AURORA | Two Aurora brewers headed south last weekend to the All Colorado Beer Festival and came back with some hardware for their efforts.
Mu Brewery came home from the festival in Colorado Springs with a gold for their Mutation Principle in the smoke and wood-aged beer category.
Nathan Flatland, Mu’s owner and brewer, said the beer is a smoked porter with raspberry and smoked Serrano chiles. The 7.8-percent ABV beer wasn’t part of Mu’s primary stable of brews until this summer when it proved to be particularly popular.
“It’s a big, complex beer, but the flavors are real fun,” he said.
As for the festival, which features only beer makers from the Centennial State, Flatland said it was the second year in row Mu has participated.
Over its nine years, the festival has donated more than $245,000 to nonprofits in and around Colorado Springs, according to organizers.
In all, the festival had more than 40 breweries serving more than 200 different varieties last weekend.
“In a lot of ways it feels almost exactly like Great American Beer Festival, just smaller and more a little intimate,” he said.
Mu wasn’t Aurora’s only brewery to score at the festival. The city’s newest beer maker, Launchpad Brewing Co., took home the bronze in the stout category for their Soyuz Russian Imperial Stout.
At Copper Kettle Brewing Co., the weekly “Pints with a Purpose” program didn’t have a designated charity last Tuesday, but next Tuesday, Nov. 17, $1 from each pint will go to benefit The Pets for Vets program, which pairs shelter pets with military veterans.
Coda Brewing Co. tapped their 11 Ironmen Triple IPA on Wednesday for the anniversary of their neighbor, Cedar Creek Pub. The special brew — which features 11 grains, 11 hops, and 11 percent ABV — was quite the hit, said owner Luke Smith. Just a day after being tapped, the lone keg was empty.
But Smith said they are tapping a 8-percent ABV Breakfast Stout Friday for the Indigent Row concert at the brewery. Next week they tap the Galaxy Saison.