Homebrewed By Design

Just wanted to give everyone a little window into my world-of-beer, now that I've moved back to Portland. Homebrewed By Design was an event that I co-organized with designer Jason Sturgill. We paired 20 homebrewers with 20 independent graphic designers. Homebrewers brewed up some special treats and the designers made labels for the beer. Labels were then professionally printed at Rose City Label, and we celebrated during Design Week Portland. It was awesome. We've talked about bringing the program out to Colorado too, so maybe you'll hear more about it in 2014. Big thanks to our pal Austin Will for his video work here.

- - -
Stay updated with our email updates and like us on Facebook. We're also on Twitter and Instagram at @focusonthebeer.

Brewer's Republic celebrates third anniversary party!

Remember when Brewer's Republic opened up in the mornings as a coffee bar? Remember when they sent customers to tour hop farms and the Oskar Blues brewery?

We dig that little bar in downtown Colorado Springs. Brewer's Republic is the place where the majority of the Focus on the Beer crew got to know each other. We met on one fateful night, drank a few pints while chatting, and began hanging out quite regularly. Since then we've made friends with so many other people in Colorado Springs and Brewer's Republic has been one of the main places where those friendships grow. It's also the place where a large number of those friendships started. We've had the pleasure of working with BR on a number of our events, we've seen them change ownership, we've attended lovely beer dinners, and we're currently seeing visible progression of an expanded beer selection. We're happy to have Brewer's Republic around, it's one of the best places for grabbing a good craft beer in Colorado Springs. We're looking forward to celebrating their third anniversary this weekend.

Three great events at Brewer's Republic over the next 2 weeks

Brewer's Republic has a few really notable events coming up in the next couple weeks that I think any-a-beer-lover would be interested in hitting up. The events include tap-takeovers and specialty beers from Stone, Great Divide, and Dogfish Head. Check it out!

Colorado Beer goes to Oregon

Focus on the Beer and Belmont Station are teaming up to bring a very special collaborative event to Portland for PDX Beer Week. We have worked with over ten breweries from our great state of Colorado to send their beer to Oregon. Many of the breweries have never distributed out of state before, so this will be a very special treat for our PDX drinking friends. Here's a list of what we will be getting to drink on June 14th, the list is subject to change:

Backcountry / Brett is a Douche / Imperial Saison with Brett
Crooked Stave / Vieille / Dry-hopped barrel aged Saison
Crooked Stave / Surette / Barrel aged provision Saison
Crooked Stave / St. Bretta / 100% Brett Witbier
Elevation / Third Base Tripel
Elevation / False Summit / Bourbon Barrel Aged Quad
Elevation / Oil Man / Bourbon barrel aged Stout
Elevation / Apis Red / Quad aged in red wine barrels
Great Divide / Barrel Aged Hibernation
Grimm Brothers / Snow Drop / Honey Wheat Ale
New Belgium / 2010 Vrienden / Hibiscus, Brett, and Lactobacillus
Oskar Blues / Chardonnay Barrel Aged G'Knight
Ska / TBA
Telluride / Face Down Brown
Telluride / Fishwater Double IPA
Trinity / TPS Report / Wild American Bretta
Trinity / Barrel aged Brett Saison with lavender
Trinity / Red Swingline / IPA with Lactobacillus
Trinity / Damn it Feels Good to be a Gangsta / Barrel aged dark Saison
TRVE / Stout O)))
TRVE / Tunnel of Trees IPA

Colorado Beer Tapping for PDX Beer Week
June 14th / 6pm / Belmont Station
4500 SE Stark, Portland
Facebook Event

- - -
Stay updated with our email updates and like us on Facebook. We're also on Twitter and Instagram at @focusonthebeer.

Beer Events this week in Colorado Springs

There's a couple great looking beer events happening in the next couple days and we wanted to draw your attention to them. We've already mentioned one but wanted to make sure you saw them all. Cheers!

Deschutes Tap Takeover at Brewer's Republic on May 17th

Deschutes Brewery Tap Takeover
Fri. May 17th / 5pm
Brewer's Republic / 112 N. Nevada, Colorado Springs
Facebook Event

Seeing as how the director of Focus on the Beer is from Oregon, we figured our first "tourist tap takeover" at Brewer's Republic should be from an Oregon Brewery. In the past, Brewer's Republic has dedicated one tap handle to an outside-of-Colorado brewery and through our partnership with them we're hoping to do this on a monthly basis. On Friday, May 17th, you will be treated to one of our favorite breweries. Deschutes Brewery is located in Bend, Oregon, with an annex brewpub in Portland. Opening in 1988, the brewery has not only become a classic in the Pacific NW, its beers are still regarded as some of the best in the industry by geeks and professionals alike.

Two Weeks of Beer Events in the Region

The Pikes Peak Region is going to see its fair share of beer events in April. The next two weeks are are pretty full already. We've got festivals, prohibition parties, a women's beer release party, ski and beer parties, music and beer nights, session beer day, and more! Have a look and we hope to see you at the around!

You can always check out our local beer calendar to see what's coming up, you can sync that calendar to yours too. If you know of any other beer events please let us know.

***UPDATES - Check out the new events added to the list***

A list of beer events in the region over the next 2 weeks

There's a ton of events coming up in the Pikes Peak Region over the next two weeks so we wanted to share them here. These include beer dinners, brewery anniversary parties, Irish beer parties, special tappings, a new women's beer club, and so much more. We'll update this post, but you can also check our calendar for updates too.

***UPDATED EVENTS BELOW

Local Halloween Beer Releases

Halloween beers are wonderful. Here's a list of what you can expect to find around town this month. Drink em fast because most will disappear quickly. Also, Coaltrain will have a good variety of pumpkin spice beers, but those also tend to disappear quickly. Lsatly, check back here for updates, not all the local breweries have told me what they are up to yet.

October 7
Trinity Brewing - Emma's Coffin Pumpkin Saison
Brewed with brown sugar, garam masala, torch roasted Vennetucci Farm sugar pumpkins, white sage, coriander, and grains of paradise. This version of our seasonally rotating Saison tastes like liquid pumpkin pie .... If you were in Belgium that is! 10.5% ABV - $17.95 for a 750ml bottle.

October 13/14
Phantom Canyon - Halloween Pumpkin Ale
It looks like the Brewer's Dinner on the 13th will feature the pumpkin ale, however it won't be available to everyone else until the 14th. From Alan: Pumpkins were used in early colonial American brewing as a way to supplement expensive imported malt with locally grown and plentiful ingredients. Over one-hundred and fifty pounds of pumpkin are added to the batch making a beer with a sunset orange-amber hue, pumpkin aroma and a slightly spicy finish from a blend of vanilla, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, coriander, cloves and caraway. 6.1% ABV.

October 15
Rock Bottom Colorado Springs - Pumpkin Harvest Ale
Pumpkin in the mash. Kettle. Fermenter. And bright tank. If you don't taste pumpkin its your fault.

We've started organizing events...and we want to knock your socks off...

UPDATE - The date/time has been changed to Oct 22nd at 6pm.

We've started organizing events...and we want to knock your socks off...

Focus on the Beer is super proud to present to you Meet the Brewer Night with Chad Yakobson, the owner and brewer for one of Colorado's newest breweries, Crooked Stave. This is the first time that any of Crooked Stave's finished beers will be available in Colorado Springs, so come celebrate! We've mentioned Chad numerous times on this blog and have been really excited about his beer so it is only fitting that he be involved in our first Meet the Brewer event. All of Crooked Stave's beers are aged or soured, often using various strains of Brettanomyces. There will be a number of different specialty beers for purchase at Another Pint/A Second Cup, he'll give a little talk about his beers and the unique things he's doing at his brewery, and he'll be available to chat with you if you want to ask him any questions or make small talk. There is no cover charge, but the beer is available for purchasing.

This event will be the first of many that we organize. We're really excited to be an active part of the beer community here in Colorado Springs, and we have many more ideas/plans that are in the works. If you enjoy reading this blog, then you can support us by attending this event.

Meet the Brewer: Crooked Stave
Fri. Oct 22nd / 6pm
Another Pint (at A Second Cup) / 13860 Gleneagle Dr., Colorado Springs

Also, check out the Facebook Event Page for this.

- - -
To stay up to date with Focus on the Beer you can receive email updates and join us on our Facebook page.