Hophead celebrates American Craft Beer Week

May 11, 2012

American Craft Beer Week is upon us, and this rollicking, nationwide celebration presents the perfect opportunity to roll out the Vail Daily Weekly’s new column about beer. Ladies, gentlemen, beer snobs — I give you Hophead.

Double fisting at Aspen Brewing Co. Photo by Devin Schow.

Each week, I will dive into the sea of beer culture and surface with some nugget of truth that every beer lover should know. We’ll cover everything from beer history and evolution to beer styles, from commercial production to home brewing. Think of it as a launch pad for your beer education, a two-handed shove out of your mundane beer-drinking existence.

I’ll also do a weekly mini feature titled From the Fridge that showcases a particular beer that I’m enjoying at the moment. I try not to ever buy the same beer twice, and with hundreds of microbreweries popping up all over the country every year, there’s always a reason to seek out a new and interesting brew.

I don’t purport to be a beer expert. It wasn’t so long ago that I was sneaking crappy beer out of my parents’ fridge, and it takes a lifetime, nay many lifetimes, to accumulate a sliver of knowledge about this wonderful, heady stuff. But what I lack in years on the pint, I make up for in enthusiasm and a dearth of vanity about leaning on those who are experts in the field. If I don’t know the answer, I will find someone who does.

So that brings us back to this week’s celebration of craft beer, and the best thing about it is that there’s a reason to drink a bucket of suds every day of the week:

Make the trek to Longmont on Saturday, May 12, for a collaborative event between Oskar Blues and Ska Brewing. Ska will expropriate half of the bar at Oskar Blues Home Made Liquids & Solids in a nonhostile tap takeover. The guys from Durango are bringing 15 of their favorite brews, and Oskar Blues will throw down its own staples, as well as a potpourri of specialty beers. Also part of Colorado Beer Week, Ska will be hosting a guided cruiser crawl amongst four bars in downtown Denver on Sunday, May 13. Crawlers get their first beer for free and discounts on all Ska beers after that. Visit www.skabrewing.com or www.oskarblues.com for more information.

You can’t go on a weeklong bingo bender without starting on Monday. About a dozen breweries in Northern Colorado have banded together with the American Brewers Association to present brewery bingo. Grab a bingo card at a participating brewery in Greeley, Berthoud, Loveland or Fort Collins  — Odell’s, New Belgium, City Star, Grimm Bros., Crabtree and Funkwerks are all playing the game — and get a stamp every time you try a beer listed on the card. Complete a bingo line, and you win a T-shirt. You have all week, through Sunday, May 20, to play the game. For more information, visit www.craftbeer.com.

Make a mid-week pit stop at Strange Brewing Co. in Denver for Nostalgia Tuesday on May 15. In honor of the brewery’s second anniversary, head brewer Tim Myers is rolling out some classic brews. Share a pint in Strange’s brand-new biergarten, or come back later in the week for live music Thursday, May 17, and Friday, May 18, and the big anniversary party on Saturday, May 19, starting with kegs and eggs at 9 a.m. For details, visit www.strangebrewingco.com.

Beer week also has some love for the ladies. Sisterhood of the Hop, a female brew club in Boulder, will be hosting a screening of the documentary “The Love of Beer” at the Avery Brewing Co. Barrel Aging Cellar in Boulder on Wednesday, May 16. The feature-length film celebrates women in the beer industry, particularly in the Pacific Northwest. Tickets are $10 and include a pint of beer. Visit www.averybrewing.com for more information.

The local guys are throwing themselves into the fray this week, too. Crazy Mountain Brewing Co. fans are invited to visit the brewery’s Facebook page and submit entries to a trivia contest throughout the week. A winner will be drawn on Friday, May 18, at a special event at the brewery’s tasting room. The night will feature music from the Stache from 6 to 10 p.m. and food from Belmont Deli, and the trivia drawing will happen near the end of the evening. For more information, visit www.crazymountainbrewery.com.

For full calendars of events and everything else you need to know about beer week, visit www.cobeerweek.com or www.craftbeer.com.

American Craft Beer Week is the perfect opportunity to cozy up and get friendly with the saucy mistress that is beer. Grab a blonde, brunette or red-headed craft-beer courtesan, and enjoy the ride.

Krista Driscoll

Hophead
Vail Daily Weekly