My Favorite Colorado Beers of 2013

As we look back on the year that was in craft beer, 2013 can only be seen as a breakthrough for the suds industry. This year, we’ve hadindustry lawsuits, a craft beer billionaire, and a craft beer financing website as well as a stark rise in other fermented drinks, such as craft hard cider and craft kombucha (both are kind of like beer, right??). Overall, 2013 has been a great year for craft beer and things look to only be getting better. Here’s a look at some of my favorite beers from Denver and Colorado in 2013:

Judge Whoppner – Wit’s End Brewing & Renegade Brewing Company

Judge Whoppner was a collaboration beer between the owners of Wit’s End Brewing and Renegade Brewing Company in Denver. According to Owner Scott Witsoe of Wit’s End Brewing, Judge Whoppner was “inspired by creative conversations and Whoppers candy. This beer is based on an imperial brown ale brewed with the addition of malted milk powder for a glass of malty creamy goodness.”

To add insult to injury (in a good way), they rimmed the glasses with chocolate and then malted milk powder for an additional treat. This boozy 9.7% ABV beer didn’t last long, but was a completely off-the-wall and unique creation from two great Denver breweries.

Origins – Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project

This is batch #2 of this Burgundy Sour from Denver’s hottest brewery. Sour beer is slowly becoming the next big thing on the craft beer scene in the US, and Crooked Stave might just be the best home-grown brewery taking that style on. Origins is full of flavor when it enters your mouth before pulling on your jowls from the tartness. I probably could’ve put about 4-5 beers from Crooked Stave on this list, but for me, Origins has consistently been their best offering. Luckily there still should be some floating around stores in the Denver area if you haven’t tried it yet.

B-Side Quandary – River North Brewery

I love the thought process of brewers nowadays: 

“Let’s take our awesome Belgian-style Quad and put it in oak bourbon barrels!”

“Sweet! That’s a great idea. But hey, let’s have the beer sit in the barrels for a while, then go one step further and add some cherries to it!”

“HOLY SH*T – that’s the greatest idea ever!”

OK, so some of these ideas have been done before by other breweries in the past, but it just goes to show how much fun being a brewer really is, especially at a place that offers and encourages thinking outside of the box like River North Brewery does. Their Belgian-style beers are great on their own, but in true Belgian fashion, the brewery often uses their brews as a base for some fantastic creations. So far, B-Side Quandary has been the best of the bunch.

Skully Barrel #3 – Paradox Beer Company

Paradox Beer Company is slowly but surely becoming my favorite brewery in Colorado. They’re small, and in a hard to reach area near Colorado Springs called Woodland Park. But their beer is truly incredible and one-of-a-kind. Everything they brew is bottle-conditioned in 750mL bottles, after spending some time in a barrel of some variety. They’ve got regular oak, red wine, white wine, bourbon, whiskey, rum, and probably tons of other barrels that I don’t even know about. EVERYTHING gets barreled before leaving the brewery. A great concept, and since I love barrel-aged beers, a great brewery in my estimation.

Their Skully Barrel series takes some of their main lineup of beers and gives it a sour twist. For me, the Skully Barrel #3 was the best in the series, but to be honest, they were all fantastic. Skully Barrel #3 clocks in at 7% ABV, and was aged for 6 months in Rombauer Cabernet Sauvignon barrels. Black currants, lacto, pedio, and brett were added to the barrels, which gives this beer a fantastic balance of sweet dark fruit, tart berry, oak, and medium sour flavors.