Market a large taphouse opening this summer in the Olympic Village.

The Opening Night Gala went from 6pm to 11pm and was completely sold out weeks before the event happened.  Breweries involved are listed below and most breweries had quite a few beers to sample!

BC’s Newest Craft Breweries

33 Acres Brewing
Bomber Brewing
Bridge Brewing
Deep Cove Brewers + Distillers
Four Winds Brewing
Main Street Brewing
Powell Street Craft Brewery

Old Favourites

Central City Brewers + Distillers
Driftwood Brewing
Hoyne Bewing
Lighthouse Brewing
Merridale Ciderworks
Parallel 49 Brewing
Red Truck Brewing
Spinnakers
Steamworks Brewing
Vancouver Island Brewing

Between amazing local craft beer, awesome people and great appetizers you could not ask for a better night out in Vancouver!  There was also some food carts outside the Roundhouse with more substantial food if you so chose.  VCBW also brought together some great prizes that were given away in a raffle including growlers, T shirts and girt cards for Craft Beer Market to name a few things and even some door prizes!  There was a DJ playing music all night although I do not know what his name was.  My favorite beer of the night was from Bomber Brewing and was an ESB.  It was just a great well crafted ESB and it really hit the spot on a Friday Night.   It was great to Meet the new Breweries Staff as well as see all the different Brewmasters from all of my Favorite BC breweries.  It was also great to hang out and chat beer with all my new found Beer friends and some old friends that surprised me at the event!

Sorry this is not more in-depth but the night was not conductive to taking notes but more to drinking great beer and chatting with some of the most friendly people you will meet in Vancouver!  Congrats VCBW organizers for putting on a great Opening Night Gala!  I look forward to my other event later in the week!

Check out Vancouver Craft Beer Week soon for this years party or to keep track of what is going on next years 2014 festivities!

Vancouver Craft Beer Week 2013 runs from May 31st to June 7th 2013.

The twist on this cask festival was that the breweries had to brew their beers to a “sessional” standard of an alcohol content of 4.5% or lower.  On arrival all in attendance were given a 4 ounce branded glass and three drink tickets with more being available for a low price of $1.25.  One really cool part of this event is that 3 new breweries that are not even opening for a few more months participated in the event (Bomber Brewing, Deep Cove Brewers & Distillers and Four Winds Brewing).  As far as I know this was the first cask event held at the portside pub and it went off pretty well with it being packed with a ton of friendly, fun people that all love great beer (correct me if I am wrong).   Casks were located on both the top and bottom level of the pub at both bar locations.  It was really warm in the pub and some of the casks could have been colder but it was a great atmosphere.   Jonny and Nick of YVR Beer Tweetup were also on hand getting the social media side of things going for the event.

The Brew List

Four Winds Brewing -Featherweight Session IPA 4.5%
Deep Cove Brewers & Distillers – Deep Cove Scotch Ale 4.2%
Bridge Brewing – Bridge Brewing Kolsch 4.5% Keg
Central City Brewers & Distillers – Vanilla Bean & Espresso Stout 4.2%
Russell Brewing – Dry Irish Stout 4.5%
Granville Island Brewing – Bitter 3.8%
Coal Harbour Brewing – Blood Orange Witbier 4.2%
Red Truck Brewing – Kellerbier 4.5%
Camra Vancouver & Parallel 49 Brewing – Dark Mild 2.1% Camra memebers only
Bomber Brewing – Scottish 70 Shilling 4.5%
Bomber Brewing – The Baffler Best Bitter 4.2%
Howe Sound Brewing – Orange Ginger Wheat Beer 4.2%
Steamworks Brewing – Golden Ale 4.2%
Steamworks Brewing – Ordianry Bitter 4.5%
Big Ridge Brewing – English Pale Ale 4.5%
R&B Brewing – Snakebite Cider 4.3%
Parallel 49 Brewing – Cherry Berliner Wiesse 4.0% keg
McLelland Imports – Stiegl Radler 2.5% keg
McLelland Imports – Fruli 4.5% keg
Yaletown Brewing – Nagila Pale Ale (Late entry)

All beer indicated in red are the beer that I sampled at the event.  The other casks ran out before I was able to sample them.  This was a great event that was a lot of fun to attend.  Most leaving the event left to go drink more beer as they were still feeling like they could use some more alcohol in their system.  I would say for the most part this event was a success.  It does show a bit though that our amazing brewmasters are very competent at brewing high alcohol beers that we love to consume but they have not mastered the art of a sessional ale.  Many beer felt a little to thin and light on the flavour.  I personally challenge the brewmasters in Vancouver to outdo this years performance next year at what I would expect to be an annual event.

My notes on the Casks/Kegs that I was able to try.

Four Winds Brewing – Featherweight Session IPA 4.5%

Appearance – Copper, off white head
Aroma – malty, citrus, mild pine
Flavour – malty, citrus, lemony, pine

Deep Cove Brewers & Distillers – Deep Cove Scotch Ale 4.2%

Flavour – nice scotch ale flavour with decent hops for session ale

Bridge Brewing – Bridge Brewing Kolsch 4.5%

Appearance – cloudy yellow
Aroma – Biscuit malts
Flavour – Biscuit malts, citrus, sweet, mild hops bite

Central City Brewers & Distillers – Vanilla Bean & Espresso Oatmeal Stout 4.2%
Appearance – deep black with a brown head
Aroma – coffee, roasted malts, vanilla
Flavour – espresso, coffee bitterness, roasted malts, vanilla, oatmeal, very thin

Coal Harbour Brewing – Blood Orange Witbier 4.2%

Appearance – cloudy yellow,
Aroma – orange, wheat
Flavour – orange, yeasty, wheat, lemon, tasty

Camra Vancouver & Parallel 49 Brewing – Dark Mild 2.1%
Appearance – Black/brown
Aroma – fruity, sugar
Flavour – mild coffee, malts, fruit, sugar

Bomber Brewing – Scottish 70 Shilling 4.5%
Appearance – dark amber
Aroma – very fruity, bananas
Flavour – fruity, banaana, mild bitterness, very low carbonation

Bomber Brewing – The Baffler Best Bitter 4.2%

Appearance – deep copper, cloudy off white head
Aroma – citrus
Flavour – citrus, pine

Howe Sound Brewing – Orange Ginger Wheat Beer 4.2%
Appearance – Cloudy orange
Aroma – orange, ginger, wheat
Flavour – orange, ginger, wheat, mild bitterness

Steamworks Brewing – Golden Ale 4.2%

Appearance – Golden
Aroma – malty, citrus
Flavour – very mild malty and citrus

Big Ridge Brewing – English Pale Ale 4.5%

Appearance – cloudy golden
Aroma – Mild malts and citrus
Flavour – malty, citrus, mild bitterness

Parallel 49 Brewing – Cherry Berliner Wiesse 4.0%

Appearance – peach colour with white head
Aroma – sour cherry, lemon, wheat
Flavour – sour cherry, lemon, wheat, very light

McLelland Imports – Stiegl Radler 2.5% (mix of Stiegl Goldrau and Grapefruit soda)

Appearance – cloudy light yellow
Aroma – sweet pop, grapefruit, citrus
Flavour – mild beer flavour, citurs, grapfruit, pop, tasty

My Winner of the night was a tie

Central City Brewers & Distillers – Vanilla Bean & Espresso Oatmeal Stout

and

Parallel 49 Brewing – Cherry Berliner Wiesse

Best of Show as per certified beer judges at event and peoples choice award

Bomber Brewing – The Baffler Best Bitter

Thanks to Camra Vancouver and The Portsite Pub for holding this great event.  Thanks to all the new and existing breweries locally for trying something they are not accustomed to doing for the good of the local beer community!  We all appreciate it!  Now until next year lets get back to our Imperial Ales and stop playing around.

You’ve probably read Sarah rave on and on about Taste of Chicago and its supreme awesomeness. As she lavishes on the praise for all of Chicago’s delectables, completely oblivious to the drool flowing unabatedly from my hungry mouth, I have never been able to come up with a good, TAKE THAT, food festival to throw back at her. Food fight style, of course.

Durango’s Main Ave. closed for Taste of Durango. Courtesy of Taste of Durango.

Anyway, that was until now. May I introduce, Taste of Durango. It has a nice ring to it, I think. Yes, my new town has more festivals than you can shake a stick at. And believe me, I do. On Main Avenue. They call me… well, you don’t want to know what they call me.

Anyway. Taste of Durango brings together our FOUR breweries and 31 local restaurants onto Main Avenue this Sunday. If you didn’t know, Durango now has more restaurants per capita than San Francisco. To top it off, Durango’s Manna Soup Kitchen is the beneficiary of this year’s event.

A standard meal from Manna Soup Kitchen.

From the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory (founded in Durango, btw) to the Himalayan Kitchen to Steamworks, Taste of Durango truly is such. For a community of 16,000, we have a startlingly diverse menu selection. Though I’ve discovered the new Thai restaurant and renewed my love for margaritas, I have yet to seriously delve into Durango cuisine. (You know where I’ll be Sunday. Please don’t stalk, I’ll throw food at you.)

Amicas Pizza and Microbrewery, Salida

Sampler at Amicas

I really enjoyed our visit here. It would be very hard to go wrong with pizza and beer and this place gets it right.  Delicious pizza and a nice range of beers.  I was a little sad that they could not fill a growler due to some ongoing trouble with equipment.  I wish I could remember all that we sampled as many of them were not the beers listed on their website.  I do remember having a very good stout, a porter, as well as a good IPA.  If you are going through Salida at lunch time, make time for Amicas.

Horsefly, Montrose

A fairly new brewery, Horsefly is already very popular with the locals.  We joined a couple of guys for drinks after our volunteer work on the pump track and were pleasantly surprised by the flavor of these brews.  Sharon’s favorite was the Agave Brown Ale, in fact, she would rate it in the Top 5 Fall seasonals that we have tried.

Jay preferred the Highland Cycles Scottish Ale and the Extra Stout Ale, both strong flavorful beers that were well balanced and just plain delicious.  Horsefly is a great happy hour spot to grab a drink and catch up with friends.

Palisade, Palisade

Palisade Brewing

Palisade Colorado is known for wine and peaches, but their brewery is notable for having the most well-crafted beers in that part of the state.  While we were there they had a High Desert Imperial Red on tap.  We sat next to the brewmaster and he explained that with that red he was hoping to push the boundaries of what would be considered a red ale.  This beer did exactly that with a great outcome, a very drinkable, strong flavorful ale.

For a beer that everyone can love, I would recommend the Paw Print Porter.  It is a solid porter, well balanced and great for those cooler days.  The brewmaster noted that Dirty Hippie is one of his signature beers.  I though it was unique and appreciated the twist on a lager, but it was not my favorite.  Palisade is primarily a tap room, but they do sell sandwiches which were quite good so it makes for a decent lunch stop.

Sampler at Palisade Brewing

Kannah Creek, Grand Junction

Hop plants at Kannah Creek Brewery

Kannah Creek is right by the Mesa State college campus and therefore caters to the college crowd with a large patio and big tvs inside to watch the game.  Those students are lucky to have such a great selection of hand crafted beers to choose from.

They have a few seasonals that they rotate.  We really enjoyed the Strong Ale, which was one of the seasonals on tap at the time.  It was red in color, strong, but not boozy, with a geat balance of malt and hops.

Kannah Creek definitely seems to shine more when it comes to showcasing hops.  They are actually starting to grow their own hops on the patio, which is exciting since their Fresh Hopped ESB was very well done.   The Standing Wave Pale Ale is one of their award-winning beers and it deserves the praise.  If you live locally I would recommend their growlers.  They have the german styles that we have, but they have fancier fluted handles.

Ouray, Ouray

sampler at Ouray Brewery

swings in Ouray Brewery tap room

I wanted to like the Ouray brewery.  They have these amazing swinging bar stools that are meant to look like a chair lift.  Sitting at one in the bar is super fun.  Unfortunately, Ouray is ready for the tourist crowd with overpriced samplers and a very small selection of their own brew.  When we visited they had only four of their own on tap.  However, we did hear that they are expanding production at a facility on the edge of town, so maybe a couple of years from now they would be worth a return visit.

For now, just stick with a pint of the IPA.  It is really well done if you want hop flavor without a bitter aftertaste.

Durango, Durango

Sampler at Durango Brewery

Durango was one of the best breweries in terms of a welcoming hangout for beer lovers.  To start with, they are right near the urban trail and have plenty of bike parking.  Jay and I felt comfortable riding here and locking our bikes up outside.  It was great to come via bike because I could really enjoy their large selection of brews.  I started with the sampler which comes on a hand carved tray.

It was here I found one of my favorite beers for those cold Durango days, Durango’s Winter Ale.  It reminds me of the Great Divide Hibernation Ale, but with a lower alcohol content.  It has that same dark red color, malty flavor, and warming effect.

Carver, Durango

Carver is the oldest brewery in Durango, open since 1988.  It seems more focused on the restaurant side of their operation and is a popular pub right in the  fun downtown part of Durango.  If you are looking for dinner with a good selection of craft beer to pair with it, I would strongly recommend Carver.

My favorites were the Nut Brown Ale and the Amber Ale.  They had a seasonal beer with coffee in it when we were there.  Usually that is one of my favorites, but this one was not well balanced.

Ska, Durango

Ska was on our short list of breweries to visit on this trip.  They distribute Ska in Virginia so we were already fans of the Steeltoe Stout, Cutthroat Porter, and Milk Stout.  I was excited to see what else we would be able to taste at the taproom.

We were excited to get to taste and take home two beers from their local series, the Hoperation Ivy and the Sethvleteren 8.  Hoperation Ivy is an IPA with fresh local hops.  It is bursting with flavor and is not too bitter.  The Sethvleteren 8 is a Belgian Dubbel that is the opposite of the Hoperation, with much greater emphasis on the malt and the yeast flavors.  It is almost sweet and easy drinking.   Our usual favorites were still great, however the Milk Stout on nitro was too milky.  It literally tasted like someone had poured cream into a normal stout.  A new beer to meet was the Buster Nut Brown, which I liked even more than the porter.

Ska is definitely worth a visit, but there are a few things to know before you go.  First, it is a little hard to find, use a GPS or get really good directions from the brewery.  Also, in the summer they have a taco cart outside, but the rest of the year you need to either bring your own food (which they allow) or eat ahead of time.  The closest food was a tasty Texas barbeque joint where we had lunch afterwards and really enjoyed.  You could pick up a BBQ sandwich to bring with you!  If you are not looking for a meal, they do provide free popcorn to snack on while you sample what’s on tap.  Ska is a fun brewery with great style.  They sponsor the local roller derby team.  You can dress like a roller derby girl with Ska merchandise.

Steamworks, Durango

Our experience at Steamworks wasn’t great.  It was packed to the gills when we arrived and we couldn’t get a server to take our order, much less a bar stool to sit on.  I had been told that all of their servers are Cicerone certified, but we couldn’t even get one to talk to us so I have no first hand knowledge of their qualifications.  When Jay was finally able to order a flight, he came back with the beers with a handwritten list on a napkin of what they were by name.  Unfortunately we didn’t have a menu, so the name didn’t do us much good.  We were drinking blind.  This is how I ended up having the worst beer sampler of my life.  I took one sip and I felt like I had been attacked.  My tongue was in acute pain and I had no idea what had happened.  Well, it turned out this was the Prescribed Burn, a chili beer featuring Habenero, Poblano, and Hatch green chilis.  Oww!  East coast palates be warned!!  Jay of course kind of likes this chili beer which is the hottest he has tried.

After that debacle I went straight to Backside Stout for some relief.  It was nice and smooth but honestly I couldn’t taste much of anything after that chili beer.  Jay liked the Conducter, and Imperial IPA.  The other beer that I remember is the Slam Dunkel.  This was one of the first dunkels we have tried since the McKinney Brewery in Texas.  The McKinney Dunkel was AMAZING, so the fact that Steamwork’s Slam Dunkel didn’t measure up doesn’t say much.  It had too much banana taste.