Ultimate 6er | Backcountry Skiers and Snowboarders

It is well documented that Coloradans have an intense passion for the outdoors. I’m talking fire in the circus and somehow the flaps are locked kind of intense. So it’s no surprise that after years on the slopes, many Colorado residents feel the need to up the ante when it comes to winter sports. Enter backcountry skiing and snowboarding. Backcountry skiers and snowboarders can be seen stranded intermittently, dotting the sides of the winding mountain roads adjacent to ski resorts with constant patience in wait for a ride back to the top of the hill, usually with a tasty brew. While packs and equipment are not only common, but necessary, a reserved spot for a churchkey in said packs and equipment, is not. Not to worry, here is your ultimate 6er of beers while waiting for your buddy and Truck (Truck is the name of his Prius) accompanied by unique ways to open bottled beers with limited equipment. Read More

Uinta Brewing – Hop Notch IPA

ABV – 7.3%
IBU – 82

Let’s face it, it’s hard to find a microbrewed beer that isn’t just downright good. As a general rule, if it’s ONLY available in a six pack, you’re probably pretty safe when it comes to taste and quality. A unique or catchy name gets one bonus point. Make it come from somewhere else and BOOM, you have the perfect basic microbrew equation – the Uinta Hop Notch IPA, an equation used and perfected by many of the vastly growing microbreweries. Why then, even when absolutely enjoying the culmination of doing the math correctly, does a very small part of the back of my brain begin to utterly loathe it? What could have possibly gone awry?

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Sierra Blanca Brewery- Roswell Alien Amber Ale

IBU – 15
ABV – 5.2%

Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve been duped. We’ve been had. Swindled. Swash-buckled. The wool has been pulled firmly over our eyes. It seems about every decade or so a new seemingly legitimate but later debunked “end of the world” scenario comes out and captures the nation, nay, the world. In 2012 it was the Mayan Apocalypse. In 1999, it was Y2K. Before that it was the threat of the Cold War, and even further back in history, the landing of aliens at Area 51 in Roswell, New Mexico. But one of these things is not like the other, one of these things just doesn’t belong; and I have the proof here in my hand in the form of Sierra Blanca Brewery’s Roswell Alien Amber Ale.

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12 Beers of Christmas | Day 1: Breckenridge Christmas Ale

ABV: 7.4%

Once upon a time, a time one day ago in fact, a single man braved the single worst element, wind, and walked the entire one block down to his favorite watering hole. Once he found a single seat at the bar, he knew it was time to make the #1 most important decision of his night: What will my first beer be? After scanning the droughts for one minute, his eyes finally came upon a single tap placed by its lonesome at the end of the bar, the tap for Breckenridge Christmas Ale. This was to be his first beer of the night. There was one thing amiss about the drought tap, however, atop it sat a single piece of paper. Taped to the back of the tap with one measly piece of Scotch tape, the single piece of paper simply read: “Christmas Ale : $1.” Read More

#9 | Magic Hat Brewing Co.

OMGeeeeeee! After a long awaited arrival, Magic Hat #9 is finally here! The first time I saw it sitting quietly in a liquor store cooler, I shrieked like a 10-year old school girl. Those of you from the East Coast have been able to get your hands on it for a while, and have tortured us less fortunate Coloradans with your tales of taste and complexity. But no more!

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1554 – New Belgium Brewing Co.

ABV – 5.6%

IBU: 21

“Never judge a book by its cover.” -every mother ever.

We’ve all heard it time and time again, the bit of maternal guidance that we take into account every time something new comes along. If heeded, it can open doors you didn’t even know existed. And beer is no exception. New Belgium’s 1554 was my eye-opening beer that, after diving into a deep, black, creamy pint of it, and despite not being a “dark beer person”, opened the door of infinite beer possibility. All you have to do is drink the neck; within those first few sips 1554 shows its complexity and body, as well as its smooth, softer side. A perfect warm up while reading next to the fire place in the upcoming inevitable Colorado snow storms (please!?!). Read More

Vine Street Pub and Brewery- Denver, CO

OK, I’ll admit it, I’m not a Colorado native. I came up for school at Colorado State from New Mexico and only moved down to the capital a little over a year ago. That means, like so many other migrant Coloradans, I’m still discovering all that the Mile High City has to offer, and it’s a lot. So many pubs, clubs, breweries, hangouts, bars and so much more that this self-proclaimed beer snob is sure that funds will dry up well before my thirst for something new does.

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Sports Week-in-Review: Football in Full Swing Edition

I haven’t had cable television in over a month. No Gossip Girl, no Say Yes to the Dress, and worst of all, no SportsCenter or live sports. In that month I’ve moved, gotten a new roommate, and worst of all, was asked to write about the current events in the Sport-o-sphere. How am I going to do that without television!? I need that feeling of an unnecessarily large remote in my hand (seriously, does anyone even use the back half of that thing?), needlessly flipping back and forth between channels; otherwise watching the NFL isn’t truly watching the NFL.

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