Beer Festival: Great American Beer Festival - Denver, CO

If you are going to go to a beer festival, this is the one to go to.  With over four hundred breweries represented from all over the US, you would be hard pressed not to find a beer that you like.  Instead of doing the usual synopsis of all the beers that were tasted, I'm going to highlight beers I thought were so tasty, I needed to remember them. 


RAM Restaurant and Brewery had two offerings I thought were worth mentioning

Buttface Amber: Amber in color, malt aroma and malty flavor, very easy drinking

Saison:  unfiltered straw color, spice aroma, spice (clover most likely) forward with an estery malt finish

Uncommon Brewery - American Special Bitter:  This is a strong ale with minimal hops, lots of esters and residual sugars to finish.  It is very vanilla/bourbon forward

Olde Burnside Brewing Co. 10 Penny Ale: This is a nice scotch ale style beer, light on the residual sugar with a dark caramel color

TAPS Pumpkin Ale: Straw colored, nice spice (cinnamon, clover) aroma, lots of pumpkin forward with a smooth finish


Airdale Brewing Co Bombshell Golden: Unfiltered straw color, good head retention, estery aroma, sweet smooth forward with residual sugar towards the finish

AleSmith Horny Devil: Straw color, light ester aroma, mild forward, citrus banana finish; a dangerously easy drinker


Big Island Brewhaus Golden Sabbath: Straw colored, malt/ ester aroma, residual sugar forward with a smooth tasty finish

Harvest Moon Brewery Monkey Shiner Bock: Dark amber color, malt aroma, mild tasting forward with a malt finish


Papago Brewing Co Elsies Irish Coffee Milk Stout: Dark brown color, strong coffee aroma, Irish cream and coffee forward

Thunder Canyon Brewery Honey Brown: Dark amber color, good head retention, malt/nutty aroma, malt forward with a roasted malt/coffee-like and honey finish - this beer was probably my favorite of the weekend


Speakeasy Betrayal Imperial Red: Dark Caramel color, great head retention, malt aroma, strong bourbon forward with a smooth finish


Boundary Bay Brewing Co. Dunkles Bock: Amber in color good head retention, malt aroma, bourbon forward, malty/ residual sugar finish, sweet all around


Boneyard Beer Cascadian IPA: very good hop aroma, nice color with good balance (note: IPA enthusiast reviewed)


Eagle Rock Brewery Stimulus: Golden amber color, coffee aroma, and coffee finish very porter-esque despite the lighter color

Heretic Brewing Co. Evil Twin: Very forward hop flavor, good color and malt body (note: IPA enthusiast reviewed)

Left Coast Brewing Co.  Asylum Tripel: golden straw color, malt aroma, strong alcohol forward with sweet finish

Sly Fox Brewing Co. Quadrupel: Amber in color, good head retention, mild aroma, mild flavor forward with a sweet malt finish

Red Brick Brewing Co. Oktoberfest: golden in color, mild malt aroma, malt forward with a slight spice finish

These beers were sampled over two tasting sessions.  All in all there are some really great breweries across the country that I would like to visit and further explore their offerings. 

While in Denver, we found a really great Belgian Beer bar that is worth noting, The Cheeky Monk they have a great selection of Belgian beers and a pretty tasty looking menu.  If you're in Denver I highly recommending paying this bar a visit