Ed Sealover loves beer. He loves drinking it, he loves writing about it. He wants other people to love it too.
Which is why he spent two years roaming Colorado and, yes, drinking beer at every brewery he could find so he could put them all in his new book, “Mountain Brew: A Guide to Colorado’s Breweries” (History Press).
He’ll read from and talk about “Mountain Brew” at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Denver Press Club, 1330 Glenarm Place, and, maybe, have a beer while he’s there.
“I got the idea in 2008,” he remembered. “It was born out of insobriety and desperation. Like all ideas that come up at a beer festival, it was quickly forgotten.” But not for long. The next year he and his wife started trekking to faraway places in the state — she drove, he drank — to gather information on 108 breweries. He spent winter and summer weekends. He went after work. “It was time well-spent.”
It’s certainly not the first guide about Colorado and beer to hit bookstores, but it delves deeper than any previous effort. Who, for example, knew that Three Barrel Brewing in Del Norte is in the back of John Bricker’s insurance office?
“I wanted to make this a guide for people who want to travel around the state,” said Sealover, a former reporter at the Colorado Springs Gazette and the Rocky Mountain News now laboring for the Denver Business Journal. “Or for people who just like to travel to find interesting local places.”
Local is where it’s happening these days. Colorado, he discovered on his tours, “really supports the local brewery. I was surprised at the number of small towns that had a brewery — places like Paonia, Ridgway, Del Norte. It seems like if people can go get their local beer, they’re going to.”
Sealover knows guidebooks come and go, but he’s not deterred. “I hope this book leads to second and third editions. I thought if I could get this down as a baseline for people coming to the state it would promote beer tourism. Some of the small-town breweries say people show up with pages printed off the Internet.”
He’ll also do a signing at 4 p.m. Saturday at Strange Brewing, 1330 Zuni St.. With beer.
Big and getting bigger:
Breckenridge Brewery is growing, again.
First, the Denver-based brewer, which earlier this year announced a partnership with Wynkoop Brewing, is bragging that its production is up 39 percent for the first half the year over last year.
Breckenridge just purchased an automated canning line from Wild Goose Engineering of Boulder and will use it for canning beers from both Breckenridge (including Summerbright, Agave Wheat and 471 IPA) and Wynkoop (Rail Yard Ale and Silverback Pale Ale).
And last month, the brewer installed two 300-barrel fermenters and will add two more in October, boosting capacity by 37,500 barrels (present capacity is just over 30,000 barrels).
“We’ve invested more than ever in sales, production and marketing in the past 18 months, and we’re seeing real results,” said Todd Usry, brewery director and brewmaster.
Too bad for you.
The Great American Beer Festival (Sept. 29-Oct. 1) is long sold out, but there is hope yet. The Brown Palace Hotel is offering “Celebration of Suds,” a package that includes two tickets to the festival, an in-room fridge containing beers from Breckenridge, New Belgium, and A.C. Golden and other treats. It’ll set you back $539. Info at 303-297-3111.
Beer notes.
The new Ghost Plate & Tap, 800 18th St., is looking for “sticky quotes” by Denver residents past and present on drinking, saloons and history for their menu. Send them to Marty Jones at martysjones@att.net. Get famous. . . . Denver Brewing Co., 1695 Platte St., is planning to open with a gala on Aug. 12. . . . New Belgium Brewing out with “Tour de Fat: Sights, Sounds, Feelings, Flavors,” a coffee table book on the history of the brewery’s traveling bike festival.
Quotable:
“All the fat guys watch me and say to their wives, ‘See? There’s a fat guy doing OK. Bring me another beer.’ “ — Mickey Lolich, former Detroit Tigers pitcher
Dick Kreck’s e-mail: rakreck@yahoo.com. Send mail to him c/o The Denver Post, 101 W. Colfax Ave., Suite 600, Denver, CO 80202.
