Drink Up, The End is Nigh

Some people prepare for a coming apocalypse by buying guns, building bunkers and stocking up with a five year's worth of food. Some brewers don't prepare so much as celebrate with new beers made specifically for the occasion. I gather that none of those beers hold a candle to the beer that Trinity  and Black Fox decided brew up and use to usher in the new era. Like any real apocalypse-fearing-planner, preparations for this beer started quite a while ago, I believe we first got wind of it before the Saison Festival in April.

Blax Fox Brewing Will Set Up Shop in Denver

I'm literally running out the door to catch a flight so I'm just pasting some answers to some questions that John Schneider, of Black Fox Brewing, just sent me. It's true, it's true, they are officially setting up shop in Denver and they are leaving pretty soon. We will be totally sad to have one of our very favorite breweries in all of Colorado leave town and head North but we know that this is a good move for these guys. John you better send your beer down here! We wish you the best of luck and you know we'll come and visit you soon!!!

My questions for John:

Beer Filled Events Starting Thursday

Thurs. Jan. 12th / 5pm
Bristol Releases English Old Ale
At Bristol Brewing

Bristol Brewing is kicking it up a notch with their new specialty releases and their new designs and we are really stoked for them. Be there when the beer is released to the public. Here's some notes from the brewery: a huge and hearty winter warmer that has been bottle conditioning since August 2011. This very traditional ale is medium-bodied and singularly malty, supplying sweet caramel undertones and age-related character at every turn.

Oh! and that reminds me...the general and VIP tickets to this year's Firkin Rendezvous just went on sale. This is definitely one of the better festivals of the year and I give it a high recommendation. The event is set for Feb 18th at Bristol, call 719-633-2555 x11 to reserve.

Fri. Jan 13th / 5pm
Black Fox Release Somnombulance
At Bristol Brewing

On your way to the Meet the Brewer event later in the evening you should stop by the Bristol Brewing taproom and try the newest batch of Somnombulance. This is one of Black Fox's famous beers, absolutely cherished by the locals and guaranteed to sell out quickly. A description of Somnombulance: A very rich Belgian brown ale brewed with coffee beans, vanilla beans and Ghirardelli caramel.

Fri. Jan 13th / 7pm
Meet the Brewer (and owner): Oskar Blues
At Another Pint: 13860 Gleneagle Dr.

Then on Friday night you've gotta head up to Another Pint for the special opportunity to meet the brewer as well as the owner of Oskar Blues. You can hang out and ask them questions...or just stare at them. They'll be bringing three specialty beers with them along with an old classic. We are co-sponsoring this event so we'd love to see you there!.

Sat. Jan 14th / 5pm
New Beer Released at Pikes Peak Brewing Co.
At PPBC - 1756 Lake Woodmoor Dr, Monument

PPBC created a special beer, 4319 Smoked Red Ale, to benefit the  Firefighters from Local 4319. The beer, loosely based on Devil's Head Red but with a lower hop profile and the addition of smoked malt. Come to the party and a portion of the proceeds will be donated.

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Meet the Brewer: John Schneider of Black Fox

We all love Black Fox Brewing and we just can't get enough of their beer. They are indeed a mysterious brewing operation, every now and again we hear stories of broken bones, crazy collaborations, coffee caramel saisons, malt liquor, surgeries, chocolate pepper saisons, shirts that have been banned in other drinking establishments, skateboarding, punk rock, and beers that disappear much too quickly.

So, Another Pint is doing a good thing by hosting a Black Fox Meet the Brewer night. I'm not totally certain what beers will be on tap. As you may know, Black Fox contract-brews out of Bristol, and the beers don't come out on a regular schedule. Nonetheless, it will be nice to get to hang out with John Schneider and have him talk about his beer. I would also suggest asking him about the photo for this poster: we see him with crutches, a PBR, skateboard, and photos from his reconstructive surgery...

Meet the Brewer: John Schneider of Black Fox
When: Saturday Dec. 10, 7pm
Where: Another Pint / 13860 Gleneagle Drive, Colorado Springs

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Reader's Choice: Colorado Springs Best Pumpkin Beer (Kind of)

Overview:

Over the weekend we announced that we would have a Reader's Appreciation Blind Pumpkin Judging and eleven of our facebook fans responded. Last night they all came over, we all got to meet each other and then we got down to the business of blind tasting four different Colorado Springs pumpkin beers. A winner was chosen. I purchased all the beer and I did not participate in the judging. See info below for the results and also to see how this is not a complete survey.

Collaborative Buddha Nuvo Image Recap

Last Friday a gathering of Colorado brewers took place. The project they were/are working on is a collaborative beer called Buddha Nuvo, named after the Buddha's Hand citrus fruit that has been added to the beer. There are more breweries involved in the project that I can beautifully list here, but I've got a bunch of pictures from the brew date below. Here's a bit of information about the beer:

Our malt bill consists of a complex blend Weyerman Pilsen, Vienna, Rye, and spelt for a golden color yet vinous body. Pumpkin was added in the boil for the smooth textures dancing over the palate. Several varieties of whole peppercorns were added to the boil to further reinforce the expected spiciness of this Saison. In fermentation, we mixed 5 distinct yeasts creating a spicy and fruity ester profile. Post fermentation the batch will age on American Oak Chardonnay barrels, 6 varieties of Bretta, and the rare fruit known as Buddha's Hand. Expected ABV is 12%. (Buddha's Hand was also added to the boil).

If you want more information on this beer, there is hours worth of information online about it at this point. Jason Yester took a lot of video from the event, so check his video-blog page to see the activities. Additionally, Rockyard Brewing set up a blog page devoted to this collaborative beer, which includes a wonderful entry of the email exchange happening between the brewers. Check it out!

This is what a Buddha's Hand looks like. Pretty friendly looking fruit, eh?

Jason Yester of Trinity Brewing mashing in the grains. *

Jason Yester, Jason Leeman of Rock Bottom COS, and Tim Myers of Strange Brewing checking mash temperatures.

Jim Stinson of Rockyard Brewing checking to see if the mashing procedure had finished extracting sugars from the malt. They were shooting for 16-18 degrees Plato.

Double Rainbow Beer Interview

One of the most anticipated beer happenings of Colorado Springs is coming up this Friday. At Trinity Brewing you will be able to pick up bottles of the Black Fox/Trinity collaborative beer Double Rainbow, inspired by the Double Rainbow Video. Each person will be limited to 6 bottles, only 500 were made, and they won't be making it again. To whet your appetite, and to just find out a little more about this really unique beer came together, I decided to ask John Schneider of Black Fox and Jason Yester of Trinity Brewing a few questions. John's answers are in this brownish color and Jason's answers are in blue:

How did the idea for the Double Rainbow beer come about?

Jason (Brewer at Trinity) is the person who brought about the idea that we should do a collaboration. We worked together at Bristol for 3.5 - 4 years. Jason was my boss and is my brewing mentor. He brought up the idea of collaboration when it was at the time when the Double Rainbow video was getting big on Youtube. We were at a Saison pairing dinner at A Second Cup/Another Pint in Gleneagle. It was Black Fox and Trinity beers. We were talking about the collaboration and 'joked' about naming the beer Double Rainbow. Plus my wife and I saw a double rainbow on the way to the dinner! Crazy. We decided to use an ingredient for every color of the rainbow (7 colors) - twice. Some were fermentables and some for flavor. 

You joked about naming the beer Double Rainbow, but was it that night  that you knew this would be the beer you would work on? Or did you determine that later?

When I make up my mind to do something, I usually go for it. I called John the next day and we met to figure out the recipe two days after the initial idea...Brewing together in the past and having similar approaches/inspirations with our love for saisons set the stage nicely to work on this collaborative project.

Beer Reviews: Black Fox Shyela Saison and Bristol Christmas Ale

I headed over to Bristol Brewing on Saturday to check out the new beers offered by Bristol and Black Fox at the tap room. If you don't already know, Black Fox is brewed contractually on Bristol's by John Schneider who actually also works for Bristol. The Black Fox beer I received for free, which is something I think I need to tell you first. I will say that when I get free beer and I review, I'll tell you in advance that it's free. It won't change my review, but you should know.

Black Fox Shyela Saison is described on the website as having been brewed with sage and red willow bark. I've had a few sage beers, but never one with red willow bark, and I'm a huge fan of herb/spice beers so, needless to say, I was really pumped about this beer. I got a growler and took it to a friends house, we paired it with a thick carrot and clove soup, not sure if it would pair, but it was a good combo. The beer pours a mostly brown color with some orangish red highlights. The beer is cloudy, you can't see through it, and there is a short

TRiNiTY & Black Fox Beer Updates

1. TRiNiTY Brewing - Black Porter for Black Friday
November 26th: Chilly Water Baltic Porter Release

What isn't always known about Baltic Porter's is that the style is not an ale, it's made with a bottom-fermenting lager yeast. Not very many breweries in the United States make this style, in fact the only popular ones that I can think of include the Alaskan Brewing (I'm not sure if this is a lager though) and Great Divide Baltic Porter. Typically these beers are brewed stronger with higher IBU's but the bitter hop quality is less present than you might expect.
These beers also have a higher degree of complexity than their porter-families, often with some smokiness present, aromas and flavors can include dark fruits, chocolate, and more.