anna warwick : writer

By Anna Warwick

Think you know a lot about beer? Five Aussie beer lovers took their “beeriness” to the next level on a microbrewery tour of Denver, Colorado.

“There can’t be good living, where there is not good drinking”
Benjamin Franklin

My ski buddies and I stopped over in Denver to acclimatise to the altitude before heading up the mountains for some fresh powder. With its bustling, mountain-shaped airport and state of the art infrastructure, Denver is the natural first base for anyone going skiing or snowboarding in one of the dozens of Colorado resorts. But we found it was worth digging a little deeper into the workings of the Mile High city. In a bid to stay hydrated... we struck liquid gold.

THE NAPA VALLEY OF BEER

1000 feet high it may be, but dry Denver city it is not. This town is a year-round beer-lover’s paradise, thanks to its wide array of pubs, tap houses, and beer cafés.  It’s all about the quest for a fresh brew. Since the late 1980's Denver has born a buzzing collection of boutique microbreweries and brewpubs. Today, the city produces 80 styles of fresh beer - more than any other city in the USA. You’ll find flavours to satisfy all palates, plus some “out there” new styles.

It makes sense. This glittering city, with its technicolour blue skies and wide streets, is at the heart of the wild, Wild West. It's frontier land. Taverns there were and taverns there will be. And if you keep your eye out, among the classy Denverites you might spot a real life cowboy or two, fresh from the ranch and replete with cowboy hat.

Denverites take their beer seriously. John Hickenlooper, founder of Denver’s first Brewpub - Wynkoop (pronounced wine coop) Brewery – is now their mayor. According to Mayor Hickenlooper, a fresh beer is akin to a freshly baked loaf of homemade bread; whereas bottled beer has all the charisma of processed Wonder White.

THE COOP

After a chilly morning walking around Denver, we visited the Mayor’s former establishment for a pub lunch. The Coop, we learned, is not only the largest brewpub in the world; it is home to the National Beer Drinker of the Year contest. This is a serious annual competition involving meticulous testing of the general “beeriness” (their word) of America’s most passionate beer aficionados. The winner is rewarded with a lifetime supply of ale.

I must confess. I am a girl who drinks wine and at first I was searching the enormous menu for the wine list. Not because I don’t love beer. I love, love, love it but I force it out of my mind for the sake of vanity: to avoid the bloat. However, in this place of beer worship my rubber arm was easily twisted and I ordered “a girl’s beer”. The others were slightly more adventurous. We discovered Patty’s Chile beer; a light German style beer with a hot kick from a dash of Anaheim chillies and smoked Ancho peppers; and the B3K Schwarzbier - a chocolate coloured lager with roasted flavours and just an edge of bitterness. It was beer, mate, but not as we knew it.

After lunch we were taken on an educational tour of the brewery itself, where we learned how beer is made.

And it was at that moment, standing in the well lit Wynkoop brewery in front of those great big gleaming, steaming silver vats as the brewer shovelled piles of grains and patiently explained how he made his ales... my latent beeriness came flooding back. I felt a warm fuzziness enveloping my entire body. Beer brewing is pure alchemy and I was intoxicated.

YOU BREW

It is a complex process. First, water is filtered through carefully selected grains of barley malt until they bloat up and release all the starch and sugars. They are then mashed in a giant pot at 160-170°F (70-75°C), until they look something like porridge, and filtered again to extract more sugars. The mix is then boiled at 212°F (100°C) for 1.5 hours, or longer for stronger beers. Next they add the hops for bitterness, and then the oils and solids are drained. Yeast is added to the liquid and the beer is fermented in tanks at 70°F (21°C). This releases alcohol and creates bubbles, although most beers are carbonated. Lagers are fermented for longer periods at cooler temperatures (30-40°F/ -1°C to 4°C). The brewer tastes the beer at each stage of the process and flavours are added at the end.

We moved into the next room and watched the beer being canned for shipping by three very happy workers. Here we learned that cans are actually better than bottles for beer as they do not let the light in. Light is very, very bad for beer. Hops boiled during the brewing process contain chemicals called isohumulones, also known as isomerised alpha acids, which when struck by visible or ultraviolet light produce some of the same chemicals that skunks spray at their antagonists – stinky ones. Brown glass bottles prevent this process, but not quite as well as cans.

Who Invented Beer?
Beer-like substances popped up among various cultures of the ancient world – wherever the magic of fermentation in carbohydrates occurred. The oldest surviving mention of beer is from the 6th millennium BC, in the written history of Ancient Iraq. The earliest known chemical evidence of beer dates to circa 3500–3100 BC from the site of Godin Tepe in the Zagros Mountains of western Iran. Beer may have been known in Neolithic Europe as far back as 3000 BC.

BUSINESS TIME

Now that we’d had a taste of the magic, we wanted more. We decided to take the Denver Microbrew Tour with engineering student and visionary Steve Schneiter. Steve offers guided 1.5 mile walking tours of Denver and its microbreweries, including samplings and one free pint of your choice at each of the breweries visited. What a bargain at only US$23!

Our first stop was the Great Divide Brewing Company. This clean and slick outfit is home to some serious young brewers who consistently win international beer awards, including Australian ones.

TASTE TEST

“Beer-drinkers have yet to learn to talk about brews as wine-drinkers talk about vintages.  Why don’t they, too, prate and prattle and ooh! and ah! and roll their eyes and twitch their noses and sniff and gurgle and gargle, when they raise a glass of foamy lager to their lips?  Why aren’t there beer-waiters as well as wine-waiters?  And why have so few restaurants beer-lists as well as wine lists?”
Cyril Pearl, 20th Century Australian journalist and author. Beer, Glorious Beer (1969)

At the Great Divide we received a lesson in how to taste beer. Yes, it is just as complex as wine appreciation. In beer tasting you are looking for the flavours released by the balance between the sweet malt and the bitter hops, and there are four basic steps.

1. Look – at the colour and the head. Hold your beer up to the light. Is it cloudy or clear (filtered)? Is the head light and fluffy or creamy and smooth? A light coloured beer is wheat based (and not necessarily light in calories). Red or amber colours have a touch more body and a touch more malt. The darker a beer is, the more malt it contains.

2. Agitate

3. Smell

4. Taste

Steve showed us a diagram of where taste is detected on all the different parts of your tongue. The very tip of your tongue is for the sweetness; the sides of the tip taste the acid, and then a little further up the sides are the salt sensors. At the back of the tongue you taste bitterness, and in the middle palate you have all four elements combined.

Steve shows us his tongue

Finally, you can swallow the beer. Allow it to pass over the back of the tongue and release that all important aftertaste.

OPEN YOUR MIND

We got to work on the colourful rows of beer samples lined up on the table in the Great Divide’s cavernous storage room. We were amazed by their Denver Pale Ale (light and crisp like a German pilsner), Wild Raspberry Ale (creamy with a reddish tinge and a fruity tang) and the Yeti Imperial Stout (so thick and black and bitter it reminded me of Vegemite).

“I like my beer to taste like beer” someone murmured. Sure, these boutique beers were leading us a long way from our comfort zones, but beer creation is an art form – to appreciate it one must forget one’s beloved schooners of Coopers and New... The golden rule is a simple one: a good beer is a beer that tastes good, not necessarily like “beer”. Of course, you cannot become a beer critic in an hour. The key is practice, practice and more practice. We moved on to the next microbrew on our tour.

The next stop was the Breckenridge Brewery – a few blocks down 22nd Street. On the way, Steve told us all about the exotic history of the LODO (lower downtown) district. As we crossed Market Street we learned that it was first called McGaa Street after one of the city’s founders, then changed to Holliday Street after the founder of Denver's first railroad, then finally changed to Market Street because the place was a thriving market of the red light variety. These days the area is hip, trendy and safe, with renovated warehouses and multiple hops hotspots, all within walking distance of one another.

Inside, “Breck” was spacious - typical of a Denver pub - with two levels, high ceilings, pool tables, TVs with sports channels running 24/7, and wooden fittings with soft warm lighting.

We sampled several more tasty brews. I enjoyed the Vanilla Porter; a dark and creamy beer with chocolate, vanilla and roasted nut flavours; as well as the Agave Wheat - unfiltered and yet light and dry - and the Oatmeal Stout: dark, smooth and bitter with rich coffee aromas.

ELIXER OF THE GODS

As we sat on our high stools at the comfortable bar, carefully swirling and smelling and tasting our beers, my mental image of a belching and round-bellied Homer Simpson began to fade. Beer is more than just a fattening drink that men all over the world are in love with, I realised – beer is helpful! My friends heartily agreed. We discussed the obvious positive attributes of beer, like the warm and fuzzy Dutch courage in a glass or two of ale which can entice even the very shy to approach an attractive stranger. In that case, one of the guys mused, surely beer is integral to the maintenance of the human population?

Indeed, it has been argued that the invention of bread and beer is responsible for humanity's ability to develop technology and build civilization. A revelation! Beer is the root of all progress...

The Goddess of Beer
The earliest Sumerian writings contain a hymn to Ninkasi, goddess of beer and alcohol, which doubles as a prayer and a recipe for beer. Ninkasi was borne of "sparkling fresh water”. She is the goddess made to "satisfy the desire" and "sate the heart”. Amen.

But are there any health benefits to beer, I wondered? If wine has medicinal properties, surely beer does as well! A quick Google affirmed that the consumption of two beers per day reduces the risk of stroke, heart and vascular diseases. And apparently beer has beauty benefits too - you can use it to give yourself a facial or to strengthen your hair.

If that doesn’t work, the wise guy among us pointed out, you can always encourage the object of your affection to drink it, in the hopes that they might develop beer goggles and find you irresistible.

Later a little sober research into the mysterious ingredient of hops, famously used to flavour and stabilise beer, proved rather enlightening.

FLOWER POWER

Hops are actually the female flowers of the hop species, Humulus lupulus - a vigorous climbing herbaceous perennial. They were cultivated by the Bavarians in the 8th and 9th centuries. Hops flowers have relaxing, sleep-inducing and antiseptic properties. They are good for general insomnia, restlessness, indigestion or headaches.

Prior to the eleventh century, brewers used a wide variety of bitter herbs and flowers to flavour their ales, until they noticed that beer made with hops was less prone to spoilage due to the antibiotic effect hops have on the yeast. Many different varieties of hops are grown by farmers around the world, to create different styles of beer. Hops flowers also moonlight in other beverages and in herbal medicine.

DRINKS WITH THE GIRLS

The final stop on our tour was the Rock Bottom Restaurant and Brewery. By this stage the working day was over and real live Denverites were hitting this funky, light-filled establishment. I was surprised to see a few small groups of well groomed ladies sitting at the polished wood bars; chatting and sipping enormous ales – not a Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Noir in sight.

We took a table and were served samples of the Falcon Pale Ale (fragrant and caramel coloured with fruit and pine hop flavours) and the Red Rocks red (creamy with a caramel, toffee sweetness).

Steve explained to us the International Bitterness Units (IBU) Scale. The bitterness taste in beer comes from the AHA acids in the hops. An IBU of 5 is about average. A very bitter dark beer might have an IBU of 13. I wondered if this scale might be applied to personalities as well.

Steve also told us about the Original Gravity (OG) and Final Gravity (FG) of beer. OG measures the sugar levels in the beer before fermentation. The FG is how much sugar is left when fermentation is done. A lower FG indicates a dry or crisp flavour, while a higher FG indicates a sweet or malty flavour.

I definitely prefer my FG, and my IBU, nice and low – most of us Aussie’s do I reckon.

TAKE IT AWAY

The bars in Denver serve beers in 16 oz Pilsner glasses. The microbreweries also serve half gallon jugs, or “growlers” of beer.

The term “growler” dates back to the late 19th century when fresh beer was carried from the local pub to one's home by means of a small-galvanized pail. It is claimed the sound that the carbon dioxide made when it escaped from the lid as the beer sloshed around sounded like a growl.

Another story suggests that buckets of beer were given to factory workers before their stomachs began to "growl" from hunger. And still another story suggests that since the beer would spill from the pails as the men walked home from the pub, they themselves would begin to growl...

So if, like Mayor Hickenlooper, the Denverites are hankering for fresh beer and they want to drink it in the comfort of their own home while they watch the game, they can get a half gallon to take away from their favourite microbrewery in a growler. Pubs that don’t brew on the premises are not legally permitted to sell growlers. Unopened, a growler will last 7-10 days. Once opened, the beer must be consumed within 36 hours. No wonder these Yanks can hold their beer so well!

BEER LOVERS UNITE

Looking for an excuse to mine the Mile High City? Not only is the Denver the headquarters of the highest number of home brewers in the USA, it's also home to the world's largest single brewery (the MillerCoors Brewery in Golden produces more than 17 million barrels of beer a year). What's more, this Mecca of beer is host to the brewing industry's most prestigious event - the "Super Bowl" of beer.

In a salute to their international award winning beer industry, Denver holds the annual Great American Beer Festival (the world’s largest commercial beer competition – eat your heart out Germany) each September. For those who take their beer swilling seriously, this is the event of a lifetime.

Last year almost 50 000 punters flocked to the GABF from across the globe and wrapped their laughing gear around over 2000 different brews. 132 beer judges from ten different countries picked the top beer brewing states, the top breweries, the top brewers and the top brews in the USA. The state of Colorado won the most medals, naturally.

HOPS TO IT

V Australia flies direct to Los Angeles from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. United Airlines offers eight daily non-stop flights from LA to Denver.

Resources

visitdenver.com, denvermicrobewtour.com, wynkoop.com, greatdivide.com, rockbottom.com, breckbrew.com, greatamericanbeerfestival.com

This article was completed on March 11 2010. If you are interested in publishing it (or a rewrite), please email me at annabellewarwick@gmail.com.