Scene Staff Picks: Top 5 Colorado Beers

Carie Gueswel

1. Easy Street Wheat – Odell: This has been one of my favorite go-to beers for almost two decades now. This unfiltered American-style wheat beer is light and refreshing with a citrusy essence.
2. Summer Helles – New Belgium: First brewed to celebrate 40 years of the Telluride Bluegrass Festival and now one of the signature beers of Planet Bluegrass, this is one of my favorite Colorado lagers. Light and crisp with a smooth finish and slightly bitter taste, it’s the perfect refreshment to enjoy with friends on a hot summer day.
3. Snapshot – New Belgium: Another favorite of mine is this tart, citrusy unfiltered wheat beer. I first tried this beer at New West Fest last summer, and I have been hooked ever since! I like adding a slice of orange to highlight the citrus elements of the beer.
4. Sigda’s Green Chili – CooperSmith’s: I love a good chili beer, and this delightful golden ale is brewed with Anaheim and Serrano chilies, which adds a mild spicy finish and a delicious chili flavor. For a savory spin to chili, try adding Sigda’s Green Chili beer to your favorite recipe.
5. Vernal Hefeweizen – Equinox Brewing: This spring seasonal is a traditional wheat beer brewed with wheat malt, hops and hints of banana, clove, and stone fruit. It has a pungent scent, it’s light enough to be refreshing, and it leaves you with a tasty and tangy finish. This is a great brew to enjoy out on the back patio.

Elizabeth Hudetz

Trippel-New Belgium’s -A friend and I were looking for variety and some new tastes to excite our palates. I wanted her to taste one of my favorites. Though I usually like darker beers this one is an exception. Our bartender described it as “light golden in color with coriander giving it a citrusy orange zest flavor.” My friend described it as crisp and delicious.
1. Cache La Porter-Pateros Creek’s: To be honest this name called out to me. It’s so doggone clever how could I not try it? It was deep brown in color with a nice mocha head. It smelled of cocoa. It has a medium-bodied flavor, with a smooth semi-dry finish. We both enjoyed this one!
2. Supergiant Imperial Hefeweitzen – Equinox’s: This double IPA smells and tastes a little like banana. I could taste a hint of clove. It has a big flavor with a nice crisp finish!
3. Blackwood Porter – CooperSmith’s: It is almost black, with a small beige head. The flavor reminds me of sweet coffee and brown sugar. It tastes nutty and is medium-bodied and smooth. It has a nice dry chocolate finish. If you love chocolate you’ll love this!
4. 90 Shilling – Odell: My “go-to” beer. Though others are delicious, many are so rich that I save them for special occasions. This Scottish ale is smooth and delicious. Medium-bodied with a slight taste of caramel it starts off malty with an easy finish! Yum! Any time!

Stephanie Zambo

I am by no means a beer expert but your best chance of bumping into me is at the exceptional local breweries we have around town.
1. Tree Shaker- Odells: Odell Brewing Company is one of my favorite hangout spots, which only got better when they released this Peach Imperial IPA. IPA’s can be a little intense for my palate but the sweet local peach flavors really make this a smooth and flavorful beer.
2. White Rascal- Avery: This Belgian Wheat brewed by Boulder’s Avery Brewing Company is my go-to when I am picking up a 6-pack. Unfiltered and flavored with coriander and orange peels, the White Rascal goes down easy, leaving invigorating tannins on the tongue.
3. Floozy- Black Bottle: This is a new addition to my top beers list. It is a light, American Belgian Wheat at a 5.9% alcohol content. It has a tangy flavor and pairs well with basically all of their amazing food.
4. Yuzu- New Belgium: This is a beer that really excites the palate. The Imperial Berliner Weiss Style Ale will leave you puckering up with its tart and citrusy zests. It’s an adventurous beer to pair with your summer escapades.
5. Perle White- Odells: The Roots Release series included this delightful White IPA. For an IPA, it doesn’t leave you with a bitter, hoppy flavor. It is very crisp and one of those beers that you have to try for yourself to truly understand the splendor of this lighter IPA.

Rebecca LaPole

1. Cocoa Molé – New Belgium: This Lips of Faith Series Spiced Chocolate Porter with Day of the Dead style art and One Love colors on the bottle has a dangerous 9% alcohol content that goes down easily with sweet chocolate hitting the tongue first and finishes with the heat of cinnamon and chili peppers. Catch it while it’s around and you’ll understand my obsession.
2. Myrcenary Double IPA – Odells: Another strong brew that is great on its own, and with the mango-lime margarita at Fuzzy’s Tacos to make the killer Mercy-rita! Just one of those sets the tone for a night out perfectly.
3. Runoff Red IPA – Odells: A delicious, malty, red IPA that’s not as bitter as most IPA’s at only 50 IBUs, is perfect for anytime of year. However, it’s only found seasonally, January through April. The name is an homage to the importance of our early snowmelt that leads to the springtime runoff which makes delicious beer.
4. Owl Canyon – Pateros Creek: This seasonal brew can only be found after the pumpkins are harvested from Osborn Farm in Loveland. The fresh pumpkins and spices in this brew make it worth getting excited for fall.
5. Space Ghost IPA – Equinox: Obviously, I like IPA’s. They’re not for everyone, but there is something about Space Ghost that brings out my love for the bitter. It’s cloudy, lightly malted, heavy on the hops and slightly citrus-y.

Mikaela Antonelli

This is probably the hardest article I will ever have to write, unless next month I am forced to pick my favorite bands. I turned 21 last June and since then my world has opened up to amazing beer. These are my top five beers right now in no particular order, but I’m sure they will change in the next month.
Breckenridge Agave Wheat- I’m a sucker for any beer with a skull on it. When I first picked this one out I wasn’t disappointed. Unfiltered wheat beers are my best friends in the summer, so crisp and refreshing.
New Belguim Pumpkick – Every fall I count down the days until Pumpkick is released. It is the perfect blend of pumpkin flavor and spices. Great for enjoying by the fire on a chilly fall night.
Funkwerks Raspberry Provincial-I love trying fruity beers as a change from the heavy stouts or thick unfiltered wheats. Funkwerks Raspberry Provincial is light and just the right amount of sweet.
Great Divide Yeti-I do believe! I am very partial to stouts and Yeti hits the spot every time.
Left hand Milk Stout Nitro- Nitro beers are changing the game. Left hand’s Milk Stout on Nitro brings so much more out in the beer. It is so creamy and delicious and of course the taste of chocolate doesn’t hurt.

Dawn Duncan

When I moved to Colorado in 1994, I tried micro-brewed beer for the first time. My first beer here was at The Old Town Ale House (now Lucky Joe’s) and it was Fat Tire. I’m pretty sure I did the tourist move of calling it “FLAT Tire,” but, nevertheless, my taste buds were ignited in a way that the watery beers of my native Midwest never had. Although it took time for me to develop a real kinship with beer, as I was always more of a wine gal, over the years, I’ve learned more about craft brewing and I’ve also done my fair share of sampling. Now, 20+ years after that first Fat Tire pint, I know I’m not into sour beers, I prefer pale ales and IPA’s, and every once in a while, I find a “weird beer” I really like. I wait ALL YEAR for New Belgium’s Skinny Dip. It’s my very favorite local beer of all time and I wish it was always available. However, it’s fun to look forward to spring when Skinny Dip replaces heavier winter beers and it has become the official mark of warmer days and patio time for me here in Fort Fun.
1. Skinny Dip (New Belgium)
2. Pilz (Zwei Bruder)
3. ST. Lupulin Extra Pale Ale (O’dell)
4. Space Ghost IPA (Equinox)
5. Maracuya IPA (Horse and Dragon)

CiCi Sharstrom

1. Good Juju, Lefthand: It may be the changing temperatures and the prospect of patio season, but this beer is a refrigerator must. Not too gingery (and I would know), this beer packs a uniquely delicious flavor, with just enough lingering sweetness to keep you cracking ‘em open.
2. Myrcenary, Odell: I didn’t know I liked IPAs until I tried Myrcenary. Seriously. There’s a reason you only get four per case. One is sufficient enough to give you a good starting buzz, but that flavor makes you want another one, and another, and another. Plus that label art – it’s my favorite.
3. The Golden One, High Hops: This one definitely lives up to its name. You know those beers you try and after the first sip you realize your life just changed? I’d say that happened to me. Citrus, hops, and just a little touch of… celery? I don’t really know, but I know I like them enough to recommend it to everyone I know.
4. Heavenly Feijoa, New Belgium: It may be very mainstream, but I gotta say I absolutely love the Lips of Faith Heavenly Feijoa. It’s really the only bomber I will buy consistently. I had it on tap the first time during a tour, and have deemed it my favorite NB beer ever since (sorry Fat Tire.)
5. Sad Panda, Horse & Dragon: First, the name is great. Second, this beer is the closest you’re going to get to dark beer dessert heaven. I feel like I need a bowl of ice cream to go with it. Perfectly smooth and sippable, this is definitely one I advise all dark beer lovers to try.

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