The Breweries of 'Whiskey For My Men Beer For My Horses'

This Friday is the FAC's annual Colorado beer and whiskey tasting! Last week, we looked at the four Colorado distilleries pouring whiskey at our fourth Whiskey For My Men Beer For My Horses. Today, we're featuring the four diverse breweries offering some of Colorado's best craft beers for your enoyment. 

Oskar Blues Brewery (Lyons, CO)

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The funky Oskar Blues Brewery is known for their self-proclaimed “canned beer apocalypse.” Since 2002, the brewery has produced delicious local micro-brews that are only available for purchase in can form. Why cans? Dale, the creator of Oskar Blues Brewery said, “we thought the idea of our big, luscious pale ale in a can was hilarious. And it made our beer immensely portable for outdoor enjoyment and fun.” But these aren’t your father’s cans of old, Oskar Blues cans are made of modern aluminum, which is lined with a water-based coating so that “beer and metal never touch, and there is no exchange of metallic flavor.” To top it all off, Oskar Blues Brewery has won a whopping six awards since their inception as a brewery in 1997, as well as notable mention from the New York Times, who described Dale’s Pale Ale as the best “Pale Ale” in America and the G’Knight (formerly the Gordon) as one of the “Top 5 Extreme Beers” currently on the market. 

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Smiling Toad Brewing Company [formerly Kraft Beer] (Colorado Springs, CO) 

    

Established in 2011 as Kraft Beer, the brewery just changed ownership and has thus donned the new name, The Smiling Toad Brewing Company. While the owners may have changed, rest assured that the unique beers have not. Like the name of the brewery, the names of the beers are equally as intriguing. While the brewery creates small batches of hand crafted beers, some of their recent options included The Erroneous, Green Fiend (both IPAs), the Anonymous Wheat, Spring Blonde, the Bella Lavender Lager and the Jumbe Porter, which the owners say is named after their favorite rhino. The good folks at the Smiling Toad were donating 10% of all proceeds from the Jumbe Porter towards rhino protection. With an ever changing palate pleasing menu, this brewery isn’t likely to stay the smallest brewery in Colorado Springs for long.

TRiNiTY Brewing Company (Colorado Springs, CO) 

TRiNiTY Brewing is known for two things: their belgian style beers and their commitment to self-sustainability. TRiNiTY has two new creations out this month, the first is a Berliner Weisse, a collaboration with New Belgium Brewing, called “Ten Minutes of Pleasure.” The beer is made with Soursop fruit, which brings out hints of lemon and coconut, and is aged in French oak Chardonnay barrels. The other is the Elektrick Cukumbahh; this beer is unique in the fact that roughly 24 lbs. of English cucumbers are added to each barrel of beer. Additionally, TRiNiTY infuses the cucumber beer with a bit of lemon zest, which brings a brightness to the beer. From the get-go, TRiNiTY has been an eco-conscious brewery, building their pub from nearly 100% recycled materials. There is a chance that this brewery, which was founded in 2008, could become the new Jack Quinn’s, as TRiNiTY hosts a “Soul Runners” group every Monday evening, encouraging their clientele to be healthy themselves. 

Rocky Mountain Brewery (Colorado Springs, CO) 

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Rocky Mountain Brewery serves up small batches of unusual flavors, such as red chili beer, and a toasted coconut porter. This is beer with a personality, a brewery that is under constant experimentation. And boy do they experiment well. The folks at Rocky Mountain Brewery brew 130 different beers as well as 30 ciders. In regards to their brewing style, they described themselves as “kids with ADD, with no access to ritalin.” Online reviewers have tried such beers as the Peanut Butter & Jelly beer, the Apple Pie beer, the Green Chile beer (there are of course, the more traditional beers, such as a Hefeweizen, a lager and a few IPAs, but rest assured, even though they may taste like more traditional beer, their names are still funky enough to make you look twice). Regardless of which beer(s) you decide to taste, Rocky Mountain Brewery will keep creating more and more concoctions in their attempt to help re-build America, one pint at a time. 

What's all this about big-ass belt buckles? 

Receive a $5 ticket discount at the door if you arrive at the event sporting some serious metal around your hips. Check these out for some inspiration...

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Whiskey For My Men Beer For My Horses

$20 for FAC members; $25 for non-members | Buy Tickets!

June 28 | 5-8p