PRE-GABF week! Strap on your beer drinking shoes. These next couple of weeks are crazy packed full of events.

Are you native to the city and looking for events to tide you over for the week? Are you new to the city and looking for the best place to find tasty suds? Visiting and looking for events to hit while you are in town? Check out this week’s Denver Beer Beat and return each week to find all things #craftbeer in the Denver Metro Area.

Welcome back to another installment of PorchDrinking’s Weekly Denver Beer Beat. The Denver Beer Beat brings news of openings, special tappings, firkins and one-off batches, bottle releases, dinners, pairings, anniversaries, tap takeovers etc.

Wednesday, September 17^th

Copper Kettle Brewing CO (Southeast’est Denver) – Every Wednesday, CKBC releases a fun and interesting one off cask. This week, CKBC release their Pomegranate Molasses Blonde ale. CKrêpes & CKatering will be here serving up their amazing homemade, gourmet cuisine and desserts!

Epic Brewing – Denver Taproom (Five Points) – Wednesday is Tapas Night. Roaming Bull Brasserie, a local food truck, will be preparing tapas items featuring local ingredients. There will also be two special real-ale firkins of Escape to Colorado IPA. These firkins were made by local homebrewers during the recent American Homebrewers Association Rally. The first firkin is Escape to Colorado with Ginger and Zeus hops added. The second firkin is Escape to Colorado with Blackberry and white oak.

Hops & Pie Artisan Pizzeria and Craft Brew Taproom (Berkeley) – Wednesday is $2 Craft Can Night from 5pm-close at Hops and Pie.  This week’s sando of the week is brought to you by Sunday Dinner: mashed taters, honey baked ham, Swiss cheese, pineapple/mustard glaze & pickled green beans on a griddled house roll!!

Mountain Sun Brewery (Boulder, Denver) – This Wednesday 9/17, each of Mountain Sun’s four locations will release two very special beers upon opening. They are both products of their barrel-aging/blending cellar at their Vine St. Brewery in Denver. Use Your Illusion #1, a blended sour ale, medium in body, garnet in color and with aromas of bourbon from the barrel and funky & tart flavors. This weighs in at 9.4% ABV. And also – Use Your Illusion #2, a blended sour with a light body, effervescent fruity aromas from raspberry and funkiness from the secondary fermentation. This one is 11.3% ABV!

Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project (Five Points) – On Tuesday, September 16, Crooked Stave released Batch 100! Their Centennial batch is brewed in the spirit of Colorado, the Centennial state and their hometown. They fermented Batch 100 with Centennial kumquats and dry-hopped the batch with Centennial whole cone hops. Keep an eye out for bottles and enjoy Batch 100 now or let it age for years to come!

Loveland Aleworks (Loveland) – Loveland Aleworks just released their Blueberry Sour Ale on Monday. This ale is being billed as a seriously, funky sour ale with delicate blueberry flavor. It is crisp and semi-dry with notable acidity on the front end. It finishes with earthy and wild flavors. Supremely quaffable at 6.3% ABV. Available now in the taproom while it last. For those folks that know me, YOU HAD ME AT BLUEBERRY LA, you had me at BLUEBERRY.

Beers Made By Walking: GABF Edition (LoDo/Union Station) – Just a heads up, but Beers Made By Walking festival tickets are on sale! Don’t be left out! The festival will feature over 32 place-based and landscape inspired beers! Most of the beers at the festival were created specifically for this event. Tickets are $40 and give visitors unlimited access to the beers, until they run out. More info and tickets can be found here.

Westminster Brewing Co. (Westminster) – Westminster Brewing has 4 extra tickets to the Great American Beer Festival and will be doing a raffle giveaway on Sept. 27th. For the month of September, customers can purchase a raffle ticket for $3 in which the proceeds will be going to the Westminster Legacy Foundation.  Who doesn’t love the chance to win tickets to GABF all while helping out a great cause?!

High Hops Brewery (Windsor) – FIRKIN RELEASE at 5pm. High Hops will tap a firkin of their “Pretzel Porter”. They added two pounds of pretzels to the mash in this rich, malty brew. Then on Thursday, September 18th you can get a sneak peak taste of Monster Mash, a Pumpkin Pie Porter.

River North Brewery (Denver) – River North Brewery has another gem for today’s Wayward Wednesday, they’ll tap a single keg of J. Marie dry-hopped with Nelson Sauvin!

Our Mutual Friend (Five Points) – Buy the Round! Every Wednesday from open to close! Tell all your friends (to buy you beer).

Thursday, September 18^th

Baere Brewing Co (Denver) – Baere Brewing is tapping a Saison brewed with orange peel, coriander and fresh ginger this Thursday at 5pm.

Euclid Hall (LoDo/CBD) – This Thursday Euclid Hall will continue their Road to GABF beer dinner series with Black Shirt Brewing.

Ska Brewing (Durango) – NEW BEER RELEASE – This September sees two limited releases for Ska Brewing Co.––the Local Series Hoperation Ivy Fresh-Hop IPA and the Autumnal Molé Stout. Hoperation Ivy was brewed within hours of the hop harvest in August and will hit shelves September 16th as #24 in Ska’s Local Series. If this rare and delicious beer isn’t enough, September 23rd begins the third year of Ska’s Seasonal Stout program––featuring a different canned stout released near the equinox or solstice of each of the four seasons––kicking off with Autumnal Molé Stout. The Autumnal Molé Stout is an ale brewed with cocoa nibs, spices and three varieties of chile peppers: Ancho, Guajillo and Hatch green chiles, (also known as Anaheim Peppers.)

Friday, September 19^th

Lowry Beer Garden (Lowry Field) – September 19^th and 20^th, Lowry Beer Garden will strike up the band again this year for Oktoberfest, celebrating the German-style beer party for three weekends in a row. And this year, the spot’s new sister location, Green Valley Ranch Beer Garden, will also celebrate. Dry Dock Brewing will take over the taps today and tomorrow, from 5 to 9 p.m., pouring Oktoberfest, U-Boat Hefeweizen and Apricot Ale. There will also be Oom-Pah bands in the house each weekend, including Austrian Connection, The Rhinelanders and the Peter Kron Band – not to mention Lowry’s collection of brats and dogs. So, dust off your dirndl, polka shoes and lederhosen for this annual fall tradition. Anyone wearing the getup gets their first beer free.

Dry Dock Brewing (Aurora) – FIRKIN! It’s Firkin Friday at Dry Dock where the brewery taps one of their beers that’s been cask-conditioned… usually with a twist! This week, they tap a lemon and sage Saison!

Left Hand Brewing Co (Longmont) – The return of Warrior IPA comes this Friday, September 19th at the taproom! Swing in to get this local favorite today! You will thank me later!

FORToberfest (Ft. Collins) – FESTIVAL! – The 2nd annual FORToberfest celebration is this weekend in downtown Ft Fun. Since the city’s cultural gifts include more than beer, FORToberfest is a unique fall celebration. Fortoberfest beer lovers will be able to visit the Fort Collins Brewery District tent (named for the city’s recently created beer-making district) and purchase “build your own” sampler flights of seasonal beers. The samplers are $6 and hold four 4-oz servings of beers from the FORToberfest beer lineup. FORToberfest beers will be from a dozen of the sixteen breweries now in Fort Collins, including New Belgium, Odell Brewing, Fort Collins Brewery, Coopersmith’s Brewery & Pub, Black Bottle and others. Two Fort Collins breweries that opened this summer – Zwei Bruder Brewing and Snowbank Brewing Company – will make their Fortoberfest debut at the event. The 2nd annual FORToberfest celebration takes place Friday, September 19th (5 -10:30 PM) and Saturday, September 20th (11 AM -10:30 PM) at the Old Town Square in downtown Fort Collins.

Diebolt Brewing Co (Sunnyside) –  ANNIVERSARY PARTY! – It’s been a year and they’re still making beer (and drinking it too)!  A year is a hell of a milestone for any small business and they feel that a one day anniversary party doesn’t quite do it justice; so they have decided to have a three day bash or extravaganza (you could even call it a barn burner) to do it up proper-style.  Friday the 19th: Calder’s Revolvers at 7pm; Dry Hopped Mariposa Firkin; a few throwback tappings; Bakin Bakery food truck.  Saturday the 20th: Corn Hole Tournament; Barrel-Aged Biergarten with Bourbon aged Imperial Stout, Cabernet aged Biere de Tromphe, Gin/Oak aged Saison Voila and Gin aged A Votre Sante;  Sandy-Bear Shack food truck; Hello Bourbon playing at 7pm.  Sunday the 21st (recovery day): Broncos vs Seahawks; Little Man IceCream Imperial Stout floats; Huckleberry Roasters Coffee Biere de Garde. Follow this link to their event page and see a day-to-day schedule of events, registration, and to submit an entry for the “Name a Fermentor” contest.  The brewery wishes to say thanks for your support and they’ll see you at the Anniversary Extravaganza September 19th – 21^st!

Saturday, September 20^th

Fiction Beer Co (South Park Hill) – SOFT OPENING! – Fiction Beer Company will OPEN at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, September 20th with a limited beer menu. We will also be open on Sunday, September 21st from 2:00 p.m. until 10:00 p.m. We will be closed the rest of that week in preparation of ….Fiction Beer Company Grand Opening on Saturday, September 27th at 2:00 p.m. Full opening beer menu will be on tap.

ZWANZE DAY!!!- Crooked Stave at the Barrel Cellar Facility 1441 W. 46th Ave at 11 a.m-

It’s that time of year again. Zwanze Day marks the release of a very special beer from Brasserie Cantillon in Brussels, Belgium – one of the oldest and most sought-after makers of Lambic and Gueuze in the world. The 2014 Zwanze beer is Iris Grand Cru, an unblended, dry-hopped lambic aged with cherries. The beer, affectionately named “Cuvee Florian,” was first blended to commemorate the 18th birthday of Cantillion brewer and blender Jean Van Roy’s son, Florian Van Roy.

In addition to the keg of Cuvee Florian, Crooked Stave will also be pouring Iris, Gueuze, St. Gilloise, and Saint Lamvinus, plus a keg of Tilquin Gueuze. We will also be tapping a few specialty Crooked Stave kegs we’ve been holding on too.

TICKET SALES ARE CASH ONLY and are as follows:
$20 CASH for 2014 Zwanze Day glass, Zwanze pour, and other Cantillion pour
$13 CASH for 2014 Zwanze Day glass, other Cantillion pour

A REMINDER THIS IS AT THE BARREL CELLAR FACILITY NOT AT THE SOURCE!

Odyssey Beerwerks (Arvada) – 12pm – Odtoberfest at the taproom! In honor of the Autumnal Equinox, Oktoberfest, and just an excuse to throw a party, Odyssey Beerwerks will be hosting their first Odtoberfest on Saturday, 9/20. Featuring free live music, food trucks, prize drawings, merchandise sales, games and more.

Epic Brewing – Denver Taproom (Five Points) – It’s Escape to Colorado IPA Firkin Day! – Epic Brewing’s Denver Taproom will be tapping three different cask hopped versions of Escape to Colorado IPA. Each firkin was packed with whole leaf hops and cellared to showcase the different varietals of hops including Apollo, Amarillo, and Chinook with spruce tips. The firkins will be tapped at 1pm. Yeah, boyyyeee!

 

Vine Street Pub- 1 pm – Fourth Annual Vine Street Uptown Block Party and Brewer’s Olympics – This annual event is pure shenanigans. Join Vine St. Pub for a block party at 17th and Vine. Come watch 12 of the Front Range’s breweries come battle it out in brewery related events to take home the title. The event will feature CO craft beers, and headlining act: Keith Moseley (String Cheese Incident), Scott Law, Dave Brogan (ALO), Lebo (ALO).

Barrels & Bottles Brewery (Golden) – ANNIVERSARY PARTY! – They only drink on 2 occasions….when it’s their birthday and when it’s not. On Saturday, the folks at Barrels & Bottles will be drinking in celebration of their 1st birthday. For their special day they’ve got a few things planned: they will be tapping (2) Limited Releases from Barrels & Bottles Brewery: Raspberry Imperial Stout barrel aged in Breckenridge Distillery bourbon barrel. The other release is the Juniperus Imperial IPA aged in the world’s first Agave based Gin barrel from State 38 Distilling based in Golden, CO. Special tap releases all day long to include some beers made just for Barrels & Bottles to include: A tequila infused lager with edible glitter from Wynkoop Brewing Co. An unheard of 1/2 barrel of AC Golden Brewing Company Peche from their hidden barrel series. A collaboration beer with Barrels and Bottles Brewery & Strange Craft Beer Company. They’ll have special beers from: Cannonball Creek, Wynkoop Brewing Co., AC Golden Brewing Co., Russian River Brewing Co., CAUTION: Brewing Co., Copper Kettle Brewing Co., Yak & Yeti Brewpub, The Bruery, Elevation Beer Co., Funkwerks, Odell, Liefmans, Deschutes & More! Firkin Tappings, free glassware to the first 100 people to order Barrels & Bottles Beer. Giveaways all day to include free growlers, shirts, glassware and more! Book Signing: Colorado’s Top Brewers by Emily Hutto, Live Music, and a chance to win GABF tickets! Fun starts at noon!

Funkwerks (Ft. Collins) – On Saturday September 20th, Funkwerks will release “Nelson Sauvin”, a single hopped Saison.

Wit’s End Brewing Co (Valverde) – ANNIVERSARY PARTY! – Join Wit’s End to celebrate their 3rd Anniversary! It has been quite a ride for their little brewery…They feel so fortunate to be in the position of expanding from a 1BBL nanobrewery to a 7BBL microbrewery as they end their third year in business. They have learned much, enjoyed some great times, and have been humbled by many wonderful experiences in the industry. They want to thank their friends, supporters, and overly-understanding family members as they work through the next chapter of their story. They will have some special tappings and food this year from their friends Bakin’ Bakery Food Truck and Pride of Philly Cheesesteaks. They will also raffle off some Wit’s End schwag, including two tickets to the coveted GABF Saturday afternoon session! More details to come…see you there…CHEERS!

Elitch Gardens (Aururia) – FESTIVAL – What better way to spend one of the last weeks of the season for Elitch Gardens amusement park than taking it in with the ‘Thrills & Pils’ 2^nd Annual Elitch Gardens Brew Festival ?! Come enjoy unlimited beer sampling and ride the rides. This is a 21+ only event. With over 50 great beers, 50 rides (including 6 great coasters) and great friends, the Elitch Gardens Brew Fest will be a day you and your compadres won’t want to miss! Tickets can be found online and it’s a cheaper event if you are already a season ticket holder!

Our Mutual Friend Malt & Brew (Five Points) – Gratitude Party and Bottle Release! Head to OMF from 2pm to midnight for $3 pours all day.Throughout the day there will be special tappings, food by Pride of Philly & A Taste of the Philippines, live music, and merch giveaways. A release of 200 bottles of our red wine barrel aged Dark Sour Ale will be available for purchase until they’re gone. Gratitude will also be the first opportunity to enjoy the Tenth Acre, OMF’s new garden space next to the brewery. Starting next season, the Tenth Acre will produce hops, fruits and vegetables to meet or supplement their needs for various ingredients in OMF’s ever growing range of beers. The blokes at OMF look forward to commemorating how far they’ve come within the craft beer community, and toasting the good times to come. Draft list for Gratitude: Proletariat Session Ale, American Wheat, Chinook Red Ale, Farmhouse, Brown Ale, Ritual Cocoa Nib Stout, Novo Coffee Stout, Blackberry Sour, American Wild Ale, Fresh Hop IPA, Gratitude Dark Sour Ale, and IPA.

Red White and Brew IV (Golden) – 3 – 5pm – Over 65 different beers will be pouring at this special fundraising event to aid homeless veterans. Tickets are available at all Elks Lodges within the Central Northwest District and the Englewood Elks Lodge. Beers will be offered in 1oz pours and snacks will be served. There are just 110 tickets available so get yours soon. In addition, there will also be a Silent Auction. After the beer tasting, there will also be an optional dinner hosted by the Golden Elks with a separate $10 fee featuring pulled pork and all-the-fixin’s. More information can be found here.

Colorado Plus (Wheat Ridge) – OKTOBERFEST! Colorado Plus celebrates the Oktoberfest season with their 1st Annual Oktoberfest Party at Colorado Plus this September 20th. This fest will be featuring a variety of your favorite brewery’s Oktoberfest biers including: Fort Collins Brewery, Left Hand Brewing, Prost Brewing, Grimm Brothers Brewhouse and more. There will be Oktoberfest music, homemade bratwurst and sauerkraut, giveaways and more! Come in and vote for your personal favorite Oktoberfest Bier – the winner stays on tap for the duration of the Oktoberfest season. More details can be found on the brewpub’s website.

Denver Flea @ the Big Wonderful (Five Points) – Finally! The Denver Flea returns for Volume 2! Join in on the fun on Saturday, September 20th at The Big Wonderful (26th & Lawrence) for a celebration of the finest Colorado-made goods, beer, and food. Much like the first Denver Flea, admission to the event is totally free. Expect more vendors, more food, more booze, and fewer lines! Don’t forget to RSVP for a freebie treat on the promoters. See you on the 20th!

Sunday, September 21^st

Declaration Brewing Co (Overland) – Declaration Brewing is giving away a pair of tickets to the 2014 Great American Beer Festival! Write a creative haiku tweet (on Twitter) and include @DeclarationBrewing or @DeeclaratioBrew and hashtag #GABFTWIKU. Must be 21 to enter. Tweet it out BEFORE September 24th to qualify. For complete contest details and rules visit Declaration Beer Company’s website.

The Mayor of Old Town (Fort Collins) – Tap Into Northern Colorado! – It’s the annual Tour of Northern Colorado Breweries sponsored by The Mayor of Old Town. They do their own Tap Takeover and put 100 of the best beers from Northern Colorado on tap for the week before and the week of GABF! This is the best time to get to know the beers from Northern Colorado. Try some flights or individual pints paired with some of Fort Collin’s tastiest nosh. More info can be found here throughout the next two weeks.

World of Beer LoDo (LoDo/Union Station) – GRAND OPENING! – Just in time for the Great American Beer Festival, World of Beer LoDo opens its doors this Sunday at 11am. Beer club dads everywhere are hella stoked. Come join in for their GRAND OPENING where you can watch the sportsball game, try their tavern fare, and quaff endless portions of tasty beers. WOB is now settled into three neighborhoods in the Denver metro area. They are like the 7-11 of craft beer bars but they do offer a great variety of ales and lagers.

Monday, September 22^nd

Odell Brewing Co (Ft. Collins, CO) – Join Odell Brewing in the taproom for week-long festivities (Monday, September 22^nd – Sunday, September 28^th ) including vintage beer tap releases, food truck pairings, live music throughout the week, a photo booth and Oktoberfest pig roast, plus tons of giveaways!

Feisty Spirits Distillery (Fort Collins) – HARD BOOZE NEWS – Feisty Spirits has completed their expansion at their 1708 E Lincoln Ave facility. The expansion will provide for an increase of three times the current production capacity in the short term and up to ten times current capacity in the future. Planning for the expansion began last fall and construction started in April. The expansion consisted of minor construction, a new still, boiler and additional fermentation capacity. The Colorado craft distilling industry is now gaining national attention and this expansion will allow Feisty Spirits to continue to produce award-winning products and make them available to more consumers.

Tuesday, September 23^rd

GrowHaus (Eyria Swansea) – HARVEST WEEK EVENT! – Duel in the West: Grapes Vs. Grains! The rivalry continues! Prepare for another match between beer and wine. Saddle on up and mosey on down as six chefs have created a SEVEN course menu that will challenge our brewers and winemaker to create the perfect pairing over at the GrowHaus. Tickets can be purchased here. Ticket includes all food, drink, and tip. Reps from CAVE and Colorado Brewer’s Guild pair a wine & a beer with each of 4 courses and battle it out for bragging rights!

BRU handbuilt ales & eats (Boulder) – Tuesdays just got a lot more awesome with ALL DAY HAPPY HOUR! Get $3 16oz or $5 22oz handbuilt ales, $4 wine and delicious eats priced from $1.50 to $4 each.

That’s a wrap for this week’s Denver Beer Beat.  Cheers to ye and may eternity find us in as good company as this!

Stay Thirsty and Keep Denver Beer’d!

Did we miss any events in this week’s? Let us know by emailing us at cory{at}porchdrinking{dot}com.