Liquor Stories:
This is our tribute to local liquor stores that like beer - and not just crap beer, I mean Real Beer! Not all of them are cool enough to contribute to our kick a$$ club, so be sure to treat the ones that do with some extra business. You might even get a discount!
Mountain Spirits:
Beer
Green Flash Brewing Hop Head Red bomber
Bear Republic Racer IPA bomber
Eel River Organic Porter bomber
Delirium Tremens Belgium Ale 750ml
Marble Brewing Double IPA bomber
Marble Brewing Imperial Red Ale bomber
Left Hand Smoke Jumper bomber
Asahi Draft bomber
Shock Top Lemon Shandy 6 pk.
Leinenkugel Summer Shandy 6 pk
Blue Moon Summer Honey Wheat 6 pk
Shadow's Wild Black blackberry 6 pk
New Belguim Shift Pale Ale 4pk 16 oz cans
Wine
Wild Horse Pinot Noir 750ml
Fleur Petite Syrah 750ml
Creme de Lys Chardonnay 750ml
Souvrain Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc 750ml
Spirits
Woodford Reseve Double Oak Bourbon 750ml
Come enjoy some great new beers!
Silver Dollar
New 6pks
Ska Mexican Logger
-Everyones favorite mexican style lager is back for the summer
Mad River Serious Madness
-Limited Release Black Ale
-Silky Smooth and Sublime
Marble Brewing Red Ale
-very very hoppy Red Ale
Amber Ale
IPA
-Gold Medal Winner of the GABF IPA
New Belgium Shift
-Pale Lager
New Bombers
Marble Brewing Double IPA
-A barrage of Juicy resinous hop character
6pk Of the Month (Always a $1 off)
Lion Stout -The only beer I know of that comes from Sri Lanka and it also happens to
be my favorite Stout
Bomber of the Month (Always a $1 off)
Fort Collins Double Chocolate Stout
-Deep roasty flavors, rich chocolate nose, with coffe undertones.
Current Stouts in Store
Lion Stout, Guinness, Obsidian Stout, Old Rasputin, Green Flash Double stout, Black Hawk, Breck. Oatmeal Stout, Steel Toe Stout, Left Hand Milk Stout and Nitro Stout, Tenfidy, Fort Collins Chocolate Stout and Double Chocolate Stout, Alaskan Stout, Samual Smith Oatmeal Stout, Bourbon Barrel Stout, Espresso and regular Oak Aged Yeti Stout, Santas Little Helper Imperial Stout.
Star Liquors (Durango) Newsletter
Hi Home-brewers and beer lovers!
Spring is really in the air now, flowers and trees blooming, allergies in full tilt and lighter beers tasting oh so good. Ska released Mexican Logger and in celebration we have made Ska our beer of the month with the cheapest Mexican Logger in town at a smoking $6.99! WOW! That’s a deal. Breweries are beginning to release their spring beers and a few have even put out their summer beers. Put down the stouts and pick up an amber or a micro brew lager. Speaking of which, that takes us to our first beer for this newsletter.
*New Belgium has offered up a Pale Lager called Shift. Shift comes in a 4 pack of 16oz cans, in addition New Belgium is also had Ranger and Fat Tire in the same package, all are $8.29. Shift is a nice example of micro brew lager, good carbonation a light straw cooler with a small white head. Malty biscuit up front, finishing with a mild hop bite, refreshing and easily quaffable.
*Next in our new beer offering is a true blend of two worlds. Dues Brut des Flanders is a cork and cage .750ml. This Belgium Strong Ale is brewed by Bosteels in Belgium. At a hefty $34.99 it is daunting to the wallet. But wait! There is a reason for that crazy price. This beer is treated like a Champaign in more ways than one. First, in Belgium, Deus is brewed with summer barley. Goes through its first fermentation, then laid to rest for maturation, often considered its second fermentation. Dues then travels to the Champaign region of France and is bottled, sugars and yeast are added and the third fermentation begins. Now the long maturation begins, aging the beer on its yeast for several months. Next, just like Champaign the bottle goes through riddling. Placed in racks the neck of the bottle it tilted downwards, the bottles are hand turned daily for many weeks and the angle of the tilt is increased until the bottle is vertical with the neck down. Then the yeast is removed by freezing the neck of the bottle, the frozen yeast is pushed out by pressure in the bottle. The beer is then dosed to make up for loss when forcing out the yeast, cork and caged and ready to ship to thirsty beer drinks around the world. What a process! The beer is heavily carbonated like Champaign with a never ending white head. Delicate flavors of yeast with citrus and floral notes, a little sweetness and hints of farmhouse. Spiciness and malt are brought to balance with an alcohol burn from the %11.5 ABV. There is no doubt that this is a special occasion beer. Not just the price but also the fact that this is about as unique and time consuming a process as beer can go through.
*Coming back to the ways of the United States let’s look at Rogue’s Oregasmic Ale. 22 ounces of Pale Ale goodness, toffee and caramel are held up by a nice malt body, hints of floral honey balance by Willamette & first growth Independent Hops. Rogue always uses its Pacman yeast which gives all of its beers their own twist, $6.49 for a solid American microbrewery beer.
*Now let’s visit the wily Mikkeller and his crazy beers. I have been hunting for Mikkellers beer Geek Breakfast for years and am proud to announce it is now on the shelves. An oatmeal coffee stout that Ratebeer scores a 100, this is a great beer with a %7.5 ABV, Ingredients: Water, malt (pils, oat, smoked, caramunich, brown, pale chocolate and chocolate), roasted barley, flaked oats, hops (centennial and cascade), ale yeast and gourmet coffee. Mild creaminess from the oats gives way to the big coffee and toasty malt that dominates this beer, bitterness, coffee and chocolate linger on the tongue forever. Very hearty, very robust, and very, very good, $10.49 for a 500ml is very reasonable for this outstanding beer.
*Another Mikkeller offering we just put on the shelves is Sur Monk a Danish Sour. Mikkeller took a Belgium Quad and poured it in a barrel and soured it. This guy is now running from the monks but we appreciate his efforts. $14.49 for .500ml of sweet sour goodness sounded good to me. This is a love it or hate it beer, sour apples, tart cherries and sweet raisins merry together with dashes of tobacco and vinegar. . Mikkeller defiantly pushes the envelope, but so many of his crazy ideas are so good!
*Traveling to the land of the rising sun, one of Japans premier breweries is Kiuchi Brewery, with a rich history of brewing for 180 years these guys know their stuff. Hitachino Nest Espresso Stout is a fantastic offering, 12oz of this black goodness is $5.49 and worth it. Bitter coffee, toasted malt and chocolate dominate this beer. Big coffee aroma and a tan head capture the coffee stout to a T. Dark fruit and a hint of sweetness shows, but the coffee flavor pushes through from start to finish.
*Back across the sea, we thought it would be fun to have a look at an American Style IPA brewed in Belgium. To Ol brewed the Final Frontier, this is a Double IPA with an ABV of %9, showcasing Simcoe, Centennial, and Columbus hops. Little to no head and a nice reddish copper color sits well with this DIPA lover. Floral and defiantly hoppy, caramel malt and a sticky mouth-feel balanced in hops favor, this is a great take on a style firmly planted in American soil. 12oz is a pricey $6.99, boy those hops traveled allot!
*Cider is the fastest growing portion of the beer world these days, and while it is still relatively small we have hoped on the bandwagon as I mentioned in last month’s newsletter. Today we will look a Colorado cider Glider Cider and their Grass Hop-Ah. A .500ml cider for $8.29, this cider is trying to appeal to beer drinks. Semi- sweet cider is bolstered by lemon grass and hops and a crisp dry finish, a beer lover’s cider, still gluten free for our poor, poor friends out there that are gluten intolerant.
*New Zealand has blown up on the specialty beer market in the past few years, and 8 Wired is one of the leaders. Contract brewed by Renaissance Brewing, 8 Wired has some great recipes brewed by Søren Eriksen. Batch 31 is an oak barrel aged Imperial Stout brewed with coffee. A %11 ABV beer with distinctive coffee aroma and flavor, chocolate, earth and leathery smoke all blend together to create a wonderful stout. Traveling as far as it does adds a hefty price, $14.49 for a 500ml beer, but for big stout lovers this is a great brew. A sweetness drift through most of the beer but it still finished toasty and dry with a moderate finish.
*Traveling back to the U.S. we go to The Bruery with their annual release of Saison de Lent. A spring saison which hits the spot on warmer days, throw in a healthy dash of Brettanomyces and we are rocking to prep the garden for planting. A %6.5 ABV and lighter color and body make this .750ml a nice beer. Fruity, floral, dry and earthy, traditional saison yeastiness shows as well as a little citrus. The Bret is there but not as dominant as many other Bruery beers. A reasonable $9.99 makes this a fun beer to try that will not break the bank.
*Last but not least on today’s beer list is Odell’s Shenanigans. Cork and cage .750ml for $13.49, this is yet another beer that is creating styles or maybe just new names. Called an Oak Aged Crimson Ale, with a touch of bret and heavy amber malt this a beer for drinking now or aging. Sweet malt and dark fruit, leather and a little funk blend together for a unique beer. Vanilla and caramel from the barrel are subtle flavors, the dark crimson color and light fluffy white head give a great appearance. %9.1 ABV provides a little heat to this big malty beer, worth a try.
Cheers and good brewing!