Summer Seasonal Beers

It looks like we've finally turned the corner on the weather here in Happy Valley, and those dark, heavier beers are looking less appealing as the sun shines a bit higher in the sky and the snow recedes. Right on cue, a host of summer seasonal beers have begun to show up, ready to quench your thirst as you relax after your favorite outdoor activity! Here's a sampling of some of our favorites:

Alaska Summer: $9.99/6pk btls
A Kolsch style ale. (Originating in Cologne, Germany in the 1800's, Kolsch ales were Cologne's answer to the light lagers coming out of Bavaria at the time). This is one of the lightest ales you will find with a mild fruitiness and very low hop bitterness. Straw gold in color, this is a very mild, refreshing beer. 5.3% ABV. 18 IBU's.
Malts: German pilsner, Munich, Vienna and white wheat.
Hops: Hallertau, Tettnang.


Breckenridge Summerbright Ale: $9.49/6pk btls
A wheat based, light bodied summer style ale with a hint of citrus. It is light gold in color with a bright, clean finish. Very mild bitterness at 15 IBU's, and low in alcohol at 4.5% ABV.
Malts: Two row pale, white wheat, Carapils and Munich.
Hops: Fuggle, Cascade and Willamette.


New Belgium Summer Helles: $9.49/6pk btls
Brewed to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Telluride Bluegrass Festival. Helles is the German word for "light" or "pale", and this lager fits the name. Brilliant gold in color with a soft, white foam, a subtle dryness and mild spicy hop bitterness, this beer comes in at 5% ABV and 31 IBU's.
Malts: Pale and Schill Pils.
Hops: Target, Tettnang and Hallertau.


Firestone Walker Easy Jack: $10.49/6pk btls
Session IPA brewed and dry hopped with a selection of new hop varieties from Europe, New Zealand and the North America. Easy drinking at 4.5% ABV. Not overly bitter at 45-50 IBU's. Big hop aroma with well balanced maltiness.
Malts: American Pale Malt, Munich Malt, Malted Wheat, English Carmel -35, Cara Pils, Rolled Oats.
Hops: Bavarian Mandarina, Hallertau Melon, Blend of New Zealand, American Mosaic.


Odell St. Lupulin: $10.99/6pk btls
An extra pale ale with a very floral hop aroma and a crisp, clean finish. The beer is dry-hopped, with mild bitterness at 45 IBU's, and comes in at 6.5% ABV. Light gold in color with a foamy white head.
Malts: Pale, ESB, Vienna and Caramalt.
Hops: Cascade, Perle and Centennial.

Come on in and give them a try!

Chip Bartsch
Beer Buyer

Keg Policies and Information

West Vail Liquor Mart is proud to offer kegs to our customers, and is one of the few liquor stores in the valley that offers this service. We keep a stock of the major domestic beers on hand, and can special order many other import and craft beers in kegs as well. We have a large inventory of newly purchased taps and tubs, and take great care in cleaning the taps thoroughly between uses. We use a sanitizing system made for beer lines to clean old beer and any bacteria from inside of the tap line. We also inspect our taps to make sure that the faucets and O-rings are intact, and in working order. We also offer European Sankey taps, and taps for German kegs. We do not deliver kegs, but are happy to help you load kegs and tubs into your vehicle here at the store. The following information covers our policy on ordering and purchasing kegs. Please call us at 970-476-2420 with any questions or orders.


KEG PURCHASE INFORMATION

Purchasing a keg: You can call the store or come in and reserve and pay for a keg. The person purchasing and picking up the keg must show proof they are 21 years old. Let us know the name or company we should note on the keg so we know who can pick it up (if it isn't you specifically.) The person picking up the keg must be 21 years or older.

Types of kegs: We typically have 1/2 barrels and 1/4 barrels from major breweries like Bud, Coors and Pabst on hand. We can usually get many flavors of craft beer as well. Most of these come in 5 gallon kegs. Due to the wide variety of options, and the fact that we like to offer fresh beer, we do not keep these on hand regularly. You must give us advance notice for craft keg purchases. If you let us know by noon on Monday, we can have the beer by Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on the distributor. We can also order by noon on Thursday for a Friday delivery. All beer is subject to availability from our distributors.

Other Pricing:
Tap $60
Tub $40
Keg shell $35

Returning Products: You can return your tap, tub and keg shell for a full refund to West Vail Liquor as long as it is working and in reusable condition. Broken, rusted, or damaged items will not be accepted for return. We will accept taps with broken faucets or missing O-rings, but will charge a $5 fee for each broken or missing part. Tubs must be rinsed and cleaned. All items must be purchased at West Vail Liquor Mart in order to be returned to West Vail Liquor Mart. Please keep a copy of your receipt to make the return process easier.


Size: 1/2 Barrel = 15.5 gallons = 165 12oz. beers = 6.9 cases
1/4 Barrel = 7.75 gallons = 82 12oz. beers = 3.4 cases

Payments on equipment: Barrel= $35.00 Tap= $60.00 Tub= $40.00

Payments are returned in full if the equipment is returned in working condition.

Kegs kept in stock 1/2 Barrels
Budweiser $115.00
Bud Lt. $115.00
Coors $115.00
Coors Lt. $115.00
Pabst $ 99.00


1/4 Barrels
Budweiser $70.00
Bud Lt. $70.00
Coors Light $70.00
Fat Tire $85.00

Prices subject to change without notice.


Chip Bartsch
Beer Buyer

Rose arrival

It is getting to be that time of year…Rose! We have already received a few 2103 roses at the store.

AIX (Cotes de Provence) $17.99 -750ml and $34.99 -1.5l This is a blend of Grenache, Cinsault, Syrah and Counoise. 30 percent saignee (bleeding the grape) and 70 percent direct press. This is one of my favorites that has a lot of finesse for the price and goes great with all kinds of food.

A-Z (Oregon) $14.99 750ml This rose is made primarily from Sangiovese grapes, kind of odd for Oregon. The grapes are left to soak on their own for about 4 days before they are moved to stainless steel tanks for fermentation. Low tannin, high acidity and all the fruit flavors you would want in a Rose. Finishes bright, this wine is another that could be great with food or on its own.

Keep a look out because we will have more and more arriving every week! Here are a few of my favorites that should be here shortly.

Bieler (Provence), Charles and Charles (Washington), Muga (Spain)

Enjoy the decks,

Nick
Wine Buyer

Sierra Nevada Brewery Beer Camp

I recently had the opportunity to attend Sierra Nevada Brewery's Beer Camp in Chico, California. Boy was that an experience! Sierra Nevada Brewery is one of the oldest craft breweries in the nation, established in 1980, and it is the 2nd largest craft brewer in the U.S. behind Sam Adams Brewery out of Boston. There's a reason they have been around as long as they have, and have grown so large: everything they do is done with exceptional attention to detail and quality. This was very apparent to me as their beer camp guest. We were treated like royalty, and got to see all of the inner workings of the brewery during our 3 days in Chico.

The brewery was founded by Ken Grossman, and he still owns it privately today. He began to learn the art of home brewing as a young teenager in Southern California during the early 70's. The story of his early days and of the history of the brewery is an American success story, and can be found on the brewery's site at: http://www.sierranevada.com/brewery/about-us/our-story.

Beer Camp is a program that the brewery runs about twice a month for beer fans and industry associates. It consists of an in depth tour of the brewery, and a chance to brew some beer! Our beer camp group consisted of 12 campers, two regional Sierra Nevada sales reps who acted as chaperones, and a brewery guide. We arrived at the brewery on a Wednesday night, and were treated to a fantastic meal at the brewery's restaurant where we got to meet each other and get orientated. The next morning it was up and early to the brewery for a video on the history of the brewery, accompanied by a sample of Grossman's signature Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. It took him 10 tries before he got the recipe right back in 1980, dumping the unsatisfactory batches at a cost of $1000 each. It sure tasted good that morning! The next stop was the tasting bar for a few more samples before we started our tour of the brewery in earnest. The first morning's tour took us through the grain storage area, hop storage area, milling and mashing and a view of the large all copper kettles that Ken purchased from a brewery in Germany and reconstructed at his site in Chico. These impressive (and priceless) kettles, along with their original copper control panel (still all labeled in German) are the centerpiece of the brewery. We toured the fermentation area and got to taste beer right out of the fermenters, about as fresh a beer as you'll ever have!

After lunch at the brewery restaurant we were driven about 20 minutes north to the Abbey of New Clairvaux, a working monastery with about 20 monks just north of Chico. The monks operate an orchard and winery there, and produce some pretty good wine. But their main project, and the reason for their collaboration with Sierra Nevada Brewery, is a medieval stone chapel that they are rebuilding on the property. The chapel stood for 5 centuries in Spain, and was brought over to California stone by stone by William Randolph Hearst in the 1930's. After languishing in Golden Gate Park for decades, the stones were donated to these monks who are rebuilding the original chapel on their site in Chico. Ken Grossman agreed to help sponsor the project by creating a Belgian beer series called Ovila, with all of the proceeds going to the monastery's project. They have come a long way with the construction, and the chapel is certainly impressive! Day one ended with beers in the pub, and a night on the town with the beer camp crew. Chico is a relatively small college town with a fun evening scene.

Day two found us meeting bright and early at Sierra Nevada's 10 barrel pilot brewery on the grounds of the main complex. It is used for experimental batches (keep your eyes out for Sierra Nevada's collaborative 12 pack early this summer) and for beer camp beer. Our group had decided ahead of time to brew a Belgian Blonde Ale with some rye malt added for complexity. The morning of brew day we went and collected the grain and hops from storage under the guidance of Abe, the head brewer at the pilot brewery. We all got a chance to taste and add the ingredients to the batch, and got a detailed look at the brewing process. We experimented a bit by adding pink peppercorn and hibiscus to the batch, taking a cue from some of the ladies in the group. We were then given a tour of the pilot brewery while our batch percolated, and got to taste some of the experimental beers right out of the pilot brewery's fermenters. After yet another fantastic lunch at the brewery restaurant, we got on a 12 person, pedal powered bicycle bar for a tour of the rest of the complex, beers in hand! We got a look at the HotRot, a massive composting machine that is the only one in the U.S., a tour of the garden and hop farm area, and the massive bottling and kegging warehouse. The sheer scale, cleanliness and unbelievable automation of the bottling area is simply amazing. This was followed by a tour of Sierra Nevada's state of the art laboratories along with some sensory tasting exercises. They have equipment there that rivals NASA, and breweries from around the country send beer to their labs to be tested. After a quick rooftop look at the brewery's expansive solar panel array, it was back to the tasting room for a wrap-up with head brewer Steve Dresler, who brought a few special selections from his cellar for us to try. We kicked around some names for our beer, and then headed to the pub and restaurant for one last session and dinner, and a chance to say goodbye to our crew. We went our separate ways, but are united by the memories, and we will each have a keg of our brew sent to us when it is ready in few months!

Looking back, I can't say enough how impressed I was with the people and facility at the brewery. No corners are cut, and everything is done with exceptional quality as the goal. The scale of the enormous complex is matched only by its cleanliness and by the friendliness of the employees. The brewery won the EPA's Green Business of the Year award in 2010. They divert an astounding 99.5% of their solid waste from landfills. Spent grain is shipped to nearby cattle farms, spent yeast and cooking oil are used to create bio-fuels, spent water is treated and used to irrigate their garden and hop fields, all food scraps from the restaurant are composted in an amazing 12 days in the HotRot composter. The brewery has enough solar power to send energy back to the grid on a sunny day.

And they offer a fantastic, hands-on experience for beer fans with their Beer Camp program. The program is open to the public, and generally beer campers are chosen through a contest. You can go too! It's truly a Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory type experience. For more information, go to: http://www.sierranevada.com/beer/specialty/beer-camp. And next time you pop open a beer from Sierra Nevada Brewery, know that painstaking steps have been taken by hundreds people to make sure the beer you are drinking is of the utmost quality!

Chip Bartsch
Beer Buyer
West Vail Liquor

Compania de Vinos Telmo Rodriguez

During the month of March we will be featuring the wines of Telmo Rodriguez as our wine of the month. Telmo Rodriguez is one of the current pioneers in Spanish winemaking, really focusing on native varietals throughout Spain. Ranging from ultra limited high end wines, to everyday wines; all have been well recognized and praised internationally. Well known to obscure wine regions and varietals are all represented in Telmos wine portfolio.

Telmo got into the family wine business in Rioja, one of the more widely recognized wine regions in Spain. He studied viticulture and oenology at the University of Bordeaux. In the early 1990s he started off on his own. He started the Compania de Vinos Telmo Rodriguez with his partner Pablo Eguzkiza in 1994. They first made Garnacha in Navarra. The wines were initially successful but without a strong financial backing, Telmo and his partner were forced to search out new and more obscure regions within Spain to continue their winemaking. Rueda came next for them and out of this the Basa wine project was born. Here is where the shift happened. Going against the trend of re planting foreign varietals, they focused on using native Spanish varietals and recovering old, forgotten vineyards. Working with local winemakers and grape growers they are gaining a lot of great respect within the international wine community.

Here are a few things that make Telmo Rodriguez wines unique…

All vineyards are biodynamically farmed
All vineyards are bush trained; traditional Spanish method
All varietals are traditional to their region
Replanting is only with Massal selections. Most traditional method of re-propagating a vineyard this process is essentially taking a neighbor vine and burying a shoot until a new vine forms.

These wines will be offered at a discounted rate all month!

Come check them out.

Nick Agnew
Wine Buyer

Big Beers, Belgians and Barleywine Festival in Vail

This year's edition of the Big Beers, Belgians and Barleywine Festival in Vail has come and gone, and after a few days to recover, I can't look back on it without considering it a huge success. The festival has grown by leaps and bounds over the past 10 years. So much so that Laura and Bill Lodge, the sister/brother team that created the festival, had to find a larger room to host all of the brewers and beer fanatics. This year it was moved to the Gore Range Hall, essentially the area that the indoor tennis courts inhabit at the Aria Club and Spa in the Cascade Resort.

Upon walking into the room, I was struck by how open it felt. But it didn't really seem all that big until I started walking around and realized just how many breweries were represented. Over 140 breweries were in attendance this year. Think about that. Most states do not even have that many breweries, and for that many brewers to want to come to the tiny town of Vail, well more known for skiing and the outdoors than beer is just incredible! Sure the scenery is pretty special, and many in attendance had the added bonus of being able to ski, but Vail is certainly not a beer mecca, or even a big city that can boast a vibrant nightlife and lots of inhabitants to attend. No, this is more of a destination beer event, and those of us who are lucky enough to live here are even more fortunate to have this event come right to our backyard. Those that came from afar were treated to a world class event in a cozy environment, literally rubbing elbows with some of the world's greatest brewers throughout the entire weekend.

With the exception of a couple of beer dinners at local restaurants, and some tap takeovers at local bars, the majority of the event takes place at the Cascade Resort, which makes it really homey. Many of the brewers stay there. A lounge is set up where the attending breweries provide donated kegs of beer for the public to try without splurging on the ticket to the grand tasting, with the proceeds going to local charity. This provides a great gathering area throughout the weekend. There are also a number of seminars each year, adding an educational element not found at many beer events. This gives attendees a chance to hear the brewers speak on such topics as the advantages to brewing with certain types of malts or hops, barrel aging, brewing sour beers, etc. I found the seminar on winter warmer beers to be fun and informative. As experienced and knowledgeable as these folks are, the atmosphere is always light and fun.

This certainly isn't a run of the mill beer tasting. The commercial tasting on Saturday is one of a kind. The beers that are showcased are, with a few exceptions, big beers indeed. The beers you may see on a daily basis in 6 packs at your local shop generally aren't to be found here. This is an event where brewers showcase their specialty beers. The general threshold for a beer to be allowed in is 7% alcohol by volume, and many are far above that. But it isn't just about high alcohol levels. The beers here have been tweaked, torqued and twisted. Some are seasonal beers that are only brewed once a year. Others are versions of year round beers that have been enhanced in one way or another. Some have been aged in barrels that once held bourbon, rum, gin or wine. Others have been altered by the addition of wild yeast strains or certain bacteria in order to make them sour or have a funky barnyard taste. These brewers are at the cutting edge of an industry that is constantly evolving and trying new things, and the fans love it. The folks that come to this festival are here for the variety and the opportunity to try new things, and are rewarded handsomely.

I could go into many of the beers that I tried and liked, but you'd just have to take my word for it if you weren't fortunate enough to attend the event. Instead I'll give you 5 that we currently carry here at West Vail Liquor so that you can actually pick them up and try them yourselves.

Odell Friek. The Belgians are famous for their lambics, beers that are left to ferment in open vats which allow some funky yeasts to get into the beer. Some have fruit added such as framboise (raspberries) or kriek (cherries.) Odell has taken this style and put a decidedly American twist on it in their Friek, a combination of a framboise and a kriek fermented with wild yeast and aged in oak barrels. The result is a beer that is both tart and sweet, with some sourness and a dry finish. Not as big as most of the beers at the festival at 6.5% abv, it won’t knock you on your butt, but instead will leave you wanting more. It comes out once a year, and we have a few bottles left at $18.99 for 750mls.

Schmaltz Brewing's St. Lenny's. One of my favorite big beers that is available regularly in 4 packs is Schmaltz's Lenny's Rye I.P.A., a robust India Pale Ale with a spicy rye edge and strong at 10% abv. St. Lenny's is the same beer brewed with Belgian yeast, giving it a complex profile and a bit of a spicy aftertaste that compliments the big hop flavor perfectly. $9.99 for a 22oz bottle.

Bonfire Brewery's Pom Pom Sour. The local boys have begun to release some sour beers, and this one is a big hit! It is a traditional American wheat style beer with pomegranate added during fermentation. The beer is then aged in whiskey barrels and has lactobacillus added to give it a nice pucker. Again not as strong as most of the big beers at 4.5%, but it is a great example of an experimental sour beer. $15.99 for a 22oz bottle.

Avery Mephistophles. This is one of the biggest beers at the festival. It is a very complex imperial stout, with a velvety mouthfeel and notes of dark fruits, chocolate, grapes and a nice espresso finish. Coal black, rich and strong at 15%. $9.99 for a 12oz bottle.

Breckenridge Well Built ESB. This is a hard one to find, as it is generally not distributed in our area of the mountains. It is a small batch ESB (extra special bitter), an English style with pronounced maltiness and nice hop profile, which is then aged in Stranahan whiskey barrels. It has a great whiskey flavor, but is not hot or overly strong at 7.8%. $34.99 for a 750ml bottle.

So if you missed the festival, put it on your calendar for next year in early January. Check out their web site at www.bigbeersfestival.com for more information on next year's fest. And in the mean time, stop on in to West Vail Liquor and let us show you some of the beers that were at this year's fest!
Chip Bartsch
Beer Buyer

The Modern Red Blend…

We have seen an increase in the amount of domestic Red Blends leaving our store recently. There will always be trends in wine; recently the rise of Pinot Noir (which caused the decline of Merlot in my opinion), Malbec from Argentina, Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand and so on. We have seen the Red Blend come back to popularity. There are lots of names for different Red Blends; traditionally Bordeaux style Red Blends comprised of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc have been referred to as a “Meritage” or “Claret”. Traditional Rhone style Red Blends using Syrah, Grenache and Mourvedre (G.S.M.) have been imitated all over the world. But these new Red Blends that I speak of are a different breed and the main ingredient is Zinfandel.
The Apothic, Cupcake Red Velvet, Menage a Trois (all $11.99) all from the Central Coast of California, all have a percentage of Zinfandel in the composition. Zinfandel can provide that more extracted, higher sugar content that allows for a touch of sweetness on the palate. This accompanied with Syrah, Petit Syrah and other similar grapes from California’s Central Coast is developing a unique style of wine. These more affordable Red Blends are taking off maybe because they all do have a certain level of residual sugar which makes them come off as slightly sweet red wine. This isn’t Lambrusco sweet, but definitely markets itself as a more approachable semi-sweet red wine. These wines are great options for customers that don’t enjoy an overly tannic, very dry red wine. This is an easy intro wine style that is definitely more approachable if you are starting to get into drinking wine.
Whether it is in New Zealand or Argentina or California, these New World Wines are getting more extraction; more pure fruit driven wines. Maybe that goes hand in hand with the modern palate. This definitely is not for everyone, some would argue with the direction of this modern wine style. Yet it can not be ignored, it is just an expansion on the options a modern wine drinker has.

Nick,

Wine Buyer, West Vail Liquor Mart