Fort Love Brewers Jamboree: May 16, 2015

The 2015 Fort Love Brewers Jamboree was created by the Loose Affiliation of Fort Collins Craft Brewers (LAFCCB) a group consisting of the craft brewers in Fort Collins and Loveland. This event is envisioned as a journey through craft beer at a slower pace. Our goal is to put craft into the festival experience with a focus on the great culture of Fort Collins and Loveland breweries. This premiere event is for brewers, beer lovers and family and will have an emphasis on beer tasting, education, and brewers telling the stories of their journey into the craft beer industry.

What’s beer without good food? Admission to the Fort Love Brewers Jamboree will include small plates of food to pair with beer.

Why not support a cause? The Cache La Poudre River and Big Thompson are vital natural resources to the communities in Northern Colorado. Also, water is a main ingredient in beer, which is why we are supporting water advocacy and the proceeds will support Save the Poudre.

To find out more or to purchase tickets visit: http://brewersjamboree.com

Fort Love Brewers Jamboree

 

Colorado Winners: 2014 World Beer Cup

The World Beer Cup is put on every other year by The Brewers Association, which is headquartered in Boulder, CO. The World Beer Cup is a popular event among brewers and brewing companies, as it brings together the best and brightest in the brewing industry. The 2014 World Beer Cup and Craft Brewers Conference took place in Denver, CO, and included a whopping 4,754 beers, 1,403 breweries from 58 countries and 94 styles of beer! Colorado brewers fared well at the World Beer Cup, bringing home 24 medals (10 Gold, 5 Silver, 9 Bronze).2014-world-beer-cup-banner

According to The Brewers Association, “The mission of the World Beer Cup is to create greater consumer awareness around the world about the quality and diversity displayed by the various beers of the world. The World Beer Cup is dedicated to recognizing both the traditions and innovations shared by the entire brewing industry as well as those customs unique to specific countries and regions. The World Beer Cup also promotes the responsible consumption of beer as an alcohol-containing beverage and urges beer producers and distributors to encourage beer enthusiasts to savor the flavor of beer responsibly.”

Colorado Winners @ The 2014 World Beer Cup:

  • Fruit Beer (57 entries) GOLD: Cherry Kriek, Strange Brewing Co, Denver, CO, SILVER: Apricot Blonde, Dry Dock Brewing Co Aurora, CO
  • Chocolate Beer (51 Entries) GOLD: Shake Chocolate Porter, Boulder Beer Co Boulder, CO
  • Coffee Beer (109 Entries) GOLD: Big Shot Espresso Stout, Twisted Pine Brewing Co – Boulder, CO
  • Indigenous Beer (37 Entries) GOLD: Wild and Crazy Rye, BJ’s Restaurant & Brewery – Boulder,CO / Huntington Beach, CA
    BRONZE: Got Beer, BJ’s Restaurant & Brewery – Boulder, CO / Huntington Beach, CA
  • Wood & Barrel-Aged Strong Beer (112 Entries) BRONZE: Bourbon Barrel Aged Mountain Man, Verboten Brewing – Loveland, CO
  • Baltic-Style Porter (44 Entries) SILVER: The Baltic Gnome, Rock Bottom – Denver, CO
  • American-Style Lager / Light Lager or Pilsener (53 Entries) GOLD: Coors Light, Coors Brewing Co Golden, CO
    BRONZE: Coors Banquet, Coors Brewing Co – Golden, CO
  • American-Style Amber Lager (34 Entries) GOLD: Winterfest, AC Golden Brewing Co – Golden, CO
  • Australasian-Style Pale Ale / International-Style Pale Ale (33 Entries)
    SILVER: River Runners Pale Ale, Eddyline Brewing Buena Vista, CO
  • French & Belgian-Style Saison (91 Entries) GOLD: Saison, Aspen Brewing Co – Aspen, CO
  • Belgian-Style Blonde Ale or Pale Ale (46 Entries) BRONZE: Jean-Claude Van Blond, Wit’s End Brewing Co Denver, CO
  • Belgian-Style Pale Strong Ale (41 Entries) SILVER: Deceit, Funkwerks – Fort Collins, CO
  • Ordinary / Special Bitter (37 Entries) GOLD: Sawtooth Ale, Left Hand Brewing Co – Longmont, CO
  • English-Style Brown Ale (49 Entries) BRONZE: No Name, Glenwood Canyon Brewing Co – Glenwood Springs, CO
  • Oatmeal Stout (57 Entries) SILVER: Pure Imagination, Verboten Brewing – Loveland, CO
  • British-Style Imperial Stout (42 Entries) BRONZE: Weapon of Self Destruction Imperial Stout, Riff Raff Brewing Co – Pagosa Springs, CO
  • Irish-Style Red Ale (46 Entries) GOLD: George Killian’s Irish Red, Coors Brewing Co – Golden, CO
  • Foreign-Style Stout (38 Entries) BRONZE: Devil Dog Stout, Red Leg Brewing Co – Colorado Springs, CO
  • American-Style Pale Ale (122 Entries) BRONZE: Featherweight Pale, Cannonball Creek Brewing Co – Golden, CO
  • American-Style Amber / Red Ale (90 Entries) GOLD: Runoff, Odell Brewing Co – Fort Collins, CO
  • World Beer Cup Champion Brewery & Brewmaster – Large Brewing Company
    Coors Brewing Company, Dr. David Ryder – Golden, CO

New Belgium announces Asheville Brewery will be delayed

New Belgium Logo

New Belgium Brewing Company, the maker of Fat Tire, recently announced that plans for their new Asheville, NC. location have been pushed back. The news is not actually bad for New Belgium. The reason they pushed back opening the new Asheville facility, is that they recently added capacity to their Fort Collins brewery, and can meet their estimated projected sales through 2015. The change in plans for New Belgium will push the opening of the new facility back about 8 months.

According to the Fort Collins Coloradoan, earlier this month New Belgium was finishing up a 140,000-barrel expansion that will allow the company to keep expanding distribution. With 70,000 barrels of capacity recently added, the Fort Collins brewery can produce up to 920,000 barrels a year, which will take New Belgium through 2015 sales projections,  according to Jay Richardson, General Manager of the Asheville facility. Thanks to the increase in production in Fort Collins, New Belgium is now planning to open the Asheville, NC. location in late 2015, or early 2016.

While this news is surprising, it is not as big of a deal as originally thought. With the increased capacity in Fort Collins, New Belgium will not miss a beat in keeping up with growing sales. There will certainly be some dissapointed craft beer lovers on the east coast that have been waiting for the opportunity to get a fresh pour of Fat Tire.

‘Beer Geeks’ TV Show to film breweries in Colorado

Beer Geeks TV Logo

Beer Geeks is a nationally syndicated television show that will air a 22 episode season, starting in September 2013. The creators of the show partnered with the creators and producers of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives and host Michael Ferguson, Director of Brewing Operations for BJ’s restaurants. Beer Geeks will bring viewers inside breweries from all around the country.

There are a handful of Colorado breweries that will be featured on Beer Geeks. The Beer Geek crew is in Colorado profiling craft brewers in Denver, Boulder and Fort Collins for shows that will air this year. They will be profiling Avery Brewing Company, Denver Beer Company, Great Divide Brewing Company, New Belgium Brewing Company and Odell Brewing Company.

“Colorado is one of the nirvana areas for Geek Beerdom,” Ferguson said. “You can’t stumble and not run into a brewery here.”

In each weekly episode host Michael Ferguson, a pioneer and veteran of the craft beer world, (Director of brewing operations and beer training for BJ’s restaurants) will bring viewers along on a voyeuristic, inclusive and immersive road trip into the heart of the craft beer universe. Each episode will feature the inside story of the making some of the world’s most unique, interesting, even outrageous and bizarre brews.

“We’ll see what they’re doing, what ingredients and techniques they’re using, and then we’ll take their brews from tap to table, cooking with beer, and pairing meals with beer. But wait, this series doesn’t live just in the brewery. We’ll find ourselves at hop farms, berry brambles, pumpkin patches, caves, maple syrup sugaring houses, archaeological sites, monasteries and much more – a smorgasbord of locations that all lead back to the craft beers we’re making.” – BeerGeeks.TV

The premise of Beer Geeks sounds like a solid idea and the show should develop a good following among real-life beer geeks. It will be fun for beer enthusiasts around the country to find out about great beers from Colorado. It is a little suprising that only five Colorado breweries will be featured (there are well over 100 in the state). I guess that opens up the door for other great breweries to be featured in later seasons.