Three big stories in Colorado Springs Beer

Picture from the Phantom Canyon Brewhouse page

Over the weekend I received a google notification for "Colorado Springs beer," opened up the email and saw three pretty extraordinary headlines that I'd like to share here. Usually, the headlines from that notification involve something like "A Colorado Springs man kills someone with a broken beer bottle" but this time we have some craft beer updates. Each headline came from a different news source in town.

I apologize for my recent lull in posting, I've been in Oregon and it's been a little harder to keep up than I thought it would. You'll be happy to know that I'm bringing some great CO beer to all the Oregonians for a special tap takeover in about two weeks. Check out the details here. But, check out the information about Colorado Springs beer and what's been happening:

Pikes Peak Brewing begins canning (from the CS Indy)
"It's been four years since Colorado Springs' only beer canner, Arctic Craft, shut down. So when Pikes Peak Brewing Co. begins to can its Elephant Rock IPA on June 20, it'll enjoy the distinction of being the area's only brewery to can for distribution....Wright plans to produce 60,000 cans by 2014. And by August, PPB's Devils Head Red should join the IPA on local liquor-store shelves. Within a couple years, Wright hopes to buy a canning line, but in the interim he'll utilize a Boulder-based mobile canning unit that serves the likes of Boulder Beer and Denver's Renegade Brewing."

Phantom Canyon expansion in full swing (from the Gazette)
"Big changes are happening at Phantom Canyon Brewing Co., one of Colorado Springs’ oldest and largest breweries, which was a lynchpin in the 1990s revival of downtown. The brewery produced the final batch of beer on its old system May 17, and brewing is expected to begin in the new system by June 4. You can see the massive fermenters being delivered Tuesday in the above photo. That’s one of many aspects of the major expansion at the brewery, including a small bottling line (already in operation), two barrel rooms for oak cask aging (think strong beers and sours) and, most excitingly, a 50-seat rooftop patio."

Bristol opens Ivywild (from the Colorado Springs Business Journal)
Bristol Brewing Company officially opened Tuesday in its new location, the Ivywild School at 1604 S. Cascade Ave. “We were ready to serve beer in there and ready to open,” said Amanda Bristol, who owns the brewery with her husband Mike. “It was a bit of a soft opening. Really, we just posted a sign on the door of the old brewery.”



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