2019 Big Beers Belgians & Barleywines Pour List Once Again Brings Heat

Throughout my years of visiting breweries, attending beer festivals and covering the industry, one thing has become abundantly clear, Coloradoans are spoiled when it comes to beer. This assertion is none more evident than the collection of talent that’s assembled each year at Big Beers Belgians and Barleywines and this year’s pour list is no different.

Over the past 19 years, Big Beers has grown to become one of the country’s premier holistic beer festivals. Stemming from organizers Laura and Bill Lodge’s passionate approach toward curating the best talent, while also going above and beyond in ensuring the best attendee experience, Big Beers has come to capture the essence of what it takes to throw the ultimate beer lover’s weekend, ranging from a star-studded cast of brewers, to an elite level lineup of beers, intimate brewers dinners, premier educational seminars, other extracurriculars like beer & yoga & a cigar pairing session, all to the backdrop of some of the most stunning mountain vistas and world-class skiing resort. This year’s festival will once again return to Breckenridge’s Beaver Run Resort, spanning the weekend of January 10-12.

Buy your tickets to the 2019 Big Beers Belgians and Barleywines Festival

Before we dive into this year’s list, it’s important to note that this is just a preliminary look at what’s most likely to be poured at the festival and that all beers and breweries are subject to change. With that in mind, let’s touch on what we’re most excited about.

The prevailing theme when taking a look at this year’s pour list at first glance is that Colorado breweries continue to up their game and are producing at or near the quality of the country’s elite level brewers. Just look at risers like 4 Noses, Amalgam, Baere, Cerebral, Fiction Beer, Liquid Mechanics, New Image, Odd 13, Our Mutual Friend, Outer Range, Paradox, Ratio, River North, Verboten, WeldWerks, Westbound & Down, Wiley Roots, and Woods Boss, who are all bringing out impressive lineups worth exploring up and down.

When looking at hyped beers to consider hitting earlier on, look no further than WeldWerks’ Medianoche offerings including Bourbon Brandy, Coconut, Peanut Butter, 2018, and also the debut of their English Barleywine, Affination. Side Project Brewing’s Beer : Barrel : Time 2018, and Anabasis Blend #3 will both garner tremendous attention along with their Derivation Blend #10. Adding some international flavor with a stacked lineup of Barleywines is Sweden’s Nynäshamns Ångbryggeri. Mikerphone, out of Chicago who we’ve seen multiple times in Colorado throughout the past year will showcase Barrel-Aged Vanillanoize. Kane Brewing will once again bring the house to Colorado with Object Permanence, A Night to End All Dawns, and Picture in Reverse just to name a few. In recent years, Fremont has grown to become one of the event’s most consistently strong participants, this year bringing out Three Matts (2018), Brew 2000, Coconut B-Bomb and more. Cerebral’s Here be Monsters and Vanilla HBM have become some of Denver’s most sought-after beers. Just up the road in Glenwood Springs, Casey Brewing & Blending continues to draw attention for beers like Velvet, Jammy and Supreme Clientele among others. Boston Beer’s Utopias and Triple Bock once again return to Big Beers and will garner great interest for their novelty factor, and pretty much everything from Amalgam, will be a hot commodity including All Becomes the Void, their first debut of their barrel-aged Imperial Stout aged on Madagascar Vanilla Beans, Cocoa Nibs and Coconut.

As for a few under the radar gems we’re most excited about, 4 Noses’ BMF Port Barrel-Aged Stout has been seen early positive feedback from fans, Alesong out of Eugene, OR has consistently grown as one of our favorites at the festival and their Rhino Suit barrel-aged Milk Stout and Raspberry Parliament are both on our radar, Alpine Dog is bringing a pair of bourbon barrel-aged offerings, a Stout and Barleywine that we’re extremely intrigued about. Call to Arms’ Really, Really Ridiculously Good Tasting, a barrel-aged Wild Saison impressed members of the PD team earlier this year and will make a return appearance next weekend at the fest. Continuing on the wild ale trend, Cellar West Artisan Ales fresh off their move to Lafayette will bring some gems including Scarletta, a bourbon barrel-aged Flanders Red. The last time we tried a clean barrel-aged stout from Crooked Stave was during Mountain Sun’s Stout Month two years ago, and yet we still dream of that nectar of the gods, during Big Beers, they’re busting out Private Reserve Barrel #146 Heaven Hill aged 27 months in barrels, so it’s safe to say we’re pretty excited.

A couple new breweries who’ve burst on the Front Range’s scene as of late include Burns Family Ales, Timnath Beerwerks, and Liberati Osterian & Oenobeers, which focuses on grape driven beer/wine hybrids, if you haven’t yet had a chance to explore both, now is the perfect time to try scene’s newest risers. One of our favorite late Fall, early Winter specialty beers from New Belgium has gotten the sour treatment as they’re bringing Foeder Frambozen, a sour brown with cocoa and raspberries aged in foeders for 12 months. Paradox’s Maple Manhattan, a sour ale barrel-aged in Lem Motlow bourbon maple wood barrels, with vanilla, maple syrup, and maraschino cherries sounds like a cocktail lover’s dream. Ratio Beerworks is busting out variants from their recent Genius Wizard Bourbon Barrel-Aged Stout release, including Coconut Vanilla, which will see a follow-up bottle release the following week.

Rhinegeist’s Mushhushshu is a different take on barrel-aged beers as it blends several barrel-aged Black Ales that are then infused with coffee, vanilla beans, and cacao nibs. SKA Brewing might be one of the biggest surprises in terms of a lineup, as they’re bringing four specialty offerings we haven’t seen from them before. Westbound & Down is primed for a monster year and is showing all of that off with an all-star lineup next weekend. I’ve learned to never sleep on Wiley Roots when it comes to peach sours, so don’t miss Any Day Funk: Peach. Finally, don’t sleep on Loveland, CO’s Verboten Brewing which has quietly become one of Colorado’s more prolific barrel-aged beer producers, winning medals now at both GABF and most recently at Festival of Barrel-Aged Beers for Little Nonsense and Cognac/Whiskey Grow Old With You respectively.

For more on the history and importance of Big Beers read our in-depth profile of the fest.

Without further ado, here’s your preliminary 2019 Big Beers, Belgians, and Barleywines Pour List:

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