We're Turning a New Leaf and Trinity Brewing Turns 8 on Saturday
Focus on the Beer has admittedly seen some major changes in the past few years. We've transitioned from our old founding crew to our new crew, and personally I've struggled to maintain the quality of the blog and find it's new voice in the process.I think we've finally figured it out.Focus on the Beer is dedicated to covering all the breweries that help make Colorado Springs (and Colorado) a better place for craft beer. Yes, our coverage will remain mostly positive, but in attempting to better our beer community, it also gives us the liberty to be brutally honest about off flavors or our experiences if we need to.We plan on championing breweries that are brewing incredible beer and helping forge lasting relationships between Focus on the Beer, the local consumers and every brewery we interact with.So, with that said, I know there have been some things that have happened in the past between Focus on the Beer and Trinity Brewing that have been less than positive, but we're putting that behind us. We're moving on, and so should Colorado Springs.For the past eight years, Trinity Brewing has been pumping out award winning beers from their spot up on Garden of the Gods Road. I, myself, have had a few squabbles with Jason Yester, but I'm putting those behind me and congratulating Jason and his crew for raising the bar for this town with each and every brew.From the Magical Brettanomyces Tour, which pitted the same base saison with 7 different strains of Brettanomyces, then barrel-aged in cabernet barrels to ultimately make 7 amazingly complex and interesting beers, to their extreme experimentation with the 7 day sour, of which the process was developed specifically by Trinity. According to Jason Yester: "After collecting our wort we keep it warm in the kettle for three days and add a pitch of Lacto (pre boil/hops). The hotter temperatures really encourages growth of the bacteria, production of acid (sour), and a dramatic drop in pH. Lactobacillus is also very sensitive to hops, and adding the pitch of Lacto pre-hop ensures that no harm will be done to the bacteria. With this technique I'm able to produce a pH as low as aging a sour a full twelve months on oak." Trinity is pushing the envelope here in Colorado Springs, and we'd be dumb not to notice.Just judging by their plethora of awards (Two Great American Beer Festival Golds, two Bronzes and a Silver from 2009-now, and a slew of Silver medals from the Festival of Barrel-aged Beer as well as being rated the #1 Brewpub by RateBeer for four years running), Trinity is one brewery in Colorado Springs that everyone visiting should visit at least once. Skip Yelp or TripAdvisor, and take our word for it.If you can't find anything in their house selection to drink, it's hard not to mention they usually sport one of the most eclectic guest beer selections in town.This Saturday, Trinity turns eight, and they're opening up their cellar for customers. The list of bottles is ridiculous. Things like 2014 You Never Call Me By My Name and TPS Report, to newer favorites like One Ear and Chilly Water, the gang's all there.Here's (some of) the full list:
750ml
2016 Koelorado Currant2014 Damn It Feels Good To Be A Gangsta2013 Damn It Feels Good To Be A Gangsta2013 Merle2013 Old Growth2013 Pappy Legba2013 Red Swingline2013 Saison Man2012 Le Capitaine
375ml
2016 7Day Sour2016 45th Parallel2016 Le Capitaine2016 Damn It Feels Good To Be A Gangsta2016 Koelorado2016 One Ear (4Packs)2016 Menacing Kumquat2016 Menacing Strawberry2016 Red Swingline2016 Saison Delivery2016 Super Juice2016 TPS Report2015 365 Day Sour2015 Chilly Water2015 Chocolate River2015 Hopped Toddy2015 Koelorado2015 Saison Beams2015 Sauvage Blanc2015 Super Juice2015 Wild Apple2014 ‘3 Flowers’2014 365’ Day Sour2014 Blow Up Your TV2014 Chilly Water2014 Double Swingline2014 Easy Swinger2014 Hopped Toddy2014 Le Capitaine2014 Oh Face!2014 Old Growth2014 Pappy Legba2014 Passion Swing (High Carb)2014 Magical Brettanomyces Tour #12014 Magical Brettanomyces Tour #22014 Magical Brettanomyces Tour #32014 Magical Brettanomyces Tour #42014 Magical Brettanomyces Tour #52014 Magical Brettanomyces Tour #62014 Magical Brettanomyces Tour #72014 Mr. Saison2014 Saison Man2014 Session Swing2014 Swing Se Pliser2014 TPS Report2014 Wild Apple2014 You Never Even Call Me By My Name So I hope you'll join us in celebrating Trinity's impressive history here in Colorado Springs. Doors open at 11am and there's plenty of fun beers to enjoy! See you there! Also, with Gordo moving away, we felt it was good to include him in this article. The photo is from the Saison Fest from a few years ago.
