Breckenridge - Summer Bright Ale

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Summer Bright Ale

Breckenridge Brewery
471 Kalamath Street
Denver, CO USA
Est. 1989

www.breckbrew.com 

Brain Damage Quotient = 4.5 % ABV

Fluid Oz. = 12.0 

Postmortem Brew Review

Straw yellow in color.
Some bitter hops, citrus zest notes and wheat.
Near white colored, one finger head. Dissipates rather quickly.
Not much lacing down the side of the glass.
Dry wheat, hops and lemon/ginger taste.
Carbonation is fairly pronounced.
Light bodied. Tart mouth feel.

Grim Reaper's Eulogy
Summer Bright is a refreshing Pale Wheat Ale. They have the hops and citrus for tartness. There is a dryness to it, not unlike ginger ale. Even though there may not be ginger in the ale, it remains crisp, dry and refreshing. A super sipper on any hot day. It is one to light up your taste buds time after time with its tight, tart finish.

Breckenridge Extra ESB - 471 Small Batch

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Breckenridge Extra ESB- 471 Small Batch

Breckenridge Brewery
471 Kalamath Street
Denver, CO USA
Est. 1989

www.breckbrew.com 

Brain Damage Quotient = 7.8 % ABV

Fluid Oz. = 12.0 

Postmortem Brew Review

Somewhere between a burnt amber and red color.
Some bitter hops, caramel and brown sugar notes from the toasted smelling malts.
Tan colored, one finger clinging head.
Good amount of lacing down the side of the glass.
Scotch flavor, hops and then malts present in that order when tasting.
Carbonation is surprisingly zippy.
Medium bodied mouth feel.

Grim Reaper's Eulogy
Oh, the Small Batch! Strong beer with equally strong characteristics. The IPA was surprisingly high at over 9% ABV. This ESB is a bit more manageable though it still pushes nearly 8%. It hides that fact well, I might add.

With a Scothch style ale taste up front, tingling hops in the middle and malts on the finish, I found this to be a fairly easy drinker, regardless of the ABV. Sessionable? That depends. An uncommon Extra Special Bitter in a Scotch style ale.

Breckenridge - Pandora's Bock

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Pandora's Bock
Breckenridge Brewery
471 Kalamath Street
Denver, CO USA
Est. 1989
www.breckbrew.com 

Brain Damage Quotient = 7.5 % ABV
Fluid Oz. = 12.0 

Postmortem Brew Review
Clear brown color on the pour. Reddish tints.
Smell of malt, some caramel and a bit of hops.
Tan head, about one finger high, covers to wisp.
Fair amount of spotted lacing on the side of the glass.
A bit malty at the start in taste, but finishes with a touch of caramel sweetness.
Lightly carbonated.
Light to medium bodied mouth feel. 

Grim Reaper's Eulogy
It's that time of the year.

"Dead" of winter.

My time- - -Bock time.

Bocks used to be the staple winter alternate in the dark days before the craft/micro brew revolution. Every brewery had one to switch up from the summer lagers. Many of you might not be able to remember the stone age of beer, pre 1985. I'm a relic.

Generally speaking, in today's fanatic microbrew climate, most drinkers might tend to dismiss them out of hand. Admittedly, they are not for everybody.  Fortunately, they don't have a large learning curve of enjoyment to realize if they are for you.

This one is a sleeper of a Bock. Pretty standard as far as Bocks go. Maltiness you expect, nothing over the top, uh, ohh, wait! 7.5% ABV! Well, a little something over the top, indeed! Tastes good; no alcohol present in the way of your enjoyment. And that ABV boost helps nudge you closer to the warm springtime ahead.

Help herald the end of winter's doldrums. Open Pandora's Bock and see what flys out. Remember, there was hope in the end. Now you're curious, too.

Breckenridge Christmas Ale

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Breckenridge Christmas Ale
Breckenridge Brewery
471 Kalamath Street
Denver, CO USA
Est. 1989
www.breckbrew.com 

Brain Damage Quotient = 7.4 % ABV
Fluid Oz. = 12.0 (3 oz. sample)

Postmortem Brew Review
Copper/Amber color.
Smell of malt and nutty sweetness on the nose.
Tan head, about one finger high, covers to wisp.
Fair amount of lacing down the side of the glass.
Alcohol masked very well.
Light to medium bodied mouth feel. 

Grim Reaper's Eulogy
This blog post was done live at the first ever Beer Blogger's Conference, held in Boulder Colorado. 108 bloggers were in attendance, from over five hundred identified blogs. Luminaries of the craft beer world also attended to serve as presenters and keynote speakers for the event. A "speed round" of blogging was held by 12 brewers, each bringing an exemplary brew to blog. 12 beers, 12 blogging tables and 60 minutes were allotted in a fun, free-for-all session. 

Round #2

Todd Thibault of
Breckenridge
Brewery

One of the coolest things about the BBC10 was meeting some of the brewery reps/owners.  Todd Thibault, Sales & Marketing Director was "in da' houze' for the next round.  Earlier in the day, a Twitter tweet had gone out to #BBC10 asking to choose between 471 Small Batch or their Christmas Ale.  I was the first responder followed by many other RT for the Christmas Ale. Todd was up to this!  How cool to give the guests of BBC10 a preference!

Turns out that it was a great choice. Nice to get to taste a naturally zingy Winter Warmer style ale.  Todd gave us as much of the specs as possible in his 2 minutes of the 'lightning round', stating that the spicy flavor did not come at the expense of unnatural flavor additions. The fact is, at 7.4% ABV, you'll get the warmth and the flavor is very yummy, what with the Two Row Pale, Caramel, Chocolate and Black malt additions.

Skip the egg nog this year and bag some of this.  "Bottled Joy To The World" is their slogan. Indeed.

Breckenridge Vanilla Porter

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Breckenridge Vanilla Porter
Breckenridge Brewery
471 Kalamath Street
Denver, CO USA
Est. 1989
www.breckbrew.com 

Brain Damage Quotient = 4.7 % ABV
Fluid Oz. = 12.0 

Postmortem Brew Review
Rootbeer color.
Smell of malt and vanilla sweetness on the nose.
Tan head, about one finger high, covers to wisp.
Fair amount of lacing down the side of the glass.
Vanilla taste flirts through the malt body.
Light to medium bodied mouth feel. 

Grim Reaper's Eulogy
A super porter with the great taste of vanilla added.  I have tried this both in the bottle and on draught, with my preference leaning toward the draught pour.  But by no means does that diminish from the bottled version.

This porter exclaims that it's "Remarkable" and "Partakable" and also that it's "Seldom Seen and Never Duplicated".  It reads and sounds like the sideshow barker at your local carnival or county fair.  Whatever the pitch, go try some of this special porter made with real vanilla.  Oh so good!

Breckenridge - Lucky U IPA

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Breckenridge Lucky U IPA
Breckenridge Brewery
471 Kalamath Street
Denver, CO USA
Est. 1989
www.breckbrew.com 

Brain Damage Quotient = 6.2 % ABV
Fluid Oz. = 12.0 

Postmortem Brew Review
Rusty orange and golden color.
Smell and taste of caramel malt and pine hops.
Off withe head, about one finger high.
Fair amount of lacing down the side of the glass.
A bit dry in the finish, but good otherwise.
Light to medium bodied mouth feel. 

Grim Reaper's Eulogy
A very approachable IPA by Breckenridge.  It isn't the hops bomb the 471 Small Batch was, and the alcohol is toned down into the 6% range.  That makes it very easy to session as far as IPA's go.

The label exclaims "A happy homage to a Denver landmark, The Tivoli Brewery".  I looked it up so you don't have to, yourself.  Tivoli is a now defunct American brewery.  Its primary building is still in use as the Tivoli Student Union in Denver Colorado. The student center is home to several area Denver Universities on the Auraria Campus. The Reaper gives it a big bony "thumbs up" for remembering the past of American greatness in brewing and preserving the brewery's buildings.  That's must be what puts the "U" in Lucky U.

Do I like it?  Well, you should know that Tivoli spelled backwards is "I Lov It!"

Breckenridge IPA - 471 Small Batch

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Breckenridge IPA - 471 Small Batch
Breckenridge Brewery
471 Kalamath Street
Denver, CO USA
Est. 1989
www.breckbrew.com 

Brain Damage Quotient = 9.2 % ABV
Fluid Oz. = 12.0 

Postmortem Brew Review
Somewhere between an orange and golden color.
Smell and taste of sour apple in the brew, (maybe even citrus.)
Rich, root beer like, foaming head.
Awesome lacing down the side of the glass.
Medium bodied mouth feel with very hoppy flavor from start to finish. 

Grim Reaper's Eulogy
Okay, I never saw this one coming.....same pizza & brew place as the last post. Our host Zach returned again, this time with an 18.4 proof, 9.2% alcohol beauty. At a whopping 70 IBU's (International Bittering Units) it knocks at the back of your throat, screaming from the hops in it. And the bitters stay long after the sip, biting back in defiance. The way I described it on the way out of the joint was, "...it's like a caged, screaming monkey riding on the back of your taste buds!" I will admit, it's not for everyone...but, I like it!

As staggering as the hops in this brew are, it does not detract from the taste. It is a great small batch craft beer. I am saddened at the thought that I may never get out here to taste one again. What a brew...whew! The specialty artwork, painted on-the-bottle label, proclaims precisely what the brewers set out to achieve, "Oh lordy, this is fun."