David Lin, co-owner of Comrade Brewing in southeast Denver. (Photo courtesy of Comrade Brewing).
As 2015 comes to a close, 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 5th annual Beer In Review features David Lin of Comrade Brewing — the southeast Denver brewery that is known for its. The brewery put everyone on notice when in 2014, it won a silver medal for its fresh-hopped Superpower and again repeated the next year with a silver for the same delicious beer.
Here are David’s picks:
Favorite beer of the year: Hogshead Communist Pig on Cask. It was a collaboration beer we did with them. The first time they used English hop varieties at the rate we use American varieties in our beers. The subtle earthiness from East Kent Goldings at lower doses provided a really unique stone fruit/apricot aroma and flavor at high rates.
Colorado brewery of the year:. No one else is making cask ales quite like these guys. Real ale, served at the proper temperature and consistently world class quality. I try to go whenever I have an opportunity.
New Colorado brewery of the year: . I’m excited to see what beers Brett Williams will be putting out and brewing on a 100 percent Colorado made system, the first from Bennett Forgeworks. Expecting to see more Colorado made brewing equipment around the state.
Colorado brewery to watch in 2016: I’m excited for Bill Eye and Ashleigh Carter at and the new Rackhouse pub. They’ve had a passion for lager beers and for an all-lager brewery, I can’t wait to try their beers.
Most notable craft beer news or trend of 2015: The purchase of Ballast Point by Constellation Brands for $1 billion. An overwhelming majority of deals just from this year: Oskar Blues, Perrin, Saint Archer, Golden Road, Lagunitas, Firestone Walker have all been for undisclosed sums of money.
Craft beer trend to watch for in 2016: With the merger of LeuvenBelgium’s Anheuser-Busch InBev and London-based SABMiller agreed in principal, there is going to be more pressure on the small breweries. We’re talking $65 kegs of Goose Island IPA. There’s no way we can compete with economies of scale that Bud/Miller/Coors have. ABI is also purchasing and consolidating distributors. Its new incentive plan that disqualifies distributors if they carry craft brewers that are regional size or larger and if they do not sell at least 93 percent or more of ABI products is specifically designed to block access to markets for small breweries.
Previous posts in this series:
