Rep. Polly Lawrence, R-Douglas County, and Rep. Dan Pabon, D-Denver, explain the thrill of victory after the Colorado House’s beer-brewing team won the inaugural Hop the Vote Challenge craft beer competition at Denver’s Great American Beer Festival last October. (Photo by Denny Hancock, Sergeant at Arms, Colorado House of Representatives.)
When it comes to drinking and thinking, the Colorado House of Representatives is tops in hops over the state Senate, a sobering fact that was announced with fanfare Friday morning.
The House won the first Hop the Vote Challenge during the Great American Beer Festival in Denver last October. The House’s Representative Saison, the Hopposition Candidate, beat the Senate’s Upper Chamber Fresh Hop Pale Ale with 51.9 percent of the votes from tasters who drank both during the three-day festival.
This was the final tally board at last October’s Hop the Vote competition. The trophy was paraded into the House chamber for the first time Friday morning.
“We see and we hear the superiority of the House, and now we can taste it,” Rep. Dan Pabon said Friday morning.
The bicameral competition pitted bipartisan teams.
“It’s not always about Republicans versus Democrats,” said Rep. Polly Lawrence, R-Douglas County. “The real battle is House versus Senate. Let’s just re-emphasize we won.”
Both teams spent weeks working with local brewers — the House’s whole-leaf citra hops was brewed by the Denver Beer Co., and the Senate’s Fresh Hop was developed at Dry Dock Brewing in Aurora.
Pabon and Lawrence’s House team included Reps. Brittany Pettersen, D-Lakewood; Jonathan Singer, D-Longmont; Joann Ginal, D-Fort Collins; Chris Holbert, R-Parker; and Spencer Swalm, R-Centennial.
The losing senators were Matt Jones, D-Louisville; Andy Kerr, D-Lakewood; Scott Renfroe, R-Greeley; Pat Steadman, D-Denver; Lois Tochtrop, D-Thornton; and Rachel Zenzinger, D-Arvada.
