Paradox Beer Company August 2019 Visit

August 29, 2019 Mike

It’s took us way too long to visit Paradox Beer Company. I mean, really way too long. It’s always been a destination that we wanted to visit, but just never seemed to get around to doing it. Heck, back when they were still in Woodland Park, I spent a very snowy, dark hour or so driving around their area in a minivan trying to find them, and never did.

I hope we can get back out there again soon, because it was awesome!

I may repeat a lot of what I said in our brewery post for Paradox Beer Company, but we were really impressed with the place.

We knew the beer was going to be great, and even that exceeded our expectations, but the taproom is just plain awesome. Being able to get a 5 or 10 ounce pour lets you sample far more than you normally would.

They have barrel staves that have been turned into decorations all over the place, the art that isn’t handcrafted is really unique, and the staff is great. They really love their beer, not only do they know a lot about it, but they are glad to talk about it and make recommendations.

Heck, if you want to try and make your own blend by combining some of the offerings, they’re all for it.

Fortunately for us, Jeffrey Airman was there when we visited, and he took some time to chat with us about their creations, philosophy and taste science. He also mentioned a series of tours that he is having at Paradox that sound really interesting, if I were you, I would keep an eye out on the Facebook COS Craft Beer group for an announcement.

If you like Paradox Beer, or even if you’ve never had it but enjoy sour beer, you’ve got to make the drive out there.

I want to preface the tasting notes by saying that I don’t claim to have an amazing palate, and there are a lot of flavors that I can’t pick out of a lineup yet. Paradox’s beers are pretty complex, with fermentation characteristics merging with the wood and other additions, so these reviews are probably just scratching at the surface of what’s there. If ever there were a need for a “wine snob” type of review, this is probably the place.

[Jesse] I’d like to point out that my wife is absolutely not a beer drinker but she thoroughly enjoyed the beer here. I believe there was only one beer that she tried where she made “the face”, but that’s just because she is extremely sensitive to spicy peppers. Other than that, I think I’d be able to bring home a bottle of any of these from the store and she would help me drink it. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing, now that I think about it….

One other thing I felt I needed to mention is, after looking over the beer menu, we really wanted to try some of the offerings they had in bottles in addition to those on tap. So we wound up splitting three bottles among the table (or just Mike and I in the case of one) over the course of the afternoon. I’ll simply be adding my thoughts to Mikes comments for those beers we shared.

Finally, I’ll echo Mike is saying that every beer I had there was truly amazing and are evidence of the knowledge, dedication to the craft the brewers put into each batch of beer. I’ll definitely be finding my way “up the pass” to hit up the taproom again.

Without further delay, here’s what we had.

Grafted in Paradise – This was my first beer out of the gate, and it was a collaboration with Purpose Brewing & Cellars in Fort Collins. The sourness was pretty light, and I thought it had nice lemon and citrus notes. It was foeder fermented and aged on Padauk and Amburana woods from Africa and Brazil. Very delicious, and although I don’t think I could pick out the grains of paradise or wood flavors, it was really unique.

Skully Barrel No. 60 B’aril Blood – Nice level of sourness, tangerine and pomegranate really add some complexity and fruity notes to the flavor profile.

I had a lot of trouble holding off on this one until it warmed a bit, and there’s no way I would have guessed it was 8% ABV.

[Jesse] The first of the previously mentioned bottles.
As Mike alluded to, I also was shocked when I read on the bottle that this was an 8% beer. It had just the right amount of sour for me. It cut the sweetness of the tropical flavors and balanced out the beer perfectly.

Skully Barrel No. 42 Screaming Sun – Really nice citrus flavors. It was just plain delicious.

[Jesse] The second bottle.
I got a distinct (but not powerful) grapefruit flavor from this beer. Again, wonderfully balanced so the citrus and sour complemented each other rather than compete with each other.

Skully Barrel No. 26 Mango Chili Sour – The first thing I picked up from this beer was the bret character in the aroma. The mango is light and really compliments the sourness. After the finish, there’s a slight twinge of spiciness at the back of your throat, but only the smallest amount. It was wonderful!

[Jesse] The final bottle.
The is the beer my wife didn’t care for, but, that was fine by me because I happily had her share.
I’m still feeling my way out in the land of chili beers so I was leery of this one. I had no reason to be. It was not spicy except for a mild “tickle” at the back of your throat at the finish. I wasn’t able to pick up much mango. Still, a good beer. One thing I did note about this one was that it was super carbonated. Not that I minded, but it was comical to me for some reason. That helped with the aroma, though.

Smoked Maple Manhattan – Wow. This is a good beer. As with the chili beer, I was a bit apprehensive ordering a smoked beer (since I’m not very familiar with them) but I had no reason to worry. As the name implies, there is a definite maple syrup flavor to start with a hint of smoke cut by the sour. Neither the smoke or the sour dominate your palate but serve to compliment and temper the maple syrup flavor. Really balanced and delicious.

Beers we’ve reviewed at Paradox: