2012: The Year of the Beer

The closing of a year full of beer is near.  Let us reflect on the sudsy stories that defined the past 365 days. 

~ Nicole and I visited 19 new Colorado breweries in our quest to drink at each one: Amicas Pizza & Microbrewery, Big Choice Brewing, Blackshirt Brewing Co., Bootstrap Brewing, CAUTION: Brewing Company, Copper Kettle Brewing Company, Crazy Mountain Brewing Company, Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project, Del Norte Brewing Co. (just in time, too, as it ceased operations this year), Elevation Beer Co., Gore Range Brewery, Gravity Brewing, Moonlight Pizza & Brewpub, Our Mutual Friend Malt & Brew, Pikes Peak Brewing Company, Prost Brewing, River North Brewery, TRVE Brewing Company, and Wit’s End Brewing Company.

~We also visited eight out-of-state breweries: Asheville Brewing Company, Bier Brewery, Flat 12 Bierwerks, Fountain Square Brewing Co., Moerlein Lager House, Pisgah BrewingCompany, Tallgrass Brewing Co., and Wedge Brewing Company.

~In terms of beer festivals, we attended the following: Beer Bloggers Conference in Indianapolis (which included the Indiana Microbrewers Festival), Brew at the Zoo, Coffee Beer Fest, the inaugural Colorado Beer Tour at Bridgewater Grill, Cultivate Festival (with awesome pre-festival tours of participating breweries), Do at the Zoo, Great American Beer Festival (GABF), Parade of Darks, and Rails & Ales Brewfest.

~In legal news, the blood between Denver’s Strange Brewing Company and a somewhat-similarly named homebrew shop in Massachusetts went from bad to worse.  I urge you to “like” the Strange support group on Facebook and attend their fundraising event next month.

~I was fortunate enough to cover Mayor Michael B. Hancock’s brew day at Denver Beer Co. and Nicole and I both attended the tapping party for the beer he created.  I even got a picture taken with him.

~During GABF, Nicole and I’s Beer Geek-O-Meter stayed firmly in the red when we attended the media luncheon at the Grand Hyatt Denver.  There were lots of brewing celebrities in the room including Wynkoop Brewing Company co-founder/former Denver mayor/current Colorado governor John Hickenlooper.  I was unable to procure a photo-op with the Governor at that time but, coincidentally, I met him in a bar months later and took advantage of the situation.

The Governor and I

2012, you were good to me but I’ve found a new lover; I’m leaving you for 2013.  Raise a glass and toast to another boozy year.

Prost!

Chris

A tidbit of advice I picked up from the Beer Bloggers Conference was to create new ideas and keep readers interested. My goal, then, was to write weekly posts on using Colorado beer in cooking and baking but grad school and work consumed much of my time and I've yet to meet this goal. So, my 2013 resolution is to cook and bake with beer and write about it at least twice a month. 

Cheers!

Nicole