But all of them are going to taste delicious over the next several months. Here are thirty new or newly packaged Colorado craft cans to keep an eye out for, arranged roughly by style. Enjoy!
Mexican Lager
Lone Tree Brewing, Lone Tree
Lone Tree Brewing rebranded its packaging over the spring, renamed a few of its beers and debuted some new cans, including Mexican Lager that hadn't seen aluminum before. This one replaces Lone Tree's Mountain Mama Helles in the lineup, while the Red Ale was formerly Acres O' Green Irish Red, and the Double IPA was formerly Hop Tree IIPA.
Left Hand
Left Hand Brewing, Longmont
Left Hand rolled out a bunch of new bees this year in order to keep up with market trends — and it started canning for the first time last year. One of the newest is Travelin' Light, which has been around in a few places for a month or two, and in others just recently. The very light beer was made with pilsner and just a touch of acidulated malts.
Bump ’n' Rind
Boulder Beer Company, Boulder
This crushable 5.6 percent ABV Kolsch-style beer was brewed with watermelon, Mt. Hood and Tettnang hops. It is available now through September in six-packs.
5:00 Bangkok-Style Afternoon Ale
Renegade Brewing, Denver
5:00 Bangkok-style Afternoon Ale is Renegade's regular 5:00 Afternoon Ale session ale brewed with lemongrass and ginger to give it a bit of Thai flavor and refreshing notes.
Roadie Grapefruit Radler
Great Divide Brewing, Denver
Brewed with natural grapefruit purée, Roadie is part beer, part juice. With a low ABV of 4.3 percent and an easy-drinking mouthfeel, it's going to be a popular summer beer.
Wave Wheel Wit and four others
Elevation Beer Company, Poncha Springs
Elevation Beer's entire lineup of four year-round flagship beers — 8 Second Kolsch, Wave Wheel Wit, First Cast IPA and Little Mo Porter — all hit cans in May. A new Pilsner should be out in June.
Station 26
Station 26 Brewing, Denver
Lemondrop Wheat, which just hit distribution, is Station 26's first canned seasonal. Brewed with Lemondrop hops and a hint of lemon, the 4.5 percent ABV beer was also "crafted to reduce gluten," the brewery says.
Crooked Stave
Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project, Denver
Hop Savant mixes the fruity, resinous flavors of Citra and Mosaic hops with some funk — in the form of Brettanomyces yeast — making for an unusually delicious combination. St. Bretta and Wild Sage are two of the brewery's other flagships and are also made with Brett. All three will be in cans for the first time.
Tartastic Lemon Ginger Sour
New Belgium Brewing, Fort Collins
Tartastic Lemon Ginger Sour, which is on shelves now, is New Belgium's latest attempt at an approachable sour. With aromas of lemon and lime, honey, white wine and ginger, this beer provides a "strong sourness initially, turning moderately sweet" and finishing with "very light bitterness," New Belgium says.
Pink Vapor Stew
Ska Brewing, Durango
Born in its Mod Project, a small brewery within Ska's brewery, Pink Vapor Stew, which just hit cans last week, is planned as a year-round beer. Brewed with beets, carrots and ginger, along with some Citra and Galaxy hops, Pink Vapor Stew is "a tropical medley of citrus and sour flavors blended together," the brewery says. And it's pink!
Grimm Brothers
Grimm Brothers Brewhouse, Loveland
Grimm has brewed this beer before, but this is the first time the beer has been canned. A traditional hefeweizen with notes of banana, clove and pepper, this version benefits from the addition of blood orange, adding sweetness and depth.
Keep reading for more great canned Colorado craft beers...
Moped Blood Orange Witbier and three others
New Image Brewing, Arvada
New Image already had three cans on the market, but the brewery plans to release four more over the course of the summer. Moped was first. It will be followed by Flora, a hoppy saison fermented with Brettanomyces, and two hazy New England-style pale ales: Paul and Single by Choice.
The Real Peel
Avery Brewing, Boulder
A taproom-only beer before this summer, the Real Peel is Avery's try at a fruited IPA. The brewery describes the brew as a "bright, refreshing, and crisp IPA that uses real tangerine peel to add a citrusy and zesty kick."
Fugli Yuzu & Ugli Fruit IPA
Oskar Blues Brewery, Longmont
Inspired by a collaboration with Japan’s Yo-Ho Brewing, this brand-new 5.8 percent ABV summer seasonal was brewed with yuzu fruit, "an exotic, tangy, dumpy-looking lemon from Japan"; Jamaican ugli fruit, "an aesthetic nightmare with a surprisingly tasty tangerine-and-grapefruit flavor"; and rangpur, a lemon-and-orange hybrid from Bangladesh, Oskar Blues says. There are also Mosaic hops in the mix.
Maui Express Coconut IPA
Denver Beer Co, Denver
Another new brew this summer, the 6.6 percent ABV Maui Express Coconut IPA was brewed with Citra and Mosaic hops, which already have juicy, tropical flavors, then enhanced with shredded raw coconut.
Citralush
Epic Brewing, Denver
Expected later this summer, Citralush will be the first of a rotating series of beers, all nested under the heading New England Style India Pale Ale. Citrualush is a very hazy IPA (as is expected with the New England style) made with Citra and Mosaic hops.
Regulators IPA and two others
The Larimer
Regulators IPA is the latest beer from the Larimer, a gypsy brewery and brewery-in-planning that is currently brewing at Crazy Mountain in Denver. Cans of this New England-style IPA hit last week, following after cans of La Resistance. Cans of 99 Problems but a Peach Ain't One should also be out soon.
Russell Kelly Pale Ale
Telluride Brewing, Telluride
Named for Telluride skier and world-class kayaker Russell Kelly, who died in a car crash in 2004, this beer "was inspired by Kelly’s favorite beer, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale," but is actually quite different. Brewed with Mosaic and Chinook hops, it has a higher ABV than Sierra Nevada in order to match Kelly's personality, the brewery says.
River North IPA and Mix-Pack
River North Brewery, Denver
Okay, these beers aren't exactly new — though River North IPA is relatively young — but the packaging is, and it serves to highlight how popular mixed twelve-packs have become, with roughly two dozen on the market from Colorado brewers — something that gives people a chance and an opportunity to try new styles.
Pikes Peak Brewing
Pikes Peak Brewing, Colorado Springs
Named in honor of the legendary Manitou Incline, Pikes Peak Brewing's latest limited release is just as big as the 2,700 steps themselves. Incline Imperial IPA, at 10.5 percent ABV and 185 IBUs, is "a study in hopping," the brewery says, utilizing "massive additions of Mosaic, Columbus and Centennial Hops."
Brownish
4 Noses Brewing, Broomfield
This 6.7 percent ABV falls into the American brown ale category because of the malts that produce its chocolate and caramel character, but it also displays a hoppiness that is not always present in the style.
Left Hand
Milk Stout Nitro
Left Hand Brewing, Longmont
Left Hand's flagship beer, Milk Stout Nitro, will find itself in a fun new package for the first time this August. Left Hand only just began canning, but it has already figured out to replicate its nitrogenated process in a can.
