Sunday, March 4 marks the 90th Academy Awards ceremony and, apparently, Boulder Beer has a dog in the fight because both of their pubs are featuring a new beer: The Shape of Lager. Brewed especially for the Boulder International Film Festival, The Shape of Lager is a clean and crisp German-style Helles, brilliantly golden with a large, white pillow of foam. It’s malt-forward, has a definite nose and flavor of cereal grain, but — much like its cinematic namesake — The Shape of Lager isn’t so sweet it gets stuck on the way down.
The Shape of Water could very well walk away with the Best Picture Oscar on Sunday. Should that happen, maybe Boulder Beer will send a bottle or two to Guillermo del Toro for his efforts.
In Longmont, the Left Hand Brewing Company just released their latest in 22-oz. bombers and on tap: Pride Runs Deep, an India pale ale (IPA) made with blue spruce tips.
Pride Runs Deep has an attractive golden amber color and pours out of the bottle with a good deal of frothy head. Don’t worry, the head will quickly shrink into some solid lacing once the beer settles, and this is one you’ll want to let relax in the glass for a minute or two. Serve it too cold and the spruce barely registers; allow it to warm, and they show up in spades, complementing the already piney and citrusy Chinook hops. The result is a fresh and slightly sticky profile reminiscent of cracking a cold one on a weekend hike. And in true Left Hand fashion, proceeds from Pride Runs Deep will go to support civilian organizations that support military families.
From the hyper-local to out-of-this-world, Odd13 Brewing in Lafayette recently released their I-P-Alien in cans and on tap.
Fueled by space-themed hops — Galaxy, Comet and Apollo — I-P-Alien sports Odd13’s signature haze with a warm yellow glow, a thick head and a juicy nose of citrus. There’s a touch of dankness to the brew and plenty of resin in the mouth. But with a pleasantly low bitterness, I-P-Alien doesn’t dry out the mouth with aggressive hops. Instead, there is a touch of passionfruit thanks to Galaxy hops and grapefruit from Comet.
Back in Boulder, the Upslope Brewing Company is set to release the 2018 rendition of their Experimental IPA in cans and on tap. Brewed with Denali, Azacca, Galaxy and Vic Secret hops, Experimental IPA should sport plenty of ripe passionfruit, pineapple and orange zest. We haven’t had a chance to wrap our lips around the Experimental IPA yet, but when this baby rolls out on March 1, we’ll be ready to bid goodbye to a cold and snowy February and head back to the patio. You can almost smell the pollen and taste the sap.
