Kugs says Aloha to: Colorado-Day the Third

Spent most of the morning writing yesterday’s column and being super lazy until my dumb Droid battery charged back up.  The agenda for the afternoon was a simple one: walk the 3.2 miles to Dry Dock Brewery here in Aurora, drink their beer, talk to people about it, walk back to hotel, collect the wife, have dinner with Bartsch and his family, retire for the evening.  Things went pretty much according to plan, though the weather was a little persnickety along the way.  Brutally hot on the walk to Dry Dock—then raining on the way back.  It was a relatively light rain, so we managed, though the walk back was far quicker than the walk there.

It’s a nice area to walk through though, loaded with trees and plants and dogs.  I thought this one little yip dog was going to give itself a coronary trying to gnaw through the fence between us to get at me.  Luckily, the hole he stuck his snout through was not quite large enough to allow that, and we all moved on like ships in the night.

Dry Dock brewery was a very interesting spot.  It kind of snuck up on me, situated in the corner unit of a strip mall.  Not a typical locale for a brewery, though I would learn that they are pretty atypical in general.  Once inside, it looked and felt like a brewery tap room, which is convenient seeing as that is in fact what it was.  I liked the look of the malt sacks hanging from the rafters.  The brewing tanks are directly behind the bar and visible through the large windows.  I really enjoyed watching the brewers at work while I enjoyed their labors.  Very cool feel to the place.

I sat down at the bar and met Lissa who invited me to fill out a tasting sheet to sample the first six beers I was to try.  I did so and when she returned with my selections, she took the pen and arranged them in the most appropriate drinking order, a nice touch.  I started off with selections from their Seasonal beer menu, beginning with the Raspberry Wheat.  It was cloudy with a lightish color and a light fragrance.  It was smoother and gentler than the Great Divide Wild Raspberry Ale.  Crisp and drinkable with a touch of lip-smackiness.  The wife would have liked it, but she wasn’t there so I drank it all myself.  I moved on next to their “La Vie Haute” Summer Saison.  This one had a huge aroma and a fascinating flavor.  It looked and felt like a summertime beer, and started off that way, very citrusy and tasty, but the back end of it had a peppery quality that gave it a sharp twinge.  Really mouth-filling and absent of aftertaste.  Really fresh and distinct.  I think it would pair well with a blackened catfish or something similar.  Really nifty beer. 

At this point I noticed a framed quote behind the bar.  “Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.”  Always liked that one, even if Ben Franklin didn’t exactly say it.

I next tried the “Carter’s” Copper Ale.  It was just ok for me, but I instantly fell in love with the next beer, the “Crooked Shillelagh” Hand-pulled Irish Red.  I mean, the name alone made me feel good, but holy Donegal Batman, this beer was simply off the charts good.  Was a deeper and darker red than the others I’ve had this week, including Wynkoop’s Imperial Red, which I liked a lot.  I think I particularly enjoyed the hand-pulling.  Without the CO2 and drinking it at room temperature, the texture was pure heaven-creamy and smooth with a slight touch of sweetness on the back end.  A warm and comforting beer, great body, no aftertaste, and just a genuinely pleasant taste that would complement a lot of dishes, but of course I’d want to do my Corned beef with it, or even just a good soda bread.  I think I’d eat a tire and enjoy it with this beer.  This beer will contend for Beer of the week, for certain.  Yowzers.

The “Second Base” Brown Ale was fine, and the Milk Stout was probably the best of the Stouts I’ve had this week.  It was mellower and smoother than the Wynkoop Milk Stout and less filling than the Great Divide Stouts.  It doesn’t quite, for me, rise to the level of the Rock Bottom Stout from Indianapolis, but it was very good.

My next group of samples is from the “Home Fleet” or their year-round beers.  Lissa again ordered them for me and had me start off with the “U-Boat” Hefeweizen.  It had a cloudy, unfiltered look and gave off a unique fragrance of bananas.  Looked a little like a Boddington’s.  Wow-this one is unique-definitely get a citrusy flavor with that banana suggestion, but on the bottom end there’s a hint of clove that’s really interesting.  Really unique Hefeweizen that would pair well with a summer salad with grapefruit in it or a light pork loin dish on the grill.  This could get an honorable mention just for sheer audacity of using banana in a beer.  I liked it.

I then tried, for comparison sake, the Crooked Shillelagh with the CO2 and refrigeration.  It was good, but I definitely preferred the hand-pulled.  The “HMS Victory” Amber was next and although it was a tad malty for me at first, I found that I enjoyed it more as it went along.  Creamier than I expected in an amber and it had a taste that lingered a bit, in a nice way.  For some reason it struck me as a beer to watch soccer with. 

The “Breakaway” Pale Ale had a light and bubbly look with a nice head.  Potently fragrant that brought to mind a Christmas tree and mulled wine.  I enjoyed this far more than the Wynkoop “Silverback” Pale Ale.  Had a really complex taste that filled the palate in a way that other Pale Ales fail to do.  I frequently find Pale Ales to be low on flavor and this one most assuredly breaks that cycle.  This would pair really well with my Jerk Chicken.  Definitely a contender for an Honorable Mention, at least.  The “Urca” Vanilla Porter was another winner.  Squid-ink black in color with a really big and inviting nose that reminded me once again of the Rock Bottom Stout from Indy.  I liked it immediately.  It was less sweet and more complex than the Rock Bottom.  It put me in mind of the first time I ever had an Irish Coffee, though I’m not certain why.  It’s a mouth-changing beer that is flavorful all over, even after I swallowed it.  Definitely high on the lip-smackiness scale.  I really liked it.  This one will contend.

The Dry Dock Double IPA had me excited as I’ve learned over the course of this project that I really like Double IPA.  Still not the biggest fan of IPA by itself, but double it up and I seem to come around.  This one was darker than the Breckenridge 471 from yesterday and had a strong and nice fragrance that called to mind spending Christmas in Hawaii, for some reason.  Wish I had this beer when I was having Christmas in Hawaii because I really liked it.  There was a bit more of a bite at the back end of this than the 471 but the flavor was plenty big.  Hoppy and malty in balance with one another.  Their beer menu says that this on exhibits “restrained bitterness.”  That’s an apt description, though at 9% ABV, I’m not sure how restrained it would prove.  A very good beer to end my research on, though they later made the “Swabby” Barrel-aged Quad available.  It had a cidery quality to its aroma and a real earthy look to it.  Reminded me a little of the Barley Wine at Greta Divide yesterday, though I enjoyed the Swabby more.  I couldn’t quite figure it out, a really complex beer, and at 12% ABV, I wasn’t going to continue researching it at that point.  I was really for a full pint of the Crooked Shillelagh, which I enjoyed while chatting with a few of the regulars to the tap room, Frank, Tim, and Rob. 

Frank was a riot who told a variety of stories I can’t print here or even tell the wife about.  One that I can share had him relating a story about his first heart attack.  It happened, “While I was working in a hospital.  I told a doctor on the elevator, and he took me down to the ER.  How lucky was that?  I was dating a witch at the time, and she gave me a bag of rocks to put under my pillow.  I told the doctor about it, and he said, ‘that’s great.  You’ll be the dead guy with a bag of rocks under his pillow if you don’t do more than that for treatment.’”  I’d go back to Dry Dock just to hear more stories from Frank. 

I also met Tim, who’s been a part of the Dry Dock family since the beginning.  They started off as a Beer supply store, The Brew Hut, and expanded into brewing operations in 2005.  The Supply store is still there, though they’ve expanded over the years, including signing the papers today on a new 70,000 square foot space for expansion. 

During their first year in business, they were surprise Gold medal winners at the World Beer Cup with their HMS Victory Amber, and, as Tim put it, they were “off to the races.”  Both Tim and Rob talked about how the Colorado Brewing community works together and “promotes their own.”  Rob mentioned that he heard there were seventy new Colorado breweries opening in the coming years.  Collaboration is common and welcomed.  I think that really adds something to the flavor of the experience I’ve had this week. Tim also mentioned that he thinks American craft brewing is returning to its original form, where each community will have its own local beer to promote and enjoy.  This is something that the Yuengling history I’ve been reading talks about, where every town had a brewery and it took on a character and disposition that reflected the community.  This went away as larger national brewers expanded and Prohibition hit.   It was an interesting observation that I can only hope plays out.  Would certainly give me more to write about.  Learn more about them here: www.drydockbrewing.com

With that, I power-walked my way through the rain back to the hotel to get ready for dinner with Bartsch.  He’s a former student of mine from my SKS years in New York.  He was always a favorite.  Through the power of Facebook we’ve stayed in touch and were able to reconnect last night and I got the chance to meet his beautiful wife and daughter.  It was a real treat and again reminded me of the power of social media.  That and the power of relationship.  Simply sharing a meal with an old friend was an amazing addition to my trip out here.  When we lived in Hawaii, we had people come to the island all the time and made plans to meet up with them, but more often than not, once people got to Hawaii they often got locked in on what they were doing and never got together with us.  It was hard at times to not be hurt by that, but we moved on and let it go.  For me, the chance to see an old friend and meet his family did nothing but enrich my trip, just like last year when I met up with Hom in San Francisco.  It was maybe an hour of two, but was among my favorite aspects of that trip. 

For me, taking that time there, as well as here, was a reminder of how small a world we live in and how important it is to make the effort to maintain relationship when you are lucky enough to meet some of the awesome people in it.  So, next time you’re in Northern Virginia, give me a call.

I had originally planned to visit the Oskar Blues Brewery today, but was unable to secure a car, so I will see them next time.  They were genuinely helpful and gracious in scheduling time with me today and I can’t wait to see them.  I will try to sample their product here in Aurora today because, as Tim said, “They are one of the real success stories of the local Brewing scene.”  Or something like that, I didn’t write it down.  My hand was getting sore. 

Thus far I have sampled 49 Colorado beers.  I hope to try a few more during the day leading up to my visit to the training center for the Rocky Mountain Roller GirlsL www.rockymountainrollergirls.com/ )I’ve got a friend from college who plays in the league and she’s graciously offered to give us an introduction to the world of Roller Derby.  I’m stoked.  The wife is more excited than I am I think.  Tune in tomorrow to hear about that adventure.  Could be epic. 

Thanks for all your support.  Aloha for now.