The seventh annual iteration of the fest takes place Saturday, December 15, from 3 to 6 p.m., at the Denver Sports Castle, 1000 Broadway, the former home of Sports Authority and Gart Brothers before that. Tickets, $35 to $60, go on sale today at DenverBeerFestivus.com.
Keep reading to see all of the craft-beer events through early November.
Beers from Hill Farmstead will be tapped at Finn's Manor.
Hill Farmstead
Finn's Manor hosts a kickoff party for The Shelton Brothers Festival, which is in town this weekend with numerous rare beers from around the world. The tap list, starting at 5 p.m. includes: Hill Farmstead Brewery Arthur, Anna and Florence; Kent Falls Brewing Medio and This Isn't Even My Final Form; Burial Beer Glorious Afterlife; Holy Mountain Brewing The Ox; Arizona Wilderness Watermelon Gose, Minus the Middle and Denmark in the Desert; Anchorage Brewing Company The Nectar; and American Solera Good Berry.
Sold Out: Goed Zuur will be hosting a week of special tappings in honor The Festival, from Shelton Brothers, which takes place this weekend. Tonight is the only ticketed event, however. It's a beer dinner pouring Belgian beers from Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen.
It's Dark Woods Week at Woods Boss Brewing, which will be airing scary movies each night (but with no sound) and tapping a wide variety of dark and barrel-aged brews from the archives and the cellar. Tonight's movie is Halloween, and there will be a costume contest at 8 p.m. The brewery will also be discounting its Out of Darkness Belgian Black IPA and donating $1 from each pint to Violence Free Colorado.
Thursday, October 18
As part of the Shelton Fest parties that are in town, Asbury Provisions will be the first bar in Denver to host the highly acclaimed Tired Hands Fermentaria from Pennsylvania. "If you know Tired Hands, you know this is a monumental honor for us," the bar says. Get ready for a killer lineup at 6 p.m., including: Hophands, Alien Church, Invasive 2: Tubenose Goby, Frequency Illusions: Skin Contact, and Prayer Group.
Novel Strand Brewing hosts its second can release at 3 p.m. This time, the brewery will have a new 7.2 percent ABV beer called Pressure Points. "This is a strong hoppy ale brewed with barley, oats and wheat. It features substantial amounts of Columbus, Simcoe, Motueka and Vic Secret," Novel Strand says. Four-packs cost $18 each, and there will be a limit of four per person. This beer won't be on tap, although you can purchase a single can for $7 and drink it on site. Ninja Ramen Mobile will be out front at 3 p.m.
TRVE Brewing is tapping beers at 7 p.m. from some of its "best friends in the biz," when Burial Beer Company and Holy Mountain Brewing take over four lines each and "headbang the night away," TRVE says. The beers on tap include: Holy Mountain The Ox Foudre Aged Saison, Remnant Barrel Aged Mixed Culture Saison, King’s Head Bourbon Barrel Aged Double Oat Brown, and Sabro Fresh Hop Pale Ale; and Burial Shadowclock Fresh Hop Pilsner, Seasoned Skillet Bourbon Barrel Aged Donut Stout, Savages of Ruminating Minds IPA, and Glorious Afterlife Peach Saison.
Goed Zuur takes a lambic stroll starting at 9 p.m. by tapping beers from Cantillon, Brekeriet, Burial, Arizona Wilderness and 8 Wired, along with bottled options from Kerkom.
Costermonger Barrel-Fermented Sour Apple Ale makes its annual return to Call to Arms Brewing today. In addition to being on tap, the brewery will have an extremely limited quantity of twelve-ounce cans for sale in two- or four-packs.
Sold Out: In conjunction with the esteemed Festival by Shelton Brothers, which takes place October 19-20, Black Project Wild & Spontaneous Ales will offer a series of special tappings and tours with co-founder James Howat. The tours are free (sign up at eventbrite) and will be at 3, 5 and 7 p.m.; they are limited to twelve people each. Black Project will have bottles for both on-site consumption and carry-out. Beers to be tasted are Oxcart Blend C, a blend of one-, two- and three-year-old traditionally produced spontaneous ale; 2018 Tagboard Wet-Hopped Spontaneous Ale, a blend of Lambic-inspired spontaneous beer, brewed in accordance with the méthode traditionnelle guidelines, combined with fresh picked Neomexicanus wet hops from Voss Forms in Arvada; and Mercury Golden Sour, with coffee, cinnamon and vanilla.
"Uncle Gambrinus continues to grace us with his finest gifts of ale. This time, the gifts underwent the reverent process of spontaneous fermentation inside oak vessels housed in the Pajottenland of Belgium for years," says Finn's Manor, which till tap beers at 7 p.m. from the vaunted Cantillon, by way of Shelton Brothers. There will also be selections from Gueuzerie Tilquin, Hanssens Artisanaal, Oxbow Brewing, Hill Farmstead Brewery and OEC Brewing.
Tavernetta joins the Shelton fest (October 19-20) fun by hosting a tap takeover starting at 3 p.m. from the famed Blackberry Farm Brewery in Maryville, Tennessee. Five Blackberry Farm beers will be available either by the glass or in bottles. They include the World Beer Cup gold medal-winning Classic Saison, Barrel Series Brett Saison 18 and Abbey Quad. Kyle Morgan will be on hand from the brewery to pour and greet guests, while Tavernetta chef Ian Wortham will prepare special happy-hour offerings to pair with each of the beers. The beers and happy-hour pairings will be available through the weekend or while supplies last. Examples include: Maine mussels, smoked tomato and beans paired with Classic Saison; fried dough, mortadella and prosciutto paired with Harvest Saison; and pork sausage and cabbage paired with Peel Your Face IPA. No reservations for happy hour or tickets are necessary.
Romero's K9 Club & Taphouse in Lafayette will host Florida's Green Bench Brewing and "some of their finest industry homies for a little weekend warm-up before this year's Shelton Festival in Denver," the taphouse says. There will be "exquisite beers, jammin' tunes and friendly faces from near and far."
Black Project
Cerebral Brewing will release three different collaboration beers in cans starting at noon. The brewery will also have fresh cans of its flagship IPA, Rare Trait, available. The first of the three collabs — which all took place during the Great American Beer Festival — is Dice Notation, a 6.2 percent ABV IPA brewed with Anaheim's Bottle Logic Brewing; fermented with Cerebral's house yeast strain, it was hopped with Galaxy, XJA2/436 and Hallertau Blanc. The second collab is Extra Leg Room DDH Double IPA. Brewed with Civil Society Brewing, out of Jupiter, Florida, this 7.8 percent beer was hopped with Mosaic, Nelson Sauvin and Hallertau Blanc. The final team brew is Collective Consciousness, an 8.2 percent double IPA brewed with yumberry (Chinese yang-mei fruit). Created in conjunction with Finback Brewery in Queens and Virginia's Commonwealth Brewing, this beer was "aggressively hopped" with Mosaic and N1/69 and then conditioned on yumberry.
In honor of Shelton Fest, Hops & Pie has a "gaggle of awesome beers" to pour today starting at 11:30 a.m. and tomorrow starting at noon. Beers pouring at some point during the two days include: Trillium Fated Farmer Plum and Fated Farmer Blueberry; Hill Farmstead Brewery Florence, Anna and Arthur; American Solera Good Berry; Gueuzerie Tilquin Gueuze and Pinot Noir Lambic; and many more.
Starting at 2 p.m., Finn's Manor will be tapping "some pretty-little-fruity-beach-party ales from Shelton Brothers Importers" before and after the first session of The Festival. The beer bar will also have "some O.G. favorites pouring all week long as an homage to everything we love about the Shelton crew." The tap list includes: Mahr's Bräu U Pilsner; Brasserie de la Senne Taras Boulba Belgian Pale; Bagby Beer Sweet Ride Pilsner Freak Patrol IPA; Brasserie de Blaugies La Vermontoise; Brew By Numbers 07/11 Raspberry & Hibiscus Witbier and 01/08 Wai-Iti & Lemon Saison; 8 Wired Brewing Snakecharmer Pinot Noir B.A. Sour with Blackcurrants and Cucumber Hippy Berliner Weisse; Freigeist Bierkultur Guava Love; To Øl Gose to Hollywood; and more.
Black Project will give fans a preview of Stargate Apricot and Stargate Nectarine at 2 p.m. "We've filled two casks with this year's unblended, uncarbed [Stargates] as a preview for our huge release coming up in December," Black Project says. "Stargate begins as a custom blend of nine- to ten-month-old spontaneous solera sour golden base with 100 percent coolship caught microbes. Palisade grown apricots (or nectarines) were added to A.D. Laws single malt whiskey barrels, creating a delicious and intense apricot (or nectarine) flavor that plays wonderfully with the delicate apricot (you get the idea) notes produced by our native yeast. Moderate acidity is backed by subtle hints of deep whiskey and oak vanilla."
Goed Zuur will tap beers from Amalgam Brewing, Black Project Spontaneous and Wild Ales and Westbound and Down Brewing at 7 p.m. "Tonight will also mark the return of the coveted Acid Jazz Vol. 1, our first collaboration with Westbound and Down," the sour beer bar says. "Make sure you get here on time because last time we tapped it, it was gone in an instant. We will also be releasing our newest collaboration with Westbound and Down, Special Herbs. Don't make any other plans all night because at 9:30 we will be tapping beers from Side Project, Holy Mountain and De Garde."
Copper Kettle Brewing hosts a release event for its 2018 Well Bred Barleywine at noon. "English barley wine was originally created to satisfy the aristocracy’s fondness for strong libations. While less hoppy and more refined than its American cousin, our take on this English style retains its snooty appeal and ruby color with lavish hints of vanilla, caramel and earthy wood undertones," the brewery says. The 10.2 percent ABV "bold sipper" will be available on draft and in Copper Kettle's new 19.2-ounce cans for $14 each.
Factotum Brewhouse taps Small Batch Sour Plum at 3 p.m. "This perfect fall beer will dance between the tartness of the beer and the richness of the fruit," the brewery says.
Something Brewery in Brighton releases Mega Monsta Double Stuffed Oreo Imperial Milk Stout at 3 p.m. Made with double the amount of Oreos as last time, it will be sold in four-packs of sixteen-ounce cans.
4 Noses Brewing in Broomfield releases three different barrel-aged variants of its gold medal award-winning Pump Action Imperial Pumpkin Ale. They are straight Barrel Aged Pump Action; Barrel Aged Pump Action with Maple, Graham Cracker and Vanilla; and Barrel Aged Pump Action with Cinnamon and Brown Sugar. All three will be on tap at noon and available in 500ml bottles to go in limited quantities.
Saturday, October 20
Join Freshcraft between 10 a.m. and noon for Fuel for the Fest, a relaxed brunch where they'll be pouring some amazing beers from Arizona Wilderness, Burial Beer, E NINE Brewery, Holy Mountain Brewing and TRVE Brewing. If you are heading to Shelton Festival, you'll be prepared. If not, you'll get to try some great beer.
With sunny and warm weather forecast for Saturday, Fiction Beer Company has decided to fire up the ol’ Slushie machine for Pumpkin Spice Latte Slushies starting at 1 p.m. "We’re slushing our sour pumpkin beer, Veritaserum, with pumpkin spice, coffee and vanilla," the brewery says. Pico Arepa will have food.
Renegade Brewing wants to give you a wake-up call. The brewery is releasing Barrel Aged Coffee & Pancakes Maple Porter at 11 a.m., which is earlier in the fall than usual. "We took our Pancakes Maple Porter, blended it with a custom roasted coffee made by Copper Door Coffee and aged it all in Woodford Reserve Bourbon barrels," the brewery says. There will also be a full brunch menu from Cirque Kitchen, including a short stack of pancakes. "People brave enough to rock their footie pajamas will receive $1 off their beers."
Welcome Home Craft Brewery, at 19523 Hess Road in Parker, will open its doors for the first time at 2 p.m, with several flagship beers on tap, a food truck and a DJ for at least part of the evening.
Parry’s Pizzeria & Bar is teaming up with Dogfish Head Craft Brewery for a tap takeover featuring rare beers paired with "off-centered" pizzas. Examples include: Maple Buffalo Wings with the brewery’s Namaste White; and Pumpkin Bites with Bourbon Barrel-Aged Palo Santo Marron. Beers to be tapped include: 2015 and 2018 120 Minute IPA (all five locations); Bourbon Barrel-Aged Palo Santo Marron (Highlands Ranch, Northglenn, Southglenn, Johnstown); Fruit-Full Fort (Highlands Ranch, Northglenn, Longmont, Johnstown); 2016 World Wide Stout (Northglenn, Longmont); and Puddin’ Wine (Southglenn). The event runs from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. at the Parry's locations in Highlands Ranch, Johnstown, Longmont, Northglenn and Centennial.
Thursday, October 25
Renegade Brewing is back with its latest Beers + Banned Books series. This time, the brewery is pairing Harry Potter & The Sorcerer’s Stone with its own version of Butter Beer – in this case, Renegade's 5:00 Afternoon Ale blended with brown sugar and butterscotch and aged on rum-soaked American Oak staves in a Squarrel barrel.
Purchase a pour of the Butter Beer and receive a copy of the book for free. And anyone that comes dressed as their favorite HP character will receive a $1 off their second beer purchased.
Friday, October 26
Seedstock Brewery has developed a real niche when it comes to brewing old-world, Czech-style lagers, and it will tap two more today. Bohemian Dunkel is a dark lager is inspired by the dunkel at Prague's U Fleku brew pub. "This dark lager has a great mouth feel, finishing crisp and clean," Seedstock says. Old Prague, meanwhile, takes inspiration from lagers that were popular in the 1800s. "Light in color with a full body and smooth mouthfeel, it has an earthy bitterness that results from a generous amount of Czech Saaz hops."
If you stood in line at the Liquid Mechanics Brewing booth at GABF, then you might remember the two beers that this Lafayette brewery is releasing in bottles today. The first is Barrel Aged Awesomeness, a rum barrel-aged Russian imperial stout with toasted coconut. The second is Coconut Porter, an imperial porter with toasted coconut. Both are available in a limited number of bomber bottles.
Saturday, October 27
It's Pumpkin Fest at Hops & Pie, which will pour the following beers: Copper Kettle Bourbon Barrel Imperial Pumpkin; Oakshire Big Black Jack Chocolate Pumpkin Porter; Dry Dock Double Pumpkin; Southern Tier Warlock; Southern Tier Rum Pumking; 4 Noses Pump Action; Epic Barrel Aged Imperial Pumpkin Porter; Station 26 Scott’s Imperial Pumpkin Ale Aged in Rum Barrels; Anderson Valley Pumpkin; Shipyard Pumpkinhead; Two Roads Roadsmary’s Baby Rum Pumpkin Ale with Vanilla Beans.
Join River North Brewery for a taproom Halloween party and dual beer release featuring: 2018 Nightmare Fuel on tap and in bottles to go; and 2018 Barrel Aged Nightmare Fuel on tap and in bottles to go. Both beers are imperial coffee stouts brewed with beans from Logan House Coffee Company. There will be trick-or-treat pairing with Good Sugar Baking from 4 to 6 p.m., and a dog costume party all day.
Call to Arms Brewing invites you to join them for a Halloween Rumpus will blend "tradition with innovation... Inspired by the cheesy horror flicks of the 1980s, this festive throwback party" includes specialty beer releases like a Halloween-inspired beer punch, along with spooky cookie creations from Valhalla Cakes, an '80s DJ set by Nightlove (6 to 9 p.m.), live t-shirt screen printing by Humble Monster (noon to 5 p.m.), and a fall-inspired menu from Mas Kaos Pizzeria & Taqueria. There will also be a costume contest at 7:30 p.m., "so bring on the cheese and dress to impress."
Westfax Brewing in Lakewood also hosts a Halloween Party, from 6 p.m. to midnight. The brewery will have full-sized candy bar and pairings, and an apple bobbing competition, and a costume contest with three separate categories: scariest, funniest, and best pet costume.
Ursula Brewery in Aurora will host the annual release of Scary Stories S'more Porter. The beer, a Baltic porter, is made with marshmallows, cacao nibs, vanilla beans, meadow foam honey and graham-flour crackers added to a big Baltic Porter base. There will also be a Hallow-Onesie Party.
Sunday, October 28
Continuing its monthly tradition on the last Sunday of the month, River North Brewery will tap two never-before-seen variants on Mountain Haze. They are Idaho 7 Mountain Haze, which the brewery describes as being "tropical yet resinous with notes of papaya, pine and black tea," and Cenntennial Mountain Haze, which boasts "classic notes of spicy citrus with that ubiquitous Northwest bite."
Thursday, November 1
Call to Arms Brewing releases its first bottle-conditioned beer, Really Really Ridiculously Good Tasting, a farmhouse ale aged in Chardonnay barrels with Brett Claussennii, at 3 p.m. Inspired by the movie Zoolander, the beer has "notes of cantaloupe, white grape, lemon zest and a smooth vanilla finish," Call to Arms says. It will on tap and available in bottles to go.
Wednesday, October 31
New York Pizza pairs perfectly with New York beer, which is why the Parry’s Pizza location in Northglenn is hosting a speakeasy/prohibition-themed launch party for Brooklyn Brewery, which began distribution in Colorado this week. Starting at 5 p.m., you'll find Brooklyn Lager, Bel Air Sour, Defender IPA, Sorachi Ace Saison, Black Chocolate Stout, Brown Ale, Winter Lager, East IPA, Pilsner, and Mesiter Pale Ale. There will also be Brooklyn Brewery reps on hand with swag. And since Brooklyn Brewery and Funkwerks, along with 21st Amendment Brewery, announced earlier this year they were launching a new collaborative distribution platform, Parry’s Pizza will also feature Funkwerks beers for the event including Peachy King and Oud Bruin.
Thursday, November 1
Epic Brewing will host a release for its 2018 Big Bad Baptist, 2018 Baptista and its brand new bad boy, Quadruple Barrel Big Bad Baptist. The beers are on tap and will be sold in bottles.
New York Pizza pairs perfectly with New York beer, which is why the Parry’s Pizza location in Highlands Ranch is hosting a speakeasy/prohibition-themed launch party for Brooklyn Brewery, which began distribution in Colorado this week. Starting at 5 p.m., you'll find Brooklyn Lager, Bel Air Sour, Defender IPA, Sorachi Ace Saison, Black Chocolate Stout, Brown Ale, Winter Lager, East IPA, Pilsner, and Mesiter Pale Ale. There will also be Brooklyn Brewery reps on hand with swag. And since Brooklyn Brewery and Funkwerks, along with 21st Amendment Brewery, announced earlier this year they were launching a new collaborative distribution platform, Parry’s Pizza will also feature Funkwerks beers for the event including Peachy King and Oud Bruin.
Saturday, November 3
Mockery Brewing celebrates its fourth anniversary with a Delgany Street block party featuring live music all day, special tappings, screen printing with Humble Monster, food trucks and more.
Jagged Mountain Craft Brewery also celebrates a birthday — its fifth — the a party from noon to 11 p.m. The brewery will release a Belgian Quintuple Fermented on French Oak, Mongolian Oak and Palo Santo Wood along with Colorado-grown Cabernet Franc grapes. It will be on tap and in bottles to go. There will be limited-edition glassware available for this anniversary beer as well.
Upslope Brewing in Boulder celebrates ten years of beer with an anniversary party from 2 to 10 p.m. at its Flatiron Park location. There will be more than forty beers on tap, live music from the Great Salmon Famine, Pro-Leisure, The Good Kind, and 300 Days, and food from Lazo Empanadas, Rollin' Bones BBQ, Rocky Mountain Slices, Sancho's Authentic Mexican Restaurant, and Schnibs Pretzels. in addition, you find games and hammocks Boulder-based Trek Light Gear, and various other fun and activities.
