It had been a long wait for the new Aspen Brewing Company to pour their first beers. The brewery opened for business back in March 2008, but something was not sitting right with them. The brewery wanted to have a tasting room and invite the public to come to the brewery and sample their beers in order to help build interest and sales for their beer. But the Aspen City Council had a zoning law in affect that limited the brewery to offering only 16 oz of beer per customer per day. Aspen... Read Full Story

It pays to subscribe to brewer's newsletters. Just two days ago, I received a "What's On Tap" email newsletter from the Samuel Adams brewers - aka the Boston Beer Company. They were sponsoring a contest for their newsletter subscribers in the Denver Colorado area. Apparently, Samuel Adams is sponsoring a series of beer dinners in 10 cities across the country in celebration of American Craft Beer Week next week (May 12-18). They invited all subscribers to fill out a form to enter their... Read Full Story

One of the reasons I admire Avery Brewing Company is that they are highly active in the community and sponsor a multitude of events, not to mention that they make some darn fine beers. Here's a sampling of what this Boulder brewery is up to. Maharaja 2nd Batch Release Party - Friday, May 9th from 4 to 7 PM Avery is celebrating a second batch release of their Maharaja brew. In addition, they will be pouring some of their Fifteen Anniversary Ale, a special 40th Anniversary Ale created... Read Full Story

The heck with protocol. This review is going right to the point. I've just finished drinking a wonderful strong belgian ale. This beer is a blended beverage from the combined efforts of both Avery Brewing Company and Russian River Brewing Company. I call it Salvation Squared, but the label calls it Collaboration Not Litigation Ale. I bought this beer based on the reputation of both breweries and the fact that I enjoyed previously one of the ales that this beer is blended out of... Read Full Story

I had the pleasure of going camping over the weekend with a large group of Boy Scouts. As you may know, participating in any official Boy Scout activity means that there is no alcohol allowed to be brought along. So it was a "dry" weekend for me. There was one interesting beer related conversation that came up over the weekend however. This conversation pointed out to me just how early in a young man's life the impression about what is considered good beer is given to him. This all came... Read Full Story

I've been a reader of "The Session" across the blogosphere for several months now and felt compelled to participate in this month's effort. The Session is a collaborative effort by many beer bloggers and writers to share their ideas and experiences on a common topic. This month, the topic is "How did you get into good beer?" and is hosted for May 2008 by Boak and Bailey's blog. Each month a different web site acts as host. Here is how the original suggestion for this month's topic was... Read Full Story

I believe I can officially say now that an IPA is one of my favorite styles of beer. Back in late October, I posted a review of another IPA and I simply struggled to finish it. But now, the last few IPA's I've tried I really started getting into. Tonight I finally found an IPA I can truly love. I'm talking about none other than the 90 Minute Imperial IPA from Dogfish Head Craft Brewery of Milton, Delaware. Thanks to all of the recommendations from fellow beer lovers to just keep at the... Read Full Story

I've been out of new brews to drink for a few days now and I was itching to get something different and more along the lines of a session beer. I found a decent one in the form of an American Pale Ale (APA)called Extra Pale Ale from Green Flash Brewing Company of San Diego, California. I had heard a lot about this brewery recently and was eager to try one of their beers. My local liquor store just started stocking brews from this brewery about a month ago and it was time to try one... Read Full Story

Avery Brewing Company of Boulder, Colorado is celebrating it's 15th birthday this year. In honor of this momentous occasion, Avery is releasing it's annual anniversary ale. This year it's called: Fifteen. There will be a special release party on April 30th at the Avery tasting room from 4 to 7 pm. A $10 entry fee will get you into the celebration. Bottles of Fifteen will be available for sale as well as sampling. According to Avery: "This years brew was fermented using a brettanomyces... Read Full Story

You know it's time to buy more beer when... - the only beer you have left are the ones you gave low ratings to. - the good beers that are left are all dark beers and it's getting hot outside. - there's no new beers in the fridge you haven't tried yet. - your favorite liquor store gave you a 10% off coupon. - you need something new to blog about. - the hop shortage is going to last for years and the number of IPA's in stock are going down. - you realize the longer you wait, the higher... Read Full Story