Though every day in Colorado is essentially a celebration of craft beer, we still have a special part of the calendar set aside to make a fuss.
The real, honest, fo’ realsies, no fooling, super-special one and only official Colorado Craft Beer Week runs Friday, March 21, through Saturday, March 29, and it’s packed to the beer-breathing gills with craft-brewed events for you to woot about from atop the most conveniently located 14er.
One of the showier events is Hops and Handrails, going down at Left Hand Brewing in Longmont on Saturday, March 29.
The combination beer fest and snowboard rail jam will feature live music and no shortage of gnar gnar to go with the beer. The ramp will be 25 feet high and the beer will flow like wine. Hops and Handrails runs from 12-6 p.m. and costs $30. Tickets are available via Brownpapertickets.com.
Another cherry item on the lineup is New Kids on the Block, which will celebrate breweries that are less than 2 years old. And it will do so in ’80s garb. Totally fetch, right?
“The event will include unlimited beer tastings, ’80s jams, a beer-themed buffet and a costume contest,” say online event details.
New Kids on the Block will be hanging tough from 8-11 p.m. on Thursday, March 27 at The Lobby in Denver. Tickets are $25 and are available at www.ImbibeDenver.com.
Perhaps the biggest item of the week is the Collaboration Festival on Saturday, March 22, which will team up different brewers to perform some serious mad science in creating more than 20 new beers.
“Each beer featured at Collaboration Festival will be created by at least one Colorado Brewers Guild member, with other participating breweries coming from near and far,” says the Craft Beer Week website. “The other breweries will be from both in and out of state and some collaborations involve more than five breweries.”
Expect frankenbrews from Avery and Russian River; Renegade, Wit’s End, Strange, TRVE, Black Sky and Breckenridge; and a Voltron-like team of former Mountain Sun brewers now working at Breckenridge, Cannonball Creek, Durango, Jagged Mountain, Eddyline, Mountain Sun, Telluride, Iron Springs and Moo Brew, who wins the distance award for schlepping all the way from Tasmania.
The Collaboration Festival will go down Saturday, March 22 at the Curtis Hotel in Denver, from 3-7 p.m. Tickets cost $50 and proceeds will benefit the Colorado Brewers Guild.
Get more information about these and more events at www.ColoradoCraftBeerWeek.com.
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