On the subject of coveted beer...

Since I started blogging a couple weeks ago, I've been keeping notes on what I intend to write on the next week's Tewsday Brewsday post. This week, I've kept a bunch of notes, but I haven't been able to come up with a cohesive theme, a central idea to tie them all together. The thoughts and notes are all there, just very nebulous; very scattered and disorganized.

Normally I write my post on Monday night, then proofread and publish it on Tuesday. At least, for the entirety of my past 2 (two) blog posts, that's been my "system" that has "served me well." However, this week has been a little different, what with Valentine's Day, my brother's 21st birthday, and my 1-year anniversary with my beautiful girlfriend Robin going on. Monday rolled around, but I didn't get anything typed, and I decided I was going to wait until today, Tuesday, to write my post. Today came and I couldn't get any thoughts to stick, so I decided to wait for inspiration to strike me.

I am currently beginning a new adventure. No, not blogging. No, not homebrewing. No, not more beer. Well, okay, almost any "adventure" I have these days has to do with beer. So nevermind on that last one. My new adventure is this: I am currently embarking on the slow, but eventual, journey of gaining employment at a local craft brewery. This journey is certainly going to be a time commitment on my part. Of all the breweries that I've been able to talk to about how their employees get their jobs, most of them have said that "spending time in the taproom getting to know the employees" is key. Thus, my slow journey. The speed at which I can travel down this path is carefully balanced by a couple factors: 1. The amount of time, money, and beer that I can afford to expend and intake, respectively, balanced by 2. The fine balance between being there frequently enough that I can get to know the people that work at the brewery in a natural, organic manner, and being there too much and just being "that guy who's always at the tap room."

One such brewery of interest is Great Divide Brewing Company. With a current capacity of somewhere between 25,000 and 30,000bbl, distributing to 28 states as well as several different countries, and being one of the most decorated breweries in the country (16 GABF and 4 world cup medals), they are a prime target as they are growing to meet demand for their beers, which requires more helping hands as time goes on. Hopefully I can eventually be some of that help.

My very first visit to Great Divide's tap room was this past Saturday, after a morning at the Denver Art Musem followed by lunch at Pints Pub. Pints Pub is a very convincing British-style restaurant, complete with a big red phone booth out front to mark its location. The two biggest draws to this pub (other than the great food) are that it has the largest selection of single-malt scotch whiskey this side of Britain, and that it brews authentic British-style ales, including two live ales - cask-fermented and cask-conditioned. I have fallen in love with their Lancer IPA cask ale. The smooth carbonation, the entirely different body of flavor brought out by the cask conditioning, combined with the fact that it's just a very well-made British IPA make for a delicious pint. Robin didn't care for it much, the cask flavors weren't very much to her liking.

After finishing lunch, we headed out to Great Divide, which is located at the north end of lower downtown Denver (LoDo as it's called), in a converted dairy factory. This made for an easy conversion to a brewery, as all of the necessary plumbing and electrical was mostly present when they moved in to the building in 1994. The tap room itself is surprisingly cozy, with a good sized bar and a couple tables being all they have room for. They have eight of their beers on tap, and a refrigerator with most of the rest of what's not on tap. You can get a glass of almost anything that they brew. The exception, of course, is seasonals that are currently exhausted, and the rare specialty such as Barrel-Aged Yeti, Hibernation, or Old Ruffian.

Being that we went there on a Saturday, the tap room was unsurprisingly packed. Locals and out-of-towners alike crowded into the tap room and patio, patiently waiting for their turn to take the tour of the brewery or get their hands on a glass of Great Divide beer. We patiently waited our turn, so that I could fulfill my mission: I was attending a dinner party for my brother's 21st birthday later that evening, comprised of mostly wine-lovers, and I wanted to bring beer to share with convert them. We got the attention of a bartender, and asked "What beer goes with steak?" He replied "Yeti or Claymore." Yeti is their Imperial Stout, rich with flavors of chocolate, roasted barley, and coffee; Claymore is their scotch ale, dry-hopped a little bit to give the big malty body a nice balancing bite. I decided to go with Claymore. After getting my growler filled with delicious Scotch ale for a scant $10, then subsequently taking a tour of the brewery, Robin and I departed.

I arrived at the dinner party a little bit early, which gave me time to catch up with friends and family. We chatted about the finer points of "which beverages to drink when you want something good," and "which to drink when you just want to drink," balanced with discussions of global politics and finances. A good balance, I'd say. When the time came to gather 'round the table and partake of a steak feast, it also meant the time had come to decide what beverage we'd be having to compliment the meal. Since I had announced that I brought a beer to pair with the steak dinner, everyone who was drinking opted for a measure of Claymore, rather than red wine.

As the group took their first few bites, I smugly anticipated the response to the ale paired with the steak. Slowly, but surely, people took a couple bites of their meal, then took a quaff of the dark caramel-colored Scotch ale in their glasses. As not just one, but all of them said, "Wow, this beer is really good," I politely smiled and replied, "I'm glad that you like it, and I'm glad that I could share it with you." Of course, I was thinking to myself, "It's about time you realized there's more to beer than the painfully bland representatives in green glass bottles." The rest of the night was filled with raucous, jovial celebrations for my brother's 21st birthday.

Yesterday was my inaugural "business" visit to Great Divide on my slow but steady mission of employment. I spent a couple hours at the tap room and had a few great conversations over a couple great beers. I shared my story of success in sharing the growler of Claymore with the bartender, who replied "That's the kind of story I like to hear. The one where people get converted." I talked to a couple visitors from the east coast about the differences in beers we can get here vs beers they can get there, and which ones of our respective opposite categories we would love to see in our respective states. I also talked to a gentleman from California about Russian River's brewery, Pliny the Younger, and homebrewing.
To elaborate, Pliny the Younger is the "big brother" of Pliny the Elder. Both are brewed by Russian River in California. Pliny the Elder is a double IPA, which is ranked as the #8 beer in the world, according to ratebeer.com and it is available throughout Russian River's distribution network. Pliny the Younger is a "triple IPA", is only available in select markets, and rarely at that, and is ranked #3 in the world. If that doesn't speak to just how good Pliny the Younger should be*, then I don't know what does. Falling Rock Tap House should be getting two 5-gallon kegs of it in the near future, to be tapped about a week apart. The last time they had two kegs, the first ran out in 23 minutes, and the second in only 12. I can only assume the beer is that good.

*Disclaimer: I have not actually been lucky enough to taste the delicious lupuline nectar that is Pliny the Younger


Needless to say, after a tasty Hades Belgian Golden Ale and a Belgica Belgian-style India Pale Ale, as well as several great beer-centric conversations, inspiration had struck, and another entry into the tales of Tewsday Brewsday has been crafted.

Until next week, cheers! Craft beer on, and craft beer often!