Ed Sealover - Mountain Brew: A Guide to Colorados Breweries

Published by The History Press

Charleston, SC 29403

www.historypress.net

Copyright 2011 by Ed Sealover

All rights reserved

Cover design by Karleigh Hambrick.

Front cover, bottom: Photo by Chrys Rynearson, exposur3.com.

First published 2011

Second printing 2012

e-book edition 2013

Manufactured in the United States

ISBN 978.1.62584.224.4

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Sealover, Ed.

Mountain brew : a guide to Colorados breweries / Ed Sealover.

p. cm.

Includes index.

print edition ISBN 978-1-60949-177-2

1. Breweries--Colorado--History. I. Title.

TP528.C6S43 2011

641.2309788--dc23

201102034

Notice: The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. It is offered without guarantee on the part of the author or The History Press. The author and The History Press disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without prior written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

For my beautiful and inspiring wife, Denise, who has given me the confidence to believe that I can achieve my dreams.

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CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This book, like all great ideas, sprang from the twin muses of insobriety and desperation. It was conceived in late 2008 at a beer festival when friends goaded me to put my love of Colorado beer to more use. And two months later, when the owner of the Rocky Mountain News informed those of us on staff that it was looking to close the paper, I knew I had to find something else to do with my life. That led to the long and wonderful journey that ended in the printing of Mountain Brew, for which I have more people to thank than I have space to mention their names.

I want to start by thanking Kristi Switzer of the Brewers Association, who spurred me forward by telling me that a book like this needed to be written, and the wonderful folks at The History Press, who took the risk of putting this on paper. Kudos go especially to my commissioning editor, Becky LeJeune.

I want to thank all the brewers who took the time to sit down with me over the past two years to tell me their stories and reaffirm why what they do is so important. I have a special appreciation for Jason Yester of Trinity Brewing, who was my first interview for my first beer column with the Colorado Springs Gazette in 2003 and continues to help me understand the brewing world more deeply.

I have to thank my friends who helped me produce this book. Chase Stephens designed the web page, Andrew Mohraz advised me on my contract, Dennis Schroeder tried to make me look good in a photo and Mary Winter and Cliff Foster edited me.

I want to thank also the friends who didnt abandon me when I disappeared into my home office for four months to write this book. And I must give a shout out to my current bosses at the Denver Business Journal who understood when I told them, I cant cover that, I have an interview at a Fort Collins brewery.

I couldnt have done this either without the friends who ventured before me into the book-writing business and passed their knowledge down to me. Those include Brian Yaeger and especially Adam Schrager, who unselfishly gave his time to help me understand this business.

I feel I should thank influences from throughout my life who guided me inadvertently toward this projectfrom my parents, Ed Sealover and Sandra Walker, who instilled in me a love of reading, to my college professor Bob McClory, who encouraged me in 1994 to write my final Magazine Article Writing paper on the emerging craft brewing scene. I also have to thank God, for I know that whatever writing abilities I have came from Him and not from myself.

And last, but truly not least, I have to thank my wife and partner, Denise Sealover, without whom this book could never have been written. She was my driver for cross-state brewery trips, the designer of the books maps, my planner, my executive assistant and my final editor. Most of all, she is my inspiration to try something greater than I think that I can do and to aspire to be something bigger than I could be on my own. Thank you for more than words can say.

INTRODUCTION

Over the past decade, the brewing industry in Colorado has made its mark on this state in much the same way that gold mining and ranching once did. Colorado has become known for its amber ales and IPAs just as much as it is revered for its snow-covered mountains and spacious national parks.

The number of breweries is increasing by the month. Twenty-two breweries featured in this book opened between the time I began work on it in January 2009 and the day I had to deliver the manuscript to my publisher in May 2011. And I can tally at least three others that were not open by my deadline but could be churning out beer by the time this book goes on sale.

I spent more than two years traveling the state, visiting with owners and brewers. I have lived in Colorado since 2000 but did not know before I started my trek that places like Ridgway or Paonia or Del Norte even existed. Now I know not only that these small towns are alive and well but that they are home to breweries that make astonishing beer.

Ken Jones, head brewer at Glenwood Canyon Brewing, put it best when he told me, In Colorado youre not on the map unless you have a brewery in your town. This book is about those breweries and the cities and towns that are home to them. It is meant for beer geeks who want to sup up every drop of knowledge about the businesses that make this state the Napa Valley of craft beer. It also is meant for tourists seeking an offbeat experience and for beer-drinking Coloradans who set out to discover more about their home state. It is meant, in fact, for all who will take a sip of their beverage and want to know its full story.

The term brewery can mean a lot of things, and to properly convey the story of the brewing industry in Colorado, I chose to narrow the definition and exclude two types of fermented beverage makers: the states half-dozen meaderies, which make a wonderful product but one that I feel is outside the classical boundaries of beer, and the four extract breweries, which, with their more simplistic brewing methods, I could not compare to beverage artists like Great Divide or Odell Brewing.

For the other 101 Colorado breweries, Ive tried to recount the stories and traits that make them stand apart from their competitors. Breweries are grouped under categories that reflect their mission, location or most notable characteristic. Maps are available in the front of the book to use for touring, with each brewery getting one notation. For breweries with multiple locations, only their main facility is highlighted.