Recap: Beers Made By Walking Denver 2013

Last week, during the influx of beer crowds in Denver, we hosted our latest Beers Made By Walking event. The program this year boasted 17 breweries from across the great state of Colorado, each brewer made a beer inspired by nature trails near their brewery. Wynkoop hosted the event this year and we saw a larger crowd than we did last year, with about 200 people total. It's wild that the event is already over! We put so much time and energy into it, perhaps forsaking some of our other duties on the blog here.

Scott Witsoe of Wit's End Brewing had one of the most decorative booths. The herbalist who led his walk down the South Platte River Trail brought in a bouquet of Rabbit Brush. Wit's End's beer was brewed with Rabbit Brush and Rabbit Brush honey. The plant, once you've seen it, you realize that you see it everywhere on the Front Range.

Chris and Sean are starting a new brewery called Cerebral Brewing. I asked Sean to take part and while he doesn't have a brewery up and running, he called up Our Mutual Friend Malt & Brew and asked if they'd like to collaborate. They put together a really easy-drinking beer that had roasted sunflower seeds and dandelion. Be on the lookout for Cerebral Brewing in the coming year.

All of the beers were exciting, every beer was tasty, and it was fun to try out ingredients that were really untested and non-traditional. Some surprises included New Belgium's Mint Mild. I wouldn't have thought to put together Mint in a beer with hints of toffee and nuts, usually you would think of it in a lighter beer or perhaps a chocolately stout. The combination was fantastic.

Additionally Boulder Beer Co.'s beer had chokecherry, echinacea, milk thistle, and dandelion. The hope was to make a type of healing beer, and there were many jokes about how you could drink as much of this one as you wanted and not get hungover, and you'd just get healthier. With such a plethora of herbal ingredients, this one turned out very earthy and a lot of fun in a non-traditional way.

These beers, and others including Paradox's Chokecherry Sour, Yak & Yeti's cedar spruce ale, Strange's wild hop, Twisted Pine's nectarine wit, Wynkoop's blue gummy bear beer, Grimm Bro's raspberry infused pils, Pikes Peak and Elevation's currant beers, Mountain Sun's yarrow saison, Fate's conceptual wild wheat, and Phantom Canyon's aged sour rose hip and sumac beer all made the night pretty magical in our books!

We would like to thank every brewer that was a part of the program this year. We know that Colorado breweries are tasked with ramping up production to meet the needs of the GABF crowds, so we always love when a brewer decides that they'll take some time out, go for a walk, and clear some head space for a new brew. The breweries that were a part of this event are: Boulder Beer, Crooked Stave, Elevation, Fate, Grimm Brothers, Mountain Sun Pub, New Belgium, Our Mutual Friend with Cerebral Brewing, Paradox, Phantom Canyon, Pikes Peak, Strange, Three Barrel, Twisted Pine, Wit's End, Wynkoop, and Yak & Yeti.

If you want to keep up to date on all things Beers Made By Walking, please check us out on FB, and you can get BMBW email updates too.

Cheers!

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