All Colorado Beer Festival – 2018
The all Colorado Beer festival is by far my most attended festival. This year it was held at the Chapel Hills event center, which was a change of venue for me. More about that below.
I think I’ve been to this festival something like 4 times now, and I really am going to have to make an effort not to miss it in the future. Overall it’s a great experience, and all proceeds get donated to local charities. I don’t think I can recommend it enough.
The Venue and Event
I have to admit, the venue didn’t look super awesome from the outside, a temporary sign hung up on the front of the entrance, and a inflatable beer can outside. The inside however, was a Colorado beer lovers paradise.
At no point in time did I ever feel crowded, and the only time that we had to wait for a sample of a beer for longer than 20 seconds was when lined up behind a group of people who were talking, and not in line at all.
A common problem that is created by a beer fest is lines at the bathroom. Yes, that was a bit of an issue here, but I’ve seen much worse. There was one set of bathrooms in the event center, and if the line was too long, you could stumble into the mall, and there were more bathrooms across the hallway, and down in the food court.
Really, I don’t know what anyone can do about this at a beer fest, and I thought the moderate lines were far more to contend with than the huge lines of portable bathrooms that I’ve worked with at other festivals and concerts.
I hope that in the following years they keep it at the Chapel hills mall, unless they find someplace better of course. I had heard some grumblings that the location they had it at last year wasn’t so great, but I missed last year, so I can’t give a first hand account.
It’s really hard for me to practice good reporting of a beer festival, I start out taking good notes, but because of the fact that I’m drinking a bunch of delicious beer, by the end of the event my notes are pretty much non-existent.
This year, in addition to my notes, I made use of my phone’s camera, and enlisted the help of my wife. With something like 65 brewers there, I really only took notes of what really stood out, which doesn’t go to say that the beers I don’t mention weren’t good, it’s just that they didn’t stick with me, or I may not have even had a chance to try them.
The Beverages
Here’s what I remember:
Whistle Pig (Colorado Springs)- They had an amazing Chili Amber. Not too spicy, but just spicy enough to let you know it was a chili beer, and not spicy enough to hide the malt taste.
Verboten Brewing (Loveland) – Roll in Ze Watermelons Goze – This was really good. Nice watermelon flavor, but not watery. Finishes with a nice tartness.
Metric Brewing (Colorado Springs)- Butterscotch Blonde – Another amazing beer from Metric. Really delicious, with an understated butterscotch flavor.
Resolute Brewing (Centennial) – Don’t Sweat the Tecnique pineapple Mango Double IPA – Yes, that is a really long beer + style name. Especially when it’s near the end of the festival. Let me tell you, it was totally worth the effort. Delicious. I don’t recall the other beers they had, but I do remember they were really good too. I’ll have to stop by next time I’m in Centennial.
Cerberus (Colorado Springs) – Their stout is amazing. I need to make sure I have it again the next time we visit.
Ute Pass Brewing (Woodland Park)- Kickback Irish Red Ale – Really great beer. If you’re a regular reader, or have talked to me a few times, you know that I love Irish Red.
C Squared Ciders (Denver) – They had several ciders here, I remember specifically that the Dark Cider (Seasonal Siren Series), and India Pale Cider, (“Siren Series“) were very good. The India Pale was dry hopped, and semi dry, and the Amber was just plain delicious. There were some others that were really good too.
The Judging
Brews Brothers of the Pikes Peak Region (My Homebrew Club) received the 2018 “Champion Award” from the beer fest. The club (not I) have operated the judging for hte event for 7 years now.
You can find the full list of awards, along with a handy PDF here.
There are a number of our local Springs breweries on the list, some notable winners from places we’ve visited this year:
- Gold: IPA Freely – Smiling Toad – IPAs: English, American & Double
- Gold: Roll in Ze Watermelons – Verboten Brewing Co.
- Silver – Commando Queen – Smiling Toad Brewery – Specialty IPAs
- Silver: It takes a Tribe Red Ale – Goat patch Brewing C0 – Bocks, Scotting & Irish Ales
- Silver: Ohana Nut Ale – Peaks N Pines Brewing Company
- Silver: Devil Dog Stout – Red Leg Brewing Company – Stouts
- Bronze: Sick Call Ranger ESB – Brass Brewing – English Pale & Brown Ales and Porters
More Pictures of the event:
