Christian Koch, head brewer at Elevation Beer Co, gives us his Beer in Review observations. (Photo courtesy of Elevation Beer Co.).
As 2014 comes to a end, we’re once again asking leading figures on the Colorado beer scene to reflect on the past year and look ahead to next. This next installment in our 4th annual Beer In Review features Christian Koch, head brewer and co-founder of in Poncha Springs. Koch brewed at in Idaho Springs before heading over to Elevation to brew some of the countries best barrel-aged and specialty beers.
Here are Christian’s answers:
Favorite Beer of the Year: I had heard so much about the beers that produces. I finally got to try some of the amazing fruit beer but was super surprised by . It was a perfect sessionable pale ale with killer hop aroma and flavor. I loved it.
Colorado Brewery of the Year:. In addition to being great people and really knowing how to throw a party, the variety of tasty beers Epic is able to produce amazes me!
New Colorado Brewery of the Year: I did not make it to nearly enough of them! It was late 2013 when they opened, but I really enjoyed hanging out at during the Craft Brewing Conference this year. It is a great place in a great location with great beer!
Colorado Brewery to Watch in 2015:. Troy Casey brewed some of the best sour beers I’ve had at and I’m excited to see what he does now that he is on his own. Send some beer to Salida, Troy!
Most Notable Trend in Craft Beer in 2014: Small breweries growing like crazy. The growth that so many small breweries experienced in 2014 was pretty amazing, and I don’t see it slowing down in 2015. I think this strong growth will be both a blessing and curse. It is exciting to grow. But if not managed properly, growth can be a struggle financially and emotionally. Most importantly beer quality can suffer. It is important to be growing and improving lab and QC departments as the rest of your brewery grows.
Craft Beer Trend to Watch for in 2015: The battle for shelf space, particularly cold space, is going to heat up. Beer stores will adapt to the growing beer scene with more room on the warm shelf (move over wine), but many can’t do anything about limited cold space. As more and more breweries package great beer this problem will only continue to get bigger.
Previous installments in this year’s series:
