Some great news from over the mountains! Our friends at Elevation Beer Company have been expanding up a storm in recent months, and have just inked a deal to bring their beers to the Lone Star State. If you have family or friends in Texas, make sure to let them know, as Elevation will be hosting tastings and other events to help launch their brand there!
Continuing our behind-the-scenes series of the beers you will try at the coming Beers Made By Walking festival in Denver, our next preview comes from Elevation Beer Co. Their beer, along with 16 others, have gained their inspiration from the Rocky Mountain landscape and will be available for one night only on October 8th at Wynkoop Brewing in Denver.
Elevation is located in the heart of the Rocky Mountains, in Poncha Springs, just a few minutes from the town of Salida, and a short drive to some excellent skiing at Monarch Mountain. The brewery boasts one of the highest altitude brewing facilities in the world, sitting at around 7,465 feet above sea level. They are also a relatively new brewery, having started their operation in March of 2012. Elevation was eager to be a part of Beers Made By Walking when they heard about it because their brewery team thoroughly enjoys hiking trails and outdoor mountain activities.
If you still have a few bottles of the first beer that Elevation Beer Co. bottled, the Apis IV Quad, you should know that the beer is tasting absolutely splendid. I hesitate to say to open your last bottle right this second, because in the next couple months Elevation will release the 2013 Apis IV and you might want to wait till then.
The transformation of the beer in the last year is pretty amazing. I mean we loved the beer when it first came out a year ago. It also recently won a bronze medal in the Belgian Quadrupel Category at the Open Beer Championship. Gone are some of the chocolate characteristics and instead there's a good deal more of honey, figs, and plum with a candy backdrop and a good spicy yeast profile. And dark cherry! There's a lot of wonderful cherry aroma and flavor in there now that I don't remember before. The beer was subtle and nuanced before, now a lot of the flavors are emerging and standing out clearer.
So, you can look forward to that in the near future. Also, Elevation just released some news about some summer seasonals that they will release in bottles. Engel Weisse is a Berliner Weisse beer that clocks in at just 4% abv and was fermented in oak barrels. Jonathan Shikes over at Westword just wrote up a really interesting article about how this beer comes close to not being able to be sold in Colorado liquor stores due to the low abv. The brewery had originally produced the beer at 3.4% but now will sell that beer only it's taproom.
Also be on the look out for the Wild Flowers Imperial Saison, a 7.8% saison with some classic peppery, clove, and lemon character.
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It's hard to believe it's already been a year since Elevation opened their doors in Poncha Springs. Also, it's hard to believe it's ONLY been a year considering the expansion and amount of beer Elevation is producing. The new brewery opened with a bang and things have not slowed down for a moment, and the beer has remained at top quality. On Saturday, and part of Sunday, head into Poncha Springs and celebrate, they're going to have some really fun beers, good looking food, and music. Here's the info from Elevation:
It's here our First Year Anniversary Party! Come help us celebrate one year of brewing beer in Poncha Springs. Hang out in our Beer Garden with special beer releases including:
7,437 Double IPA Anniversary Apis IV 2012 Apis IV aged in Cabernet Barrels 2012 Prostator Smoked Doppelbock 2012 Oil Man Single Barrel 2012
Listen to Live Music from: Dangerish out of Durango Saturday 12-4pm The Nasca James Band out of Salida Saturday 4-8pm Eric Lambert and Friends out of Chicago Sunday 12-4pm
All Ages Welcome! Outdoor fun with lawn games, Soda, and food by Kalamatapit Catering. Limited Edition outdoor stainless steel pints for sale, and don't forget to ride your bike and get a free beer token. Thanks to all of our friends, family and fans for supporting us through our first year.
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I've received a few really cool press releases the last couple days and wanted to share them with you. This includes an all-female-brewed-beer and some new beers from Elevation. I've also heard some news about a new brewery so I'll include that here too.
New Brewery in Woodland Park
The CS Indy broke the news recently that Ute Pass Brewing will open soon in Woodland Park. The brewery will be the third brewery addition to our small entry-to-the-mountains town, joining Bierwerks and the very recent Paradox Beer Co. The project, led by Todd DeRemus and Scott Jones, will hopefully open in March as a tavern and will eventually serve their own beer. In the photos on their website, it looks like they've already got some used equipment ready to go. We've been in touch with the Todd and we should have a bunch of new information for you all soon.
I remember a couple months ago I picked up a pint of Elevation Beer Co.'s Downpour at the local pub. The beer is an Imperial Red Ale, which is basically an IPA but you can perhaps expect nuttier and earthier malt profiles. I'm attracted to the letters IRA because my favorite beer back in Oregon has long been the Double Mountain IRA. As I mentioned in a recent post though, my interest in hops has only recently resurfaced after years of a hop-fatigued palate. But at the pub, on this particular night, I remember being impressed with Downpour and I remember ordering more than one pint of the beer.
So, it's no surprise that when I saw the beer at my local bottle shop I decided to pick up a bottle. It's hard not to buy a bottle of Elevation's beer in the first place, the elegant design on the bottle always calls my name, and I've yet to have a bad experience with any of their beers.
The second I cracked the bottle I could smell massive amounts of clean, crisp pineapple and tropical fruit forward hops with some grassy character too. As you can see in the photo the beer is a really pretty red color with an off-white, thick head that sticks around. The hop aroma translates almost directly in the taste, but with an addition of some danker and earthier hops and a clean lemony bitterness. The malt character is a welcome balance and hides nicely in the background, rounding out the hops with some caramel character and a good texture. The beer weighs in at 7.5% and it feels like it too, I do wish it was a smaller bottle as I'm drinking alone this evening, but I'll still finish it off ;) This one is another enjoyable offering from Elevation. I hope to see Downpour around more often, and especially at the pub where it feels like a fantastic go-to hop-forward beer when I want to grab a pint or two.
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This week we should see some of Elevation's newest beer in our best Colorado Springs liquor stores. Only 230 cases total were released so the beer will go fast. We tried this all the way back during the Saison Festival when it was young and had been recently placed in barrels, it will be great to see what some age has done with the beer. It's also the first in their Double Black Diamond series and here is what Elevation says about it:
Elevation’s first barrel aged beer is made in the tradition of the
farmhouse beers of the Wallonia region of Belgium. Eclectic, funky, and
original this is the first beer in our Double Black Diamond Series of
seasonal barrel-aged beers. The Signal de Botrange is the highest tower
on the highest point in Belgium and we hope our Signal de Botrange will
help elevate your perception of beer, much like the beers of Belgium did
for us. 7.5% ABV.
My best guess is that this will be at Coaltrain, Weber, Cheers, and perhaps a couple others. Elevation did just sign a distribution license, so perhaps that will add to the list of places we'll be able to find this. If you see them at other places, feel free to leave a comment.
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It's unanimous, Elevation Beer Co. kicks ass. We brought them out last week for our Meet the Brewer series, which we try to hold about once a month. Elevation brought 6 beers, including bottle and draught versions of Apis IV and a Cabernet barrel aged version. I drank a couple of the First Cast IPA's, a very fresh and bubble-gummy IPA with a great hop character. The Imperial Saison and the Mount Blanca Saison were also great. The Front Range BBQ patio was full, and they created a short-rib special with bbq sauce made with Apis IV. They also brought their beers into town, so you can pick up bottles at places like Coaltrain, Weber, and Powers.
Christian Koch and the Elevation crew showed up and gave out a few gifts. Christian talked about the history of Elevation (they're about a month old) and talked about each of the beers, went around to the tables and answered questions. Looks like people had a great time. Stay tuned for more Meet the Brewer events.
Beer Info:
From Elevation: "Apis, the genus of the honeybee, is in homage to the hardworking
honeybees of Colorado that provided the caramelized honey we use in
making this fantastic beer. IV is a nod to the four people who came
together to turn Elevation from a dream into a reality as well as to the
beer style this Belgian Dark Strong Ale loosely adheres to." The bottle calls it a Quadrupel, which is a dark strong Belgian Ale, and it sits at a large 10.7% ABV. Elevation is a new brewery near Salida, CO, and have been open for only about a month.
Beer Thoughts:
Gorgeous artwork gives this bottle a sense of value and collectability. The beer pours a beautiful dark brown with ruby notes,
Meet the Brewer: Elevation Beer Co. June 21st / 6:30pm / Pay Per Pint Front Range BBQ / 2330 West Colorado Ave, Colorado Springs Facebook Event Page
Elevation Beer Co. is one of the newest breweries in Colorado (they aren't even a month old yet!) but we got our first taste of Elevation at the Saison Festival. We were very impressed with the Saison and Farmhouse Ales they brought to town and we knew we needed to bring these guys in for a Meet the Brewer session. It is quite apparent that this brewery is experimenting, having loads of fun, and they're doing it right too. The brewery is located in Poncha Springs, just outside Salida, and I bet they'll become a regular stopping point, for many of us Colorado Springers, on our drives into the mountains. Come celebrate this new brewery, meet brewer Christian Koch, he's bringing some fun and experimental beers, as well as a couple of the flagships. Check out the list of beers below!
Saison Fest 2012 has come and gone and we have to wait another 365 days till the next one. After living in Colorado Springs for a year and a half I have come to love Saisons and Farmhouse Ales, due in large part to Trinity Brewing and their persistence in exploring the possibilities of these beers. We've seen Saisons of all kinds, from clean, dry, and sharp to messy, playful, and complex. We've seen farmhouse ales with wild yeast, with vegetables grown in our own backyards, with saffron, with heather, without hops, with fruit, with almonds, with large amounts of tartness and many other variations. It makes perfect sense that Trinity's newest flagship beer is Saison Man, a clean and dry saison named after Jason Yester, and it also makes sense that Jason organizes the annual Saison and Farmhouse Ale Festival. This is a day where breweries all over Colorado do some experimentation and bring some very playful offerings. Many of the beers are created for this event, while others are special beers that we just can't really get this far south of Denver (yet). It's a lovely festival, I really can't emphasize it enough. This year I had just as much fun as last year and I'm looking forward to the next one, although I wish we could have it again in 30 days. I hope you enjoy our photos and our recap.
I got word that Elevation Beer Co. will be at the Saison Festival and that this will be the very first time their beers will be available to the public. We interviewed Xandy Bustamante a couple months back to learn more about Elevation and what they're doing out in Poncha Springs. It turns out they're focus is going to be on barrel aged beer of all kinds, here's what they said in the interview:
Our focus will be on seasonal speciality and barrel-aged beers. We will have two year round beers available only on draft in the High Country of CO (Mount Blanca and First Cast IPA) a collection of Brewer's Playground beers (what ever our wild minds come up with) available at our tap room, and then our Black Diamond and Double Black Diamond Series with our Black Diamond focusing on specialty beers (think Double IPA's, Belgians and other fun styles) and our Double Black Diamond which will be all 100% barrel aged.
So, for the Saison Fest we're going to get to taste their first beers - Mount Blanca sounds like a good tasting traditional saison, as well as their first barrel aged beer, a farmhouse called Signal de Botrange. I don't have the list of all the beers that will be at the festival, but these are going to be high on my priority list. Here are some descriptions:
This week we are showcasing some new breweries that are set to open soon in the area. We are very happy to welcome three new breweries to Colorado Springs and one in Poncha Springs, just outside of Salida. We'll post one or two a day for the first couple days of February. This post will be dedicated to Elevation Beer Co...See the whole New Brewery Series here.
We just heard about Elevation Beer Co.'s plans this week and decided we needed to add them to our New Brewery Series. They will be located in Poncho Springs, just five minutes from Salida, they've got a big warehouse space (as you can see in these photos), got their TTB license, and plan to brew up their first batch in the next few weeks. The people behind Elevation have some good experience in the industry and have some nice plans to really focus in on barrel aging beers. Read what they're up to and stay tuned for more information from these folks. This interview was conducted via email with Xandy Bustamante, the sales and distribution manager.
