Photos from the Avery Brewing Meet the Brewer

WOW! Was that a great time or what? I think I'm still recovering slightly from last Thursday, when Matt "Handtruck" and Andy from Avery came and instilled their beer knowledge with us all at Front Range BBQ. Along with a couple special kegs, Brian from Front Range pulled out all the stops, emptying his Avery collection on the crowd. Multiple versions of Rumpkin and Uncle Jacob's Stout, as well as a bunch of the special barrel-aged beers that Avery has put out over the past few years were available, and quickly cluttered each table. We hope everyone else had as great of a time as we did!

Thanks Daniel for these great shots from the evening.

Meet the Brewer: Avery Brewing on Nov. 7th

Meet the Brewer: Avery Brewing
Thurs. Nov. 7th / 7pm
Front Range BBQ / 2330 W. Colorado Ave., Colorado Springs
Event on Facebook

Avery Brewing is well known across the United States for beers that push the boundaries of the craft brewing industry. They show off the maturity of their beer portfolio by including 18% ABV stouts and puckery barrel aged treasures, along with their well-known and delicately balanced easy drinkers like White Rascal, Ellie's Brown Ale, and Joe's Pils. That's why we've been looking forward to announcing this for months and months - Avery Brewing will be joining us for a very special Meet the Brewer event on November 7th at Front Range BBQ.

Joining us will be Matt Thrall and Andy Parker. Matt is Avery's head brewer, and Andy is the the head of the barrel aged beer program. We interviewed them for our Cellarmanship video series, and we encourage you to check out that video. They will talk about the beer that they make, their roles in the industry, what's coming up at Avery, they can geek out with you, and they'll be available to chat one on one.

For the event we will have a fantastic lineup of Avery beer, including a number of beers normally only available in their Boulder taproom, some regular favorites, a number of aged bottles from their barrel series, some big beers, and some small beers. Here's the list:

Draft List

• Lilikoi - Avery's famous White Rascal with Hawaiian passion fruit purée added. 5.6% ABV.
• Out of Sight - Coffee-infused Stout. 6.5% ABV.
• Uberschwein - Double dry-hopped Barleywine style or Imperial Red Ale. This beer doesn't belong to one pure style. 9.2 % ABV.
• Joe's Pils - A wonderfully balanced, easy drinking Premium American Pils. 4.7% ABV.
• Czar - A rich, balanced, and complex Imperial Stout from the Dictator Series. 10-12% ABV.

Very Limited Bottled Beers

• Rumpkin 2011 - Pumpkin Ale aged in Rum Barrels
• Rumpkin 2012 - Pumpkin Ale aged in Rum Barrels
• Rumpkin 2013 - Pumpkin Ale aged in Rum Barrels
• Muscat d' Amour 2012 - Wild fermented ale with Muscat Grapes, aged in Chardonnay Barrels
• Oud Floris 2012 - Sour Brown aged in various wine and liquor barrels
• Odio Equum 2012 - Sour Ale aged with Raspberries in Cabernet Sauvignon Barrels
• Uncle Jacobs Stout 2012 - A huge Imperial Stout aged 6 months in Bourbon Barrels
• Uncle Jacobs 2013 - A huge Imperial Stout aged 6 months in Bourbon Barrels
• Samaels 2013 - Oak Aged English-Style Strong Ale
• Momi Hiwa 2013 - Porter with coconut, aged in Rum Barrels

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Anniversary Weekend Photo Recap: Party at Trinity and Breakfast at FRBBQ

Our Anniversary Weekend was a weekend that really goes down in the history books. We presented a rare beer tapping at Trinity and the following day a six course beer and bacon breakfast at Front Range BBQ. These will be some very memorable moments to be certain. Luckily we've got them permanently captured here in case our memories of the Bacon-drop biscuits with pork belly and bacon hollandaise sauce begin to fade. We didn't have the photos ready in time for our 2012 Photo Recap but they deserve their own post anyway.

A big Thank You to all who came out and celebrated with us and a Thank You to all our readers who couldn't make it. Also, a huge thank you to the brewers who participated in the festivities. Cheers!

Beer Bacon Breakfast...BOOM!

If you have been paying attention you know that we've been planning a Beer Bacon Breakfast as part of our blog's Second Anniversary Weekend Party. Well, we are very very very happy to say that you can now make your reservations. This will be the ultimate hangover meal. After filling yourself completely the previous night with specialty beer at our Anniversary Party at Trinity you can just sit down and work off that headache with five courses of bacon-laced grub from Front Range BBQ.

We have worked with FRBBQ closely to pair some fantastic rare beers with each course. The menu is not finalized but there are whispers of a bacon-maple donut and we will be sure to reveal the menu in all of it's glory as soon as it's ready. But, by then I imagine all the seats will be reserved, we expect this to fill up very quickly so please call in and reserve your spot now. $50, plus tax and tip. You'll also have to sign a waiver in case your arteries clog while you're there. No joke! The beers we have confirmed so far are: Oskar Blues Whiskey Aged Ten Fidy, Elevation Prostrator Smoked Dopplebock, Avery Out of Sight Coffee Infused Stout, and Crabtree Berliner Weisse. We'll still have a few more beers as well. Call to RSVP at 719.632.2596.


***Update***

The Beers

• Welcome Beer Cocktail - Your choice of Twisted Pine Billy's Chilies used in a Bloody Bacon Beer OR Bristol Brewing 2010 Barlywine used in a Bacon Beermosa. 
• Elevation Prostator Smoked Doppelbock 
• Oskar Blues Oak Aged Ten Fidy Imperial Stout 
• Crabtree Berliner Weisse (Intermission Beer) 
• Avery Out of Sight Coffee-Infused Stout 
• New Belgium Super IPA 
• Odell The Meddler Oud Bruin 
• Russian River Pliny the Elder

The Food 

• Chipotle-Bacon-Jelly filled Donut
• Fruit Braised Pork Belly over Cheddar Bacon Drop Biscuits topped with a Bacon Hollandaise Sauce
• Sweet Potato Ham Hash with Bacon Cheese Grits & Poached Egg
• Pancake Sandwich filled with Canadian Bacon, Egg, Beer Cheese Sauce, topped with a Beer Syrup
• Ground Bacon & Chorizo Scotch Egg Burrito with Queso Fresco & Green Chili Pico de Gallo
• Bacon S'mores with Beer Ice Cream

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Belgian Beer Brunch at Front Range BBQ

Sunday mornings just got a lot more interesting when Brian Fortinberry, owner of Front Range BBQ, decided to have beer brunches on select dates. We're helping plan a beer, bacon, breakfast on Dec. 09 and we can confirm that beer for breakfast is great. So, I had the pleasure of attending the most recent brunch, a Belgian beer themed brunch consisting of 5 entrees paired with one or two Belgians beers.

Belgian Beer Brunch, yes please!

Do I even have to tell you that the Belgian Beer Brunch is going to be incredible? Front Range BBQ is pulling out the stops and will be serving quite an exquisite five-course breakfast-time feast this weekend (Sunday) featuring seven wonderful beers. Have you ever drank beer this early in the morning? On special occasions I have, and it's a lovely couple hours. In fact I've been to a FRBBQ beer brunch and it was truly a great time. The same way I imagine that a mimosa or a bloody mary are the perfect remedies for those hazy mornings after long nights of fun a beer brunch is perfect for a day where you'd just like to chill out, be convivial, and enjoy the crisp air. I can't recommend this event enough.

Recap: New Belgium Meet the Brewer

Last night was an amazing night at Front Range BBQ. We brought out Eric Salazar, the brewer for the New Belgium wood-aging program, for our Meet the Brewer series. Eric gave a keynote presentation for 60 minutes to a house packed full of people who were drinking some limited New Belgium brews. Big thanks to Travis Flett and Michael Bussmann for helping put this together with me.

The presentation was pretty informative. Eric talked all about the history of the wood program at New Belgium. Peter Bouckaert was brought in from the Rodenbach Brewery in Belgium where he had been trained in brewing and blending sour beers. He started up the program at New Belgium and is the creator of the infamous La Folie. Now New Belgium has 35 wood foeders ranging in size from I believe 23 hectoliters to 250 hectoliters. Their total capacity is around 4200 hectoliters, which is roughly 3600 barrels.

Photo Recap: Elevation Beer Co. Meet the Brewer

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.

Image Recap of all the crazy things we did last weekend

Last weekend was one of the busiest weekends in recent memory for craft beer in Colorado Springs. We've got some photos to guide you through some of the events. Included are Meet the Brewer with Doug Odell, our trip up north to pick up kegs for Battle of the Brewers, Battle of the Brewers, and Front Range's beer brunch. This is tough work sometimes!

Drink With Us All Weekend!!!

This weekend is going to be a ton of fun. We organized two back to back events, the Odell Meet the Brewer on Friday, Battle of the Brewers on Saturday and we're also probably heading to the Beer Brunch at Front Range BBQ on Sunday morning. You should definitely come and hang out with us all weekend long! Here are the full details:

FRIDAY, MARCH 30TH

Meet the Brewer: Odell Brewing

Fri. March 30 / 7pm

Another Pint / 13860 Gleneagle Dr. Colorado Springs
Pay per pint
Event page on Facebook

Focus on the Beer Top 10 Beer Spots in Colorado Springs: #5 Front Range BBQ

Here is #3 from the Focus on the Beer list of the top 10 beer spots in the Colorado Springs area. We are starting at #10 and working our way down to #1 in the upcoming weeks. The rest of the Top 10 can be found here. Let us know what you think!
#3 Beer Spot of Colorado Springs: Front Range BBQ
Residing in the heart of Old Colorado City is one of the best BBQ joints in Colorado Springs. Front Range Barbeque was started in 2000 by two brothers from Alabama. Since opening they have won numerous awards for their BBQ, including Best BBQ by the CS Indy every year...but that's not the only reason to stop by. Recently they have dialed their beer selection up a few notches, offering a great tap and bottle list.

Willy Tea playing in the outdoor patio

The Beer: Front Range BBQ has recently expanded their tap list to ten beers with good variety and rotation. The prices are reasonable, ranging from $4-6. You will find great seasonals from local Colorado breweries as well as out of state favorites like Dogfish Head, Boulevard, and The Bruery. The bottle list is what separates this beer spot from all the others in Colorado Springs. They offer around 40 bottles of beer with many of these being Belgian imports. The great thing about this list is that the prices are only a couple dollars more than liquor store prices. Some examples are the rare Avery Rumpkin for $12, St. Bernardus Christmas Ale 750 ml for $8, Great Divide Barrel Aged Yeti for $25, Mikkeller Barrel-Aged Black Hole for $14, and La Chouffe 750ml for $12. These prices are crazy good! The beers on both lists rotate pretty frequently. They also list their tap and bottle list on a downloadable app which is super convenient. They have also started having beer dinners that have been fantastic.

Ten nice taps at the bar

The Food: Award winning BBQ draws most of the customers to this joint. The food here is probably the best of all the top 10 spots we are reviewing. Front Range BBQ uses local and fresh ingredients as well as southern family recipes and cooking styles. They use a dry-rub cooking process with mixtures of real wood to slow smoke the meats. You will find an extensive menu full of starters, salads, sandwiches, burgers, and BBQ plates. You can't go wrong with the pulled pork sandwich or one of their BBQ meat plates.

The Atmosphere: The restaurant has a warm rustic feel like a southern home. Tables are situated within the small, cozy, rooms of the converted house. It can definitely get cramped in a hurry, but they have an outdoor covered patio area that is fun any time of the year. Front Range BBQ does a great job of bringing in live music. The acts range from local talent such as Bluegrass favorite Grass It Up who play most Wednesday nights to National acts. The music styles that frequent Front Range include folk, Americana, blues, rock, and jam bands.

The beautiful bar top at FR BBQ

Overall: Front Range BBQ has already established themselves as a great BBQ restaurant and live music venue in Colorado Springs. What was once previously underlooked as a beer spot is now turning themselves into a contender for one of the best spots for craft beer in the Colorado Springs area. The combination of the outdoor patio venue with live music, great food, and great beer really makes this place a must visit and a deserving spot in our Top 5.

Front Range Barbeque

2330 West Colorado Avenue

Colorado Springs, CO 80904

719.632.2596

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