Outside of the Madness: GABF Part II

Denver is the epicenter for all things craft beer the week of GABF. The festival itself, by nature, can be a bit over the top… it’s supposed to be. The scene around town offers a wider range of events just as exciting as what’s happening at Festival Hall.

Here’s a recap of a few standout gatherings that we enjoyed.

The Goat House

This is what happens when the Director of FOBAB and one of the most popular chefs in America decide to throw a party. The husband/ wife duo, Gary Valentine & Stephanie Izard secretly sent invites to a small group of people (this lush included) to join them for a series of intimate popup events at their house in Denver. What unfolded was a surreal pairing of innovative small plates and limited release beers.

Little Goat Brunch

Duck Duck Goat inspired beer dinner

Gary & Stephanie are working on a cookbook. The occasion served as a photo shoot for those in attendance. The concept was pretty fucking rad. While the city of Denver and every bar was at full tilt, we sampled dishes inspired by Little Goat Diner and Stephanie’s latest concept – Duck Duck Goat. The latter is a Taiwanese restaurant scheduled to open this Fall in West Loop, Chicago.

The evil genius Gary Valentine curated all the event pairings. When he’s not teaching classes at Siebel Institute of Technology, Gary is the Beer Director at all 3 Goat restaurants. This might have been the coolest thing I did all week.

The candlelight patio dinner included the presence of brewers from Revolution, Firestone Walker, and Boulevard to chat about their beers during sunset. It was a magical end to the summer season.

Grit & Grain: The Bourbon County Documentary

The Denver Film Society was the scene for a 50-minute film about the greatest American stout of all time. The Goose Island crew greeted attendees with a Vintage Ale Chalice filled with 2015 Bourbon County Brand Stout (not scheduled for release until Black Friday). The image of fans parading into the theater with a bag of popcorn in one hand, and a glass of BCS in the other is one I wont forget.

Bourbon County Brand Stout 2015

Bourbon County Rare

The movie dives much deeper than just the beer and barrel aging process. GI Content Development, Ken Hunnemeder and crew visit white oak forests in the heart of the Ozarks, a barrel cooperage facility as well as bourbon distillery.

Following the film we witnessed the return of Bourbon County Rare. Aged in 35yr Old Heaven Hill barrels for 2 years, this variant pays tribute to the original Rare released 2010. Pappy Van Winkle 23yr old barrels were used in the original run. Everyone in attendance received a sample of Rare and a commemorative Grit & Grain snifter glass.

Bourbon County Rare returns Black Friday 2015

After the film I asked former Brewmaster, Greg Hall,  if he had a favorite of the many BCS variants over the years. His response was simple, “Nothing beats the original.” … we couldn’t agree more. The 50-minute film will be released in 9 separate chapters. That’s 1 every week until Black Friday.

Brewers Association Opera House Luncheon

I mean, c’mon it’s a restaurant that was once home to an opera!

Program Director, Julia Herz passionately expressed in her opening speech that gluttony is not glamorous. The trend of beer food & pairings where you feel overwhelmed by portion sizes should not be the norm. Challenging the palate and elevating food to match the quality of craft beer has always been a Brewers Association initiative. In the past this gathering has included many of the previous year’s GABF medal winners paired with creations from Craftbeer.com Executive Chef Adam Duyle.

There are 1570 brewpubs in America. Brewpub Committee Chairman and Lady Ale Companie Founder Cyrena Nouzille presented her Trébuchet with the entrée course. It was a beautiful Golden Farmhouse ale aged in Sauvignon Blanc barrels with lactobacillus for 26 months.

Over the 4-course luncheon there were an equal number of presentations, topics included brewpub trends, economic impact and homebrewing.

crispy duck leg pastrami terrine

Craft beer has a strong connection to its roots in homebrewing. 90% of all craft breweries were founded by homebrewers including Sierra Nevada, New Belgium and Lagunitas (three of the country’s largest).

On the economic impact front, craft breweries tend to hire more workers per barrel produced than their macro brewery counterpart. They are also more likely to buy goods locally. These actions create a reverberation in the local economy. Last year craft breweries had an estimated economic impact of $55.7 billion dollars and full-time employment of 424,000 Americans. That employment number includes direct and indirect jobs (suppliers); 115,000 are directly employed by breweries and brewpubs.

butterscotch budino, peach jam, coconut granola paired w Allagash Curieux

Where there are people, there are local breweries. 75% of all Americans over 21+ now live within 10 miles of a brewery. 4000 breweries sourcing from local manufacturers and suppliers is a big deal. We are on pace to see 20% market share of craft beer in the U.S. by 2020. The localization of beer is a beautiful thing.

The Denver Beer Trail

There are 38 Denver breweries that either opened or are scheduled to open in 2015 alone! It’s a staggering number; the extended Denver metropolitan area is home to over 115 breweries. During our whirlwind week we traveled by bus to visit a pair of newcomers – Ratio Beerworks and Spangalang Brewery.

The Denver Beer Bus is hosted by author Ed Sealover and powered by Visit Denver .

Spangalang is founded by a trio of brewers that met while working at Great Divide Brewing. The company has barely been open 5 months. Their vibe in their taproom is vibrant and cozy. I’m pretty sure the xylophone and piano jam session we encountered while there is the only xylophone I’ve seen all year. Cheers to these cats for following their passion. Their Spanagalang Table Beer took Gold this year in the Other Belgian Style category.

Spangalang Brewing, Five Points, Denver

Ratio Beerworks, RiNo, Denver

February 2015

Ratio Beerworks is lead by former Wynkoop and AC Golden brewer Jason zumBrunnen. Their space is located just blocks from 2 other breweries in River North. The Ratio crew prefers to embrace the synergy created by having breweries so close together. They see the area in RiNo as more of a brewery district than anything else. Jason and his business partners all met through their love of music. The Hold Steady is their Chocolate Rye Scotch Ale infused with Novo Coffee. This beer…is something special. Hints of oak-like smokiness but softer more rounded than scotch ales I’m used to. Notes of chocolate and dark fruits dance on your palate without dominating it.

Whew!!!! That’s it for now.

The final post of our GABF 2015 coverage will be an interview with the founder of Magnolia Brewing, Dave Mclean, on location from their 2nd annual Grateful Dead Brunch.

In case you missed it, part one of our coverage is here.

–Nkosi