Brew Review: Montain Sun Pub and Brewery Boulder, CO

Mountain Sun offers a wide variety of beer, such a wide variety in fact that we sampled 19 beers, 3 of which were guest taps.  The Brewery is an on premises 6 barrel system and is part of a chain of two breweries in Colorado.  It is a quaint place, with a nice atmosphere.  My co-tasters and I attracted a lot of attention when we ordered the full array of beers.

Holy lots of beer Batman!!!!

Just as a note: as the tasting progressed, as I'm sure you have all experienced before, some of the finer notes of the beer may have been lost.

Quinn's Golden Ale:  I didn't really detect much here on the nose, there seemed to be little to no aroma, however this is definitely a hoppy ale, but has some malt tastes to it.

Ginger Strong Ale: There's a definite ginger aroma to the beer, but refreshingly mild flavor at first but then the ginger hits at the finish, I enjoyed this one.

Colorado Kind Ale: This was a hoppy amber, it was kind of hard to detect anything else after the Ginger Strong ale.  When served on nitro, the hoppy flavor really became apparent, overpoweringly so for this palate.

Annapurna Amber:  This beer had a very nice caramel aroma, mild on the hops, but there was something in the after taste I couldn't quite place, another beer I enjoyed as well.

Blackberry Wheat:  True to its name, there was a definite fruity aroma to this beer, the taste however was not overpoweringly fruity, like you might find with some Lambics.  I also thought I detected a hint of citrus on the finish.

Cleveland Brown: This was my favorite beer. There was a nice coffee aroma, with a nutty, smokey malt taste.

Old School Dry Irish Stout:  This one had a smokey, coffee aroma, slightly hop forward, but with a mild malt finish. (I'm going to say this is the point where my palate was overwhelmed)

Java Porter: Surprisingly, little to no aroma, with a pretty mild flavor at first, the coffee comes in strong at the finish.

Smokescreen Porter: I detected a touch of bacon aroma to this one, with a bitter, smokey bacony taste to it.

Korova Cream: Not much aroma, but a nice smokey flavor and smooth feeling in the mouth.

Pearl St Porter: This beer seemed pretty mild, with a smokey taste to it but a bitter finish.

Guest Brew: Grand Teton Black Caldron: This beer was very malty, and had a smokey, bacony taste, very different from the Smokescreen.  When put on nitro, the flavors mellow out a bit and becomes deliciously creamy.

XXX Pale Ale: This was a relatively hoppy beer, and yet mild, there was also a citrusy hoppy aroma to it.

FYIPA: Hops, hops and more hops, this too had a citrusy hoppy aroma to it, but a pretty mild hoppy taste to it, for an IPA.

Dirty Blonde: This is a sour beer, though not overpoweringly tart, like I've tried in the past, I could actually drink more than a taste of it.

Illusion Dweller IPA: this was a pretty hoppy beer, but had a citrus finish.

Guest Brew: Avery IPA: Again another hoppy beer, with a citrus finish to it, but distinctly different from the Illusion Dweller.

I definitely enjoyed the atmosphere of the brewery, They also have some pretty good food.  My opinion though is that there was too wide variety of beer available.  To the novice beer aficionado, the selection can be overwhelming.  I did enjoy tasting how the flavor changes when you change the keg gas.  The staff was also very friendly and knowledgeable about what was being served, I'd say it's worth the trip to Boulder to check it out at the very least.

So as a poll to my fellow samplers, how many is too many?

Pro vaše zdraví!