Craft beer blog

Here we are going to talk a bit about some of the wonderful beers we have flowing through our taps, highlight some breweries & chat about beer styles

This highlight focusing on Great divide brew co

First a short introduction from their website;

HISTORY

During the late 80s, Brian Dunn spent 5 years overseas building farms in developing countries.  Having grown up in a family that valued good food and drink, Dunn grew his knowledge and passion for beer during his travels.  Dunn eventually returned to Colorado, started homebrewing and went to graduate school.  Upon graduation in 1993, when the Denver beer scene barely existed, he set out to found what would eventually become one of America’s most decorated and celebrated craft breweries.

Beginning with a marketing study and a business plan, Dunn saw an opportunity in what would soon become Denver’s Ballpark Neighborhood to brew uniquely balanced, flavorful beers.  With financial help from family, friends and a loan from the City of Denver, his dream of brewing commercially became reality in 1994.

BALLPARK

The brewery started small and in the beginning Dunn was the only full-time employee: brewing, bottling and selling to accounts all in the same day.  As the brewery grew, the beer spoke for itself.  Dunn’s beers were balanced, flavorful and representative of a lifestyle that is uniquely Colorado.  While Great Divide’s ethos may be globally-inspired, our beers are distinctly Denver.

Since 1994 we’ve brewed all sorts of exciting beer styles, added lots of brewing capacity and we’ve assembled a great staff.  In 2001, we bought our building – which used to be an old dairy processing plant – and set out for over a decade of exponential growth. In 2011, we realized we would soon outgrow our space and began looking for land to expand– knowing that leaving the city was not an option.

THE BARREL BAR

We are a Denver brewery, and have been involved in the craft beer scene and the community here since the beginning. In 2013, we bought 5 acres in the nearby RiNo neighborhood. It wasn’t easy, but we are so happy to have a place only a mile down the road where we can continue growing for the next 21 years. We broke ground on phase one of our expansion in 2014. In 2015, we finally had the space in our new packaging facility to begin canning. We celebrated the opening of our Barrel Bar in July, and immediately began looking ahead to our Phase Two expansion.

Our brewery has become what it is today thanks to our hardworking, creative and passionate employees. Here at Great Divide, Bold Character is more than just a catchphrase, it’s the philosophy behind what we brew, how we think, and what we believe.

MISSION

The mission of Great Divide Brewing Co. is to produce high-quality, distinctive ales for our customers, and to provide service and education to our customers and the general public in regard to the craft brewing industry. We are a brewery of Great characters, making remarkable beer while being active in the community.

Tap #3 – Car camper

Style: Hazy pale

ABV: 5%

Hops: hopped & dry hopped with sabro

What they say;

CAR CAMPER is the beer to fuel your next adventure. Generously hopped and dry-hopped with Sabro hops, the aroma hints at cantaloupe, mango and coconut and finishes evenly with a pleasant mouthfeel. Surrender to your wanderlust and be sure to pack plenty of CAR CAMPER

What we  say;

Super light straw coloured pale ale, with hints of stone fruit & pineapple. Mild bitter finish & super crisp. Great for pairing with our spicy buffalo cauliflower tacos or baby back ribs

Craft beer blog

Here we are going to talk a bit about some of the wonderful beers we have flowing through our taps, highlight some breweries & chat about beer styles

This highlight focusing on Lost & Grounded brewing

First a short introduction from their website;

Lost and Grounded Brewers is a brewery in Bristol, UK, established in July 2016. We are team who are fascinated by the precision of German brewing and the idiosyncratic nature of Belgian beers, and we chose the brewhouse of our dreams that could help us make these wonders of fermentation.

From our flagship Keller Pils through to our delicious Apophenia, we have a range of beers to keep you interested!

We are proud to have been a Living Wage Foundation Employer since we opened.

A bit about our special brewery.

It’s no secret we love lager: we set up our brewery to make our flagship Keller Pils and brew lager every week of the year! Lager is a style of beer that is incredibly difficult to master, but we love the challenges that brewing this type of beer brings.  We source our malts from Germany and Belgium as these suit the profile of our our beers down to a tee, and provide classic notes to our modern renditions.

We operate a state-of-the-art brewhouse from Krones, complete with a traditional lactic acid propagation plant (classic German method of adjusting acidity) to produce beers with balance, nuance and depth of character.  In this plant we naturally produce “sour” wort with a special strain of lactic acid bacteria, originally isolated from the husk of malt; this sour wort is in turn used to adjust the pH across the brewing process. This is a totally natural way to brew and is the way for German brewers to deal with alkaline water such as the water we have in Bristol.

All of our beers are unfiltered and vegan friendly.

Tap #5 – ‘Starsky’

Oatmeal stout

ABV: 5.2%

Ⓥ Vegan beer

What they say;

It’s a brisk wind that blows the autumn leaves to the ground and warns us of the imminent arrival of winter. Seeking comfort and familiarity we cultivate a sense of togetherness and warmth. Our smooth oatmeal stout was brewed to capture this feeling through the familiarity of a favourite TV show, the nostalgia of long forgotten memories shared and the comfort of being wrapped in a chunky cardigan knitted by your nan. A base of Pils, Cara, Special B, Chocolate and Roast malts is combined with a dose of rolled oats to deliver a smooth body and complex palate. Flavours of delicate roast, digestive biscuit and dark fruits are supported by a trio of UK hops – Goldings, First Gold and Bramling Cross, making for a clean finish that leaves you wanting more. Pair our Oatmeal Stout with almost everything from hearty stews all the way through to sweet chocolate or fruit based desserts. Delightful.

What we  say;

A super sessionable stout if we have ever had one! Light enough to consume many a pint but not thin in anyway, lovely creamy texture with notes of café noisette at the front, toasted almonds & a fluffy chocolate after taste.

Pairs well with our home made white chocolate bread pudding or the original bighorn burger!

Craft beer blog

Here we are going to talk a bit about some of the wonderful beers we have flowing through our taps, highlight some breweries & chat about beer styles

This highlight focusing on DEYA brewing

First a short introduction from their website;

As a company we take a holistic approach to business, striving to be a better company for our employees, our customers, our community, and our planet. Sustainability is a multi-faceted issue. We are trying to be proactive and transparent in tackling this issue, and do what we can internally and externally as a company. This is the start of our journey in becoming more sustainable, and in turn, a better company.

Craft beer blog

Here we are going to talk a bit about some of the wonderful beers we have flowing through our taps, highlight some breweries & chat about beer styles

This highlight focusing on denver beer co

First a short introduction from their website;

Craft beer blog

Here we are going to talk a bit about some of the wonderful beers we have flowing through our taps, highlight some breweries & chat about beer styles

This highlight focusing on sapaudia

First a short introduction from their website;

Tap #4 – Cosmique

Sapaudia – Style: IPA
ABV: 5.8%
Plato: 13.75
Malts: Pale Ale, Carahell, Munich
Hops: El Dorado & Amarillo

What they say;

Innovative and crowd-pleasing in equal measure, Cosmique is simply big on aroma and taste. A huge bouquet of tropical fruits and sherbet candy lures you in before a rounded malt body takes centre stage, accompanied by a satisfying array of fruit notes. The final act is reassuring, leaving a lingering bitterness on the tongue; enough to keep you going back for more, but not so harsh as to slow down a good après session.

What we say;

One of our most popular beers & local staples here at bighorn, loved by visitors & locals (or cosmonaughts as they are affectionately known) alike this beer is consumed rarely in moderation. A very well balanced ‘international’ style IPA it is low in carbonation, packed full of citrus aroma, medium bodied with a crisp bitter finish.

Craft beer blog

Here we are going to talk a bit about some of the wonderful beers we have flowing through our taps, highlight some breweries & chat about beer styles

This highlight focusing on polly’s brew co.

First a short introduction from their website;

HELLO, WE’RE POLLY’S BREW CO.

Since launching in early 2018 we have grown and adapted our setup to form a small but tight-knit team of ten running the day to day operations of the brewery.

Our motto is to never stop improving; we’re always learning and tweaking our beer designs to create the best beer we possibly can, packaged into only kegs and cans to optimise freshness and keep our beer tasting as fresh as it does from the source.

OUR BEER

Our passion is to create hop-forward, modern styles of beer; with an emphasis on freshness. We’ve developed and grown our Originals range, the core of our output since day one, to a high level of consistency. From this we’ve been able create the Augment range – the next step in our brewing journey. Our journey doesn’t stop here though; we are always looking to push ourselves, exploring new styles and brewing techniques to test ourselves as brewers – our next port of call being our first ever barrel-aging project.

Tap #6 – Cant help but shine

Polly’s brew co. – American IPA ‘mountain IPA’

East coast IPA meets west coast IPA 5.8%

What they say;

Okay so we do East Coast style beers pretty well, and we’re getting better and better at West Coast, where do we go next? Smack bang in the middle of course. We stumbled upon the term Mountain IPA when chewing the fat with the legendary Doug Odell of Odell Brewing at Friends & Family & Beer in February last year, before the world went to pot. A hazy pale ale that brings the intense aromatics of an East Coast beer, but with the crisp bitterness and clean finish of a West Coast beer, we’ve brought the old school hops to the table on this beer – utilizing Citra and Centennial, but introducing them with very much new school brewing techniques – fermenting this beer out with our bespoke London Ale 3 yeast strain. A wonderful mish mash of two incredible styles.

What we say;

I think they have done a bang up job of landing right in the middle of the two styles here, imagine drinking an east coast whilst dreaming of a west… The super pale straw colour & cloudy appearance might have you fooled at first but put lip to glass & you shall find a pleasant surprise! Juicy on the front with that classic west coast hop-burst bitter finish. With lemon peel & fresh grapefruit on the nose this beer is a well balanced, aromatic, flavour bomb