Odell announces Saboteur

Hot off the presses comes word from Odell Brewing in Fort Collins of their next upcoming beer release. This one looks to be a sour ale and should be highly anticipated. Read on for details on their newest in the Single Server series.

Odell Brewing Surrenders Saboteur
Brewery unleashes Saboteur Brett Barrel Brown Ale

Fort Collins, Colo. – On April 19, 2010, Odell Brewing will release its much anticipated Saboteur Brett Barrel Brown Ale. This is the fourth limited release offering in the brewery’s Single Serve series of beers.

The brewer’s at Odell Brewing created an unpretentious, yet sophisticated brown ale. Then they conspired (with a sinister snicker) and plotted to dose this full-bodied ale with brettanomyces, the ultimate adversary of wineries. By embracing this vintner’s nemesis, the brewer’s created a complex and delightfully drinkable beer.

Wood aged and bottle conditioned, Saboteur pours a deep burnt umber color and offers intense earthy undertones. Nuances of tannins, hints of vanilla and pineapple intermingle with a sour silhouette, giving the beer exquisite texture and depth.

Colorado beer enthusiasts were treated to a sneak peak of the beer at the Kegs and Curds event in March at the Wynkoop in Denver . “Saboteur was paired with a Gruyere Surchoix and took second place out of about 20 pairings,” said Lynsey Perry who represented the brewery at the event.

Odell Brewing will celebrate the release of Saboteur with a tasting in the brewery’s tap room on April 17, 2010 from 4-6 p.m. Guests can enjoy samples of the brew paired with artisan cheeses while listening to the musical styling’s of Key of Joy.

Saboteur is offered in 750 ml Belgian style bottles and will be available in the brewery’s eight state distributor region at a suggested retail price of $12.99 per bottle.

Odell Brewing was recently named a “Best Company to Work For” in Colorado and is an award winning brewery, nationally and internationally: 2009 Stockholm Beer and Whiskey Festival – silver medal for 5 Barrel Pale Ale, bronze medal for 90 Shilling. 2009 BrewNZ Awards – gold for 5 Barrel Pale Ale, silver for 90 Shilling, and silver for IPA. 2009 Australian International Beer Awards – gold for IPA, gold for Extra Special Red, bronze for Isolation Ale, bronze for 90 Shilling, bronze for Cutthroat Porter. 2008 North American Beer Awards – gold medal for 5 Barrel Pale Ale. 2008 World Beer Cup® – gold medal for IPA, silver medal for Double Pilsner, silver medal for Cutthroat Porter. 2007 Great American Beer Festival® – gold medal for IPA, silver medal for Easy Street Wheat, bronze medal for Extra Special Red.
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Related articles:
- Odell Mountain Standard Reserve review.
- The return of Odell Red.
- Crimson Ale becomes an Odell Woodcut.

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Fermentedly Challenged has been on temporary hiatus

Many of you have probably noticed that there hasn't been any new posts on this old beer blog in several weeks. Never fear! Everything is OK it's just that I have been extremely busy with my regular day job and with family activities that I've not had the time to focus on gathering up all the latest Colorado craft beer news.

I plan on returning to regular posting in April. My apologies for not being able to make posts for a long time. Hopefully things will start calming down a bit and I'll be freed up again to post regularly very soon.

Thanks for all the concern and emails. Be back soon.

Chipper Dave

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Inaugural Boulder SourFest impresses

Last Saturday was the perfect day to get your sour face on at the inaugural Boulder SourFest 2010 at the Avery Brewing Tap Room in Boulder, Colorado. I, along with 500 fellow sour beer enthusiasts, gathered on a great sunny day to sample some of the 65+ sour beers from around the USA inside Avery's intimate quarters of their barrel aging room and warehouse.

SourFest was at the right time and had all the right beers in my opinion. Attendees were given a "menu" of all available beers plus a commemorative snifter glass with 20 tasting tickets inside. Each sample ended up being around a 2oz pour. Some servers were a bit more generous with their pours than others but generally you were given enough tickets to sample a wide variety of beers created with various strains of Brettanomyces and/or Lactobaccilus yeast strains.

Bring on da funk!

It may take some a while to get adjusted to the funkiness, tartness and sometimes outrageous flavors that sour beers can impart. But once you get a taste for them it may be all that you may ever want again.

I'm one of those folks who are absolutely SOLD on sour beers. I just love em! And for a 4-5 hour period I was in sour heaven. For those of you who went - did you think this fest was impressive? I did!

The best thing about this event was seeing so many familiar faces (like Nicole, Jeff, PJ and others) and also having a chance to meet and greet some of the local brewers who were also in attendance. Adam Avery (Avery Brewing) and Peter Bouckaert (New Belgium Brewing) were among some of the more noticeable brewers mingling with the crowd.

So which breweries were there?

Oh my, there were many. Here is the short list of breweries represented: Elysian (WA), New Belgium (CO), Golden City (CO), Great Divide (CO), Jackie O's (OH), Left Hand (CO), The Lost Abbey (CA), Mountain Sun (CO), Nodding Head (PA), New Holland (MI), Odell Brewing (CO), Oskar Blues (CO), The Pumphouse (CO), Russian River (CA), Sam Adams (MA), Ska Brewing (CO), Twisted Pine (CO), Victory Brewing (PA), Yak & Yeti (CO), Dogfish Head (DE), Jolly Pumpkin (MI), Trinity Brewing (CO), Two Brothers Brewing (IL), Weyerbacher Brewing (PA), Allagash (ME), Avery (CO), Ballast Point (CA), Boulevard Brewing (MO), The Bruery (CA), Cambridge Brewing (MA), Cascade Brewing (OR), Deschutes Brewing (WA) and Dry Dock Brewing (CO).

Whew! That's a lot of brewers and they brought around 65 different beers. I only wish I had enough time to sample each and every one of them, but alas, only 20 tickets were handed out and that ended up being just enough for this festival. The majority of the beers were over 7% ABV and after 40oz of sampling you could definitely feel it!

My favorites

Where do I begin. I'll start off with my top picks.

Veritas 007 - The Lost Abbey. Oh my - one of the sourest beers I've ever tasted. Supposedly made from Isabelle Proximus and cabernet franc grapes. Nearly pink in color but oh so good!

Duck Duck Gooze - The Lost Abbey. This one was a favorite from GABF last year and I had to have more. A blend of young and old barrel-aged beers. Highly sought after.

Old Growth - Trinity Brewing Co. This was another hit from the GABF and it was even better than I remember. A Flemish inspired wild brown ale that was tart and tasty. Seek this out.

Benevolence - Cambridge Brewing. This is what I'm calling my surprise hit of the festival. A dark barrel aged brew that was full of chocolate aroma. Sour chocolate. Very, very wonderful on the nose and the mouth. Loved this.

Gold Yeller - Cascade Brewing. Cascade is well known for their sour ales. They shined at the GABF in my record books for having some very tasty sours. This light colored wonder was aged in Pinor Noir barrels for a year. Simple wonderful.

Inaugural Boulder SourFest Blend - Avery Brewing. I had to try out the namesake brew of the fest. This brew was dark, acetic and blended from many different brews aged at different times. Very tasty!

Sour Black Butte Porter - Deschutes Brewing. I love their regular Black Butte Porter and just had to try a sour version of it. Dark, roasty and funky. A great sideline for this beer. Not as sour as others but still darn good.

I could go on with my raves. There were so many hits here and very few misses.

Let's do this again

I'd like to give Avery Brewing a big round of applause for hosting this 1st hope-to-be annual event. The 500+ in attendance were well behaved and the facilities were perfect for just such a fest. The only thing that could make this better would be to keep doing this fest every year and open it up to more people. I predict this festival will sell out EVERY year like it did this time around.

If you love sour ales then this fest should definitely be on your must-see list next year. Simply the best.

I hope to post lots of pictures and some video of the tasting in the days to come. I posted one video of a sampling I did of Benevolence (sour chocolate beer) and posted it to YouTube. Check it out HERE.

Related articles:
- Avery Brabant review.
- Avery Brewing is next to can it's beer.
- Hot picks from the 2009 GABF.

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More fun than a barrel of monkeys

A long-time tap room only brew, Left Hand Brewing Company of Longmont, Colorado announces it is finally releasing their 400 Pound Monkey IPA as a new bottled year-round brew. I had the opportunity over a year ago to try some of this on tap at their tasting room and was impressed with the flavor of this brew. Read below for their official press release and pic courtesy of their official blog...


Left Hand Monkeys Around

LONGMONT, CO (Feb 2010) - It's the year 2010. A plague of unbalanced, exaggeratedly hoppy beers have wiped out millions of palates in the United States since 1996. Only a small percentage of the population's discriminating palates have survived to this point. Many beer drinkers are now forced to live without the ability to taste malt. Left Hand Brewing Head Brewer Ro Guenzel volunteered to brew an antidote, going back in time when IPA's were more sessionable and balanced, and to help others discover that not all hops are of a big, citrusy character. The result? 400 Pound Monkey IPA.

Welcome to the jungle. Joe Schiraldi, VP of Brewing Operations, waxed poetic. "Just when you thought that the world needs another IPA like it needs another virus, we've started to brew a year-round IPA. But this one ain't like them others. It's an English-style IPA that separates itself from the ubiquitous bunch. Any monkey can throw 400 pounds of hops in a kettle."

Brassy in color, with an off-white head, the Monkey exhibits an earthiness quite different from American-style IPAs. Soft aromas of freshly cut hay, bitter orange and white cheese rind (courtesy of Boadicea and Sovereign hop varieties) are the first impression. But once the cage has been opened and a sip savored, a multi-pronged 12-monkey assault on the palate begins. The initial bready maltiness is attacked immediately by a variety of flavors ranging from green tea to glacier melt water to wild flower honey, coating your palate and refusing to leave.

"But just as one monkey arouses a great deal of amusement, two or more double the interest and amusement, which is why you should have more than one," says Ro. "If you allow this beer to warm up, that's where the Monkey really begins to shine. The malt starts to open, balancing the hop attack, but still allowing a very long herbal hoppiness to linger on your tongue. There's just a lot going on."

So, alas, comes the inevitable questions - what are the ABV and IBU? Well, the Monkey weighs in at 6.8% ABV, but the bitterness? Well, it depends on perception versus reality, but a polite monkey never tells.

About Left Hand Brewing Company
Celebrating sixteen years of brewing a well-balanced portfolio of craft beers, Left Hand Brewing Company is located at 1265 Boston Avenue in Longmont, Colorado. The brewery has received 16 medals at the Great American Beer Festival and 8 medals at the World Beer Cup, and its beers are now available in 29 states and 11 countries. "Sometimes you're not in the mood for what everyone else is having."

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Related articles:
- An inside look at Left Hand Brewing.
- Left Hand 2010 beer release schedule.
- Left Hand 2009 Oak Aged Imperial Stout review.

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Catching up on Colorado beer news

A lot of news happened while I was away from the blog during the last two weeks. I thought I'd compile a list of news tidbits from around the state that came in while I was AFK (away from keyboard). I hope to get back to normal posting about Colorado beers very soon. But for those who may have missed it, here's what's been happening around Colorado this month.

Fort Collins Brewery

FCB's new building is coming along well. Planned opening of their new brewery and eatery (Alimente) is on track for June 2010. The Alimente gastropub's menu will focus on fresh local foods with seasonal changes. The restaurant will offer views of the brewery's operations and will have a 31 seat bar, a private community room for events and a large patio facing the nearby golf course. Upcoming events include their Maibock release on February 23rd and the special Michael Bolton birthday bash on Friday Feburary 26th.

Oskar Blues

The folks at Oskar Blues recently revamped their web site and now has more info being share with their music section, blog and Twitter and Facebook pages. Their Ten Fidy final shipments to stores have now gone out - grab some of that imperial stout while it's still on shelves. GUBNA - a new imperial IPA will be in cans on in stores on March 1st. Gubna becomes the 6th beer to be canned by Oskar Blues and will be a seasonal rotation when Ten Fidy isn't on the shelves. Also, folks who visit any of the 3 O.B. location can take the Oskar Blues bus between their locations on Saturdays and Sundays. Stops include the Tasty Weasel, Liquids & Solids, and the restaurant in Lyons.

Twisted Pine Brewing

Twisted Pine Brewing Company of Boulder has been busy with releases. This month's featured brews include Razzy Xpress, a raspberry Espresso stout, came out for Valentines day and is available at their tap room. Also, Hoppy Man Imperial IPA rollout happened last week. Hoppy Man is a big hoppy brew packed with 4 different kinds of hops and should be on shelves now. Over 20 different Twisted Pine beers are now on tap at their Ale House in Boulder with 5 more different brews coming later this month.

Great Divide

Great Divide Brewing of Denver announced that Hoss Rye Lager and Claymore Scotch Ale were added in mid-February as part of their year-round line up of beers and are no longer just a seasonal. Also, Saison was renamed and relabeled as Colette Farmhouse Ale which is now available. Great Divide is now also touting their Espresso Oak Aged Yeti and claim it can even be had as a breakfast brew. What a way to start your day. Careful, it weighs in at 9.5% ABV. Better go easy with that and the corn flakes. There will be a big Release Party for all the above GD beers on February 19th from 6-9pm at their tap room in Denver.

Avery Brewing

Avery recently celebrated a 4-year celebration of their Collaboration Not Litigation beer with Russian River. A 4-year vertical tasting was done earlier this month to commemorate the occasion. Later this month, Avery and the Society for the Pursuit of Hoppiness will host a talk on "Sour Ales Deconstructed: Deciphering Flavor Components of Complex Beers" on February 22nd as a lead in to their Inaugural Boulder SourFest on Saturday, February 27th in Boulder at their Barrel Aging room. Also coming up March 5th will be their Maharaja Imperial IPA Batch #11 Releast Party at their tap room. Details for the 8th Annual Boulder strong Ale Fest are now coming out. Date has been set for April 30th and May 1st for this weekend event.

Wynkoop Brewing

Denver's well know downtown brewery, Wynkoop, is set to host it's annual Beer Drinker of the Year event on Saturday, February 27th in downtown Denver. Last year's winner Cody Chrisman will be on hand as a judge this year to test the metal of 3 new contestants. Also, Rail Yard Ale is now in cans! Look for it at local stores around the Denver area and in local bars. The Wynkoop is also hosting a bit Fat Tuesday celebration on February 16th starting at 6pm.

Bristol Brewing Company

The folks down in Colorado Springs are hosting a big Firkin Rendezvous and a Cock Sale on Saturday, February 20th at the brewery. A record 28 breweries will be participating in this celebration of beer in firkins. Most of these beers will be big beers so don't plan on driving after this event. Stay at a local hotel. Get tickets while they last.

Phantom Canyon

Phantom Canyon has launched their new Two Headed Dog Double IPA on February 12th and is now available on tap. It's a big 8.4% ABV with 114 IBUs! This beer is best served in a snifter glass. Go check it out at their Colorado Springs brewhouse.


That's all the latest news during the last two weeks. More news from Colorado coming soon. I'll hopefully be back to posting more regularly later this month. Sorry for the delay in reporting - life has been very busy lately.


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Advanced SAVOR tix going on sale February 17

For those of you who happened to attend last year's SAVOR - American Craft Beer & Food Experience last year or who happened to be Brewer's Association or American Homebrewers Association Members - tickets for this year's SAVOR (June 5th, 2010)in Washington D.C. are being sold in advance starting at 10am Mountain time on Wednesday, February 17th.

This is a full week before the rest of this country's beer enthusiasts get a chance to pick one up.

From reports from people who attended last year's event, Savor was quite the experience.

Tickets for this year's Savor event are $95. That may seem hefty for a beer event but when you throw in all that great food as well then you get your money's worth.

There will also be separate tickets sold for each SAVOR Salon and Private Tasting Salon session for $30 a ticket, in addition to a SAVOR general admission ticket.

More info is available on the official event website.

Anyone of my readers planning to attend this event? For those who went last year - how do you think they could top it this year? Let me know.

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Falling Rock is tapping Pliny the Younger and other events

Word on the street says that the Falling Rock Tap House in Denver is tapping open several kegs of Russian River's Pliny the Younger starting Tuesday, February 16th at 5pm. Falling Rock knows that this is a highly sought after beer and they are going to be rationing it out from now through Friday, February 26th. Read below for all the details from Chris at the Falling Rock from his latest newsletter.

Falling Rock Taphouse Announcements

Howdy Folks,

Well it's been a busy winter around here with all kinds of interesting beers available, but one topic has DEFINITELY been at the head of the list: When will Pliny the Younger be available? Well I have the definitive answer for you: Tuesday February 16th @ 5pm. If you've been keeping up w/ Russian River's website you already know that the beer is no longer available at the pub. There are only a few kegs coming to Colorado & Falling Rock is, of course, getting some. If you cannot make it here on Tuesday the 16th, the last chance will be on Friday February 26th @ 5pm when I will tap the last keg that I have. This is the night before Avery's Sour Beer Fest & Wynkoop's Beer Drinker of the Year competition so I figure it's a good time, there will quite a few people from elsewhere in town to attend one of these events. Other events:

Sunday February 21st 1-5pm 2nd Annual Hawaiian Shirt Party Come celebrate the middle of Winter by breaking out your Hawaiian Shirts & spending a few hours eating & drinking @ the Falling Rock. Cost: $10 if you're wearing your Falling Rock Hawaiian Shirt, $15 if you're wearing another Hawaiian Shirt (or Hawaiian Dress), $20 if you aren't wearing Island Attire. What do you get? Food & Beer will be put out Downstairs for you to enjoy, We will also be 'Bobbing for Beer' for $3 a 'bob'. If you are not familiar w/ 'Bobbing for Beer' it involves retrieving numbered washers from the bottom of a container filled with Ice water. The number corresponds to a numbered bottle of beer, Some bottles are really special (like things from Russian River, Lost Abbey, or back vintages of Avery) some definitely not (like Light American Industrolagers) .

Saturday March 13th 9am- ? St. Patrick's Parade Come on out & Enjoy the Parade (it runs right in front of the Falling Rock) from a place with good Beer & Food. We will be serving Breakfast Burrito's From opening till we run out & then we'll be serving Corned Buffalo & Cabbage for the rest of the day (or until it runs out also). If you are coming down, it is recommended that you park to the west of us and get to us by walking east (really southeast) on 20th. The Parade starts @ 27th & Blake and runs down Blake to 15th where it turns right onto 15th to Wynkoop then right on Wynkoop to 19th then left in front of the Chophouse & Finishes ( check out the parade website for the map)

Friday April 9th 10am-? Rockies Home Opener vs the Padres Always a great day here @ the Falling Rock. We'll have a booth out on the patio Serving Odell Beer (5 flavors) and Stranahan's Colorado Whiskey.

See you when you get here,

Chris (Falling Rock Tap House)

Related articles:
- Video tour of the Falling Rock Tap House.
- GABF week at the Falling Rock Tap House.
- January-February events at the Falling Rock Tap House.

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