Cogstone – March 2019 Visit

March 29, 2019 Jesse

One of the hazards of trying to visit all of the Colorado Springs area breweries on our “Thirsty Thursday’s” is that it coincides with Firkin Thursdays at some local breweries. Breweries that Mike and I enjoy going to. In this specific instance, Cogstone Brewing Company. We had the plan for a few weeks to go to Trinity since I have never been there (I know, I know. I’m embarrassed to even admit that.) and I was quite looking forward to it, but then Mike suggested that we swing by Cogstone to get a half-pint of this weeks firkin before it’s gone. Well, knowing how these things go, I suggested that we simply forego Trinity yet again and hang at Cogstone for the evening. As usual, I don’t regret that decision and I would make it again – heck, who am I kidding? It’s highly likely we’ll make that same decision in the future if the Cogstone guys keep cranking out awesome firkins.

The “temptress” this evening was the Toasted Marshmallow Gratzer (ABV: 4% IBU: 0). This was a very interesting beer. I can’t think of a beer that I’ve had that would be comparable, to be honest. It’s pretty unique in my book. According to the post on Facebook, it has “Warm hints of vanilla layered on top of our traditional smokey gratzer, make this weeks #firkin one you won’t want to miss.” and that sums it up pretty well. The vanilla was certainly noticeable but not overbearing and the same could be said for the smoke flavor. There was a oak flavor that lingered for a long time after, however, but not unpleasantly so. I had a half pint (that was the smallest size they serve of the firkins) but I would have quite enjoyed a pint or two before the oak flavor started getting too much.

[Mike]
I agree with Jesse on this one. This was a very unique beer to me. I didn’t pick up the vanilla until it warmed up a bit, and the more it warmed, the stronger the vanilla aroma became. That smoke flavor was different from other smoked beer that I’ve had, and really prevalent and soft.

Since we decided to stay, we had a few more half-pints of things we hadn’t had before. As with all other Cogstone selections, these were very good beers. Cogstone, by the way, is one of perhaps three breweries in Colorado Springs where I think all of their beers are above average.

Scottish Export – ABV: 5.3% If you’re a fan of malt, this may just be the beer for you. As with most Scottish beers (at least as far as I knwo), this was quite malty, but it had a crisper flvor profile that I would have expected from a Scottich beer. I typically associate richness with malt, but this was malty and refreshing.

Brut IPA – (ABV: 6.8%) I’ve been staying away from IPA’s lately in an effort to expand my zymurlogical (?) horizons but thought I’d give this Brut a try. As Mike pointed out to me last night, ‘brut’ is the French word for ‘dry’ (I think I knew that, but I’m glad he told me) and this beer lives up to that description. Unlike a double/triple/imperial IPA, this wasn’t too hoppy, but had a nice, crisp, grapefruity finish. Certainly not a beer I would want to drink more than one or two of, but I’m not sorry I ordered it.

[Mike] Raspberry Brown Ale – If Cogstone wanted to come up with name for this delicious Brown Ale, might I suggest “RASPBERRY!!!!”. Seriously, the aroma and flavor of this beer just shouts it. It’s not so much the delicate raspberry that you get from lighter beers, but something that brings to mind a darker fruit, maybe something you’re served with chocolate, just a really rich flavor. I had a half pint of it, and liked it so much I just had some more. I even bought a crowler of it so I could share some with my wife, or selfishly drink it by myself later.

Beers we’ve Reviewed at Cogstone: