Brewed Madness: A Prologue

A few weeks ago, in the February issue of 5280 Magazine, there was an intriguing article about the United States' craft brewing capital: Denver, Colorado. Entitled The Ultimate Guide to Craft Brewing in Denver, it highlights each of the 22 breweries located within the city limits, focusing primarily on each brewery's style and selection. After a discussion with my buddy Chris about the article and Denver's craft breweries (check out his blog: Livin' It Up Denver - he's also joined me on a few homebrew adventures), the idea for Brewed Madness was born. Just as Colorado has the Great American Beer Festival and Denver has the Denver Beer Fest (a homebrewing competition), sports fans everywhere have March Madness - so why not combine to the two into something that is both sporting and libatious?

5280's Ultimate Guide to Craft Brewing in Denver

You see, the 5280 article provided many great details, but left out any judgments regarding the overall quality of the breweries and their offerings. Chris and I thought, 'why not take it a step further? Why not pit these breweries against each other and see which one is Denver's Best Craft Brewery?" And that is exactly what we intend to do.

Denver has a rich history when it comes to beer. Indeed, it is whispered that Denver's first permanent building back at its founding was a saloon. Whether or not that is true, I can tell you that the first city government was formed in 1859 within the walls of Apollo Hall saloon. By 1873, Adolph Coors had founded his eponymous brewing company - relying on 40 of Colorado's natural springs - and began producing what became a local favorite, known as "Miner's Banquet." Then, tragedy stuck: prohibition hit Colorado in 1916. Coors was converted to a malted milk manufacturer, saloons became soft drink parlors (though speakeasies were plentiful), and crime skyrocketed as citizens sought out whatever hooch they could get their hands on. After the Noble Experiment was abandoned, Denver (and Colorado) began the long road to recovery.

Denver in 1898

By 1979, craft brewing had come to Colorado in the form of Boulder Beer. 9 years later Denver saw its first brewpub: Wynkoop Brewing Co. And then the Denver craft brewing scene experienced a boom. Making up the vanguard were the likes Wynkoop, Breckenridge, and Rock Bottom in the late 1980's and early 1990's, all of which have succeeded in becoming Colorado heavyweights within the beer industry. After that there was a steady trickle of new breweries that popped up around town and even some restaurants that converted themselves into brewpubs (e.g., Bull & Bush). 20 years after the art of craft brewing had made itself known in Colorado, 8 breweries resided within Denver's city limits. And then the scene became somewhat stale - there were no more conversions and no more breweries founded in Denver (though Colorado itself was experiencing a steady increase throughout this period). In 2006, however, one of Wynkoop's founders was elected as Denver's mayor. Now, I'm not saying that Mayor John Hickenlooper (now Governor of Colorado) made Denver a more beer-friendly place, but his election did reveal that Denverites supported a man who made his way in the brewing industry. And, in the third year of his term as mayor, the Denver craft beer scene erupted. Between 2009 and 2012, 13 new craft breweries sprung up all over the city, resulting in a unique and relatively young beer culture.

And thus, Chris and I set out to separate the wheat from the chaff, to watch the cream rise to the top, to explore these  breweries and determine which one has what it takes, in terms of beer and character, to be crowned Denver's Best Craft Brewery in 2013. Based on a combination of factors ranging from the year a brewery was founded to what its focus is (e.g., simply a brewery, a brewpub, a chain?) we came up with our bracket over some beers at the Bar Car. The idea here is to first pit similar breweries against one another before allowing the different styles to clash. But we also tried to keep the matchups fair by pitting heavyweights like Breckenridge and Great Divide against each other, thus allowing the fledgling breweries to compete amongst themselves without being at a ~20 year disadvantage.

Here's a better view of the Preliminary Bracket

As for each showdown, we decided it would be best if we standardized our rating system well before entering any of the breweries and settled on four criteria: Atmosphere, (a single) Beer, Economy/Pricing, and Staff. I think each of these criteria are intuitive, perhaps with the exception of the single beer. As much as I'd like to sample every offering made by a brewery (and probably will over time), we simply don't have the time or money to do that at 22 individual breweries in a single month. Thus, we will only be sampling one beer per brewery to make sure this crazy thing can happen. That said, those breweries that advance to the next round will carry that brew score with them and have another sampled the next time (for a total of 25 possible points). Those breweries starting in the Second Round will have two beers sampled to keep the scoring fair. Additionally, the Final Round will see all remaining beers sampled - because you can't be Denver's Craft Brew Champion if everything hasn't been put on the table.

A better view of the Scoring Sheet

So, tomorrow we will begin our very own version of an exciting tournament in the heart of Denver at Renegade Brewing Co. and Denver Brewing Co. This contest, like each that follows, will be accompanied by a blog post giving a play-by-play from both me and Chris and a final verdict on which brewery will advance to the next round. Once all is said and done, and the victor is crowned, we will write something more formal and put it up on Chris' blog, Livin' It Up Denver (and probably on here, too), in an attempt to condense down a month of beer and breweries that only a couple of madman would take on.