The HOPposite of Woe with Governor Hickenlooper

The Governor of Colorado(/former homebrewer/brewery-owner) has a new book out, “The Opposite of Woe: My Life in Beer and Politics.”The Tattered Cover, a must-visit bookshop in Denver hosted the event at Wynkoop Brewery Thursday night. The evening included a short talk from Gov. John Hickenlooper, and co-author, Maximillian Potter (of 5280 Magazine fame).A ticket to the event included a free drink (we had the beer named after the book—of course), a special, limited run bomber to take home, and a copy of the book, which Gov. Hickenlooper stuck around to sign.The event was packed with around 450 people—book nerds, beer nerds, political actors, made up the good number of people trying their best to brown-nose Hickenlooper in their limited time there.Even though the line was long, we had a chance to talk a bit about beer with Gov. Hickenlooper (he's even heard of FotB!).In his book, he says:

“I ordered a beer and couldn’t believe the flavor. Compared with the usual beers I drank, this one was richer and less carbonated, smoother and softer on the palate, and with a real bouquet.”

If you’re reading this, you’ve most likely had a similar experience with craft beer.Hickenlooper also spoke in depth about his time working on opening Wynkoop, how it was troublesome at first, but made a point to express his excitement about the prospects of the brewery. (Denver wasn’t the beer-town is is now back in the 1980’s.)Here's where I’ve exhausted my book report skills for the time being, so I’ll let you pick up a copy of the book yourself. Here's an easy Amazon link.So how was the beer?

The beer: The HOPposite of Woe.

• A citra-IPA with a slight cloudy appearance. (7.2%, 67 IBUs)
• There is a moderate hop kick, but nothing that most beer drinkers can't handle.

It isn’t available in bombers (apart from the limited run at the event) or for sale, but the brewers (Collaboration with Bess Dougherty of Wynkoop and Luke Smith formerly of Coda Brewing) truly enjoyed the reception the beer received from both the Governor and the crowd all clamoring for a taste. They should definitely consider brewing another batch of it. (We’ll let you know if we hear anything.)Our take-home bottle instructs owners that the unfiltered beer “...should be consumed within 30 days, preferably with a friend or a good book.” Well, I'm not one to argue, so I think that’s just what I’ll do. (Why didn’t ALL book reading come with a beer back in school?)Thanks Gov.