The Great American Ale Trail - Christian DeBenedetti [59]
Gunbarrel
ASHER BREWING
COMPANY
4699 Nautilus Ct., No. 104 • Boulder, CO 80301
(303) 530-1381 • asherbrewing.com • Established: 2009
SCENE & STORY
One might be forgiven for driving straight through the Gunbarrel area northeast of Boulder, packed as it seems with featureless business parks and endless cul-de-sacs. But it’s inside one of those sleepy turnabouts where business partners Steve Turner and Chris Asher have created Colorado’s first all-organic brewery, turning out supremely fresh, delicious brews for a small but rapidly growing clientele. It’s easy to miss, hidden behind hedges, and a no-frills affair, but worth the effort to find.
PHILOSOPHY
“Boulder is an organic Mecca for everything else,” says brewer Chris Asher, “but no one was doing [organic] beer.” The Massachusetts native had taught himself to brew during college at Wesleyan, even leading classes on campus for home brewing, then completed stints at Golden City Brewing in Golden and an MBA in his spare time before teaming up with Steve Turner, who had a decade of brewing and sales experience in the busy Colorado brewing scene. Though they knew Boulder, with its multiple craft breweries, would be a crowded market, they also correctly sensed an opportunity, and invested in a fifteen-barrel brewery. Smart move: within seven months of opening in late 2009, Asher Brewing was ready to expand, welcoming a growing stream of visitors, landing their beer in area accounts in neighboring towns, and drawing up plans for both canning and bottling.
KEY BEER
While Asher occasionally offers up rarities like a recent 7.4% ABV Fun Barrel Kriek, a dark ale aged with sweet and tart local cherries in wood barrels, the standard is Tree Hugger Organic Amber, a cleanly made, full-bodied 6.0% ABV sipper that showcases Asher’s balanced use of American and New Zealand hops. It’s a nice twist on an amber style, which has always been very, very popular in Colorado, at least since the ascent of New Belgium’s Fat Tire Amber Ale on the national beer scene.
Boulder
AVERY
BREWING CO.
5763 Arapahoe Ave., Unit E • Boulder, CO 80303
(303) 440-4324 • averybrewing.com • Established: 1993
SCENE & STORY
Like many brewing companies in Colorado and beyond, Avery is built in a rather bland industrial park. But once inside, you find a beautiful seventeen-spigot taproom manned by a chipper, beer-savvy staff. Adam Avery, who started the brewery with his chemist father, is among the best known of Colorado brewers; his beers have always been big in malt and hops. A great many visitors have passed through, but no one can top the Beer Lover in Chief, President Barack Obama, who once visited the taproom. Perhaps he wanted a taste of the 8.75% ABV Ale to the Chief, a special 2008 election season double IPA (it’s long been retired, alas). Elected to office or not, the most discerning beer geek couldn’t fail to be impressed by the barrel room, so take a tour if one is available.
PHILOSOPHY
Avery’s public pledge is to make “big, artful beers” and brew with “utter disregard for what the market demands,” while searching out fans with “equally eccentric palates.” Judging from their jump from small-time roots to national distribution, it seems to be a useful set of guiding principles.
KEY BEER
Keeping pace with the popularity and possibilities of barrel aging, there are several high-acid beers, too, aged in oak, which are sporadically released in miniscule quantities. Easier to find and diabolically strong at 15.1% ABV, Mephistopheles offers a taste of the awesome power that a beer can unleash—but be careful, you may not be able to feel your taste buds for an hour. This cinder black brew is rich and roasty with flavors of coffee and rum-soaked black cherries, with