America is recently obsessed with farmhouse, or wild ales, beers often mirrored after Belgian styles of beer fermented with wild yeast strains. These beers can be sour, tart, fruity, zesty, or herbal— they are harvest-driven beers, often brewed with seasonal ingredients.
We asked brewers and experts where they drink sour, wild, and funky ales in Colorado, and they had a lot to say. Here are 26 places to drink wild ale in Denver and Boulder. Coming soon is another map on where to find farmhouse beers in Fort Collins.
What did we miss? Email us at denver@eater.com and we'll add it to the map.
Falling Rock is often noted as one of the country's best craft beer bars, and for good reason. The 80+ taps often sport rare sour beers like the Russian River Supplication and Quintine Saison 2000.
Perhaps one of the most artfully crafted beer lists in town is at The Kitchen. It currently includes French, Belgian, and Canadian wild ales on tap, as well as more beers from Norway and Belgium in the barrel-aged and wild section of the bottled beer menu.
The bottled beer menu here is separated by country of origin, and extensive— so ask the knowledgable staff for farmhouse yeast and wild ale options you shouldn't miss. Freshcraft almost always has sour beer on tap, too.
The ever-changing lineup of beers at The Ale House often includes beers like the Boulevard Tank 7 saison, as well as wild ales from many Colorado craft breweries.
He might be a sommelier by training, but the beverage director at Colt & Gray and Ste. Ellie Kevin Burke knows his beer. He chooses the rotating tap list, which features beers that you won't find at other Denver bars.
Lower48 is currently offering two beers that are brewed with brettanomyces: Paradox Brewery Nihilist, and Liefman's Goudenband. Go now— the beer list rotates!
Great Divide has a new sour and wild ale program. The first of its specialty releases: Peach Grand Cru. "Brewed with Colorado fruit, this Belgian-style ale marries two of our home state’s well-known offerings: great beer and fresh Palisade peaches."
Of Star Bar, author of Vintage Beer (that will release March 11) Patrick Dawson says, "A dirty, dive bar with a very impressive dedication to serving sour and wild beers."
"Black Shirt makes a Red Sour Mash Saison that they just call Sour Mash Saison," says Denver Off The Wagon editor Sarah Haughey. "The beer rocks! Highly recommend."
The Brettanomyces-obsessed Chad Yakobson has made a name for himself through experimentation with this yeast strain known to create sour and funky beers. Crooked Stave beers are currently brewed at Epic Brewing, where you can purchase the Crooked Stave and Epic sour saison collaboration, Elder Brett.
Epic Brewing brews many of its beers with a proprietary yeast strain named Brainless. Look for the Brainless Golden Ale, The Brainless on Peaches, The Brainless on Raspberries, The Brainless on Cherries, and the Brainless Belgian-style IPA among its 25 taps.
La Chouffe, Cuvee des Trolls, Orval, and Lindeman’s are just a small sampling of the sour and wild Belgian beers available at Cheeky Monk. Soon its owners will open the doors at Lost Highway Brewing Company next door, with more wild ales to come.
Brand new to Denver's scene and getting rave reviews is Former Future, who taps a wild yeast saison, an IPA brewed with Brettanomyces, and an American strong sour ale.
As you'd expect from a bar named World of Beer, the wild ale selection here is also exotic, with extensive list of international bottled beers and sours from Petrus and Perennial on tap.
This tap house boasts Colorado beers on ever-changing taps, including the Funkwerks Tropic King, the TRVE Circle The Wagons, and wild beers from Trinity Brewing.
This brewpub only serves Colorado beers, and house-made brews by Adam Draeger, formerly of Yak & Yeti. The sour and wild selections at Colorado Plus come from Odell, Funkwerks, Crooked Stave, Black Bottle Brewing, Strange Brewing, and Verboten.
"Head brewer Brian Lutz was making wild and barel-aged beers long ago when few in CO had ever heard or made them," says Marty Jones. "His Woodville project of all barrel-aged and wild beers from ten years ago was ahead of its time. He does such beers now -- the recent Brett on the Broncos for example -- and has more in the works."
One of Boulder's oldest taverns now serves wild selections like New Belgium's Transatlantic Kriek, Perennial Berliner Weisse, and several bottled wild European beers.
Perhaps the most eclectic and developed wild ale list casually slips under the radar at Boulder's Backcountry Pizza. Not to mention the perfect summertime patio.
Falling Rock is often noted as one of the country's best craft beer bars, and for good reason. The 80+ taps often sport rare sour beers like the Russian River Supplication and Quintine Saison 2000.
Perhaps one of the most artfully crafted beer lists in town is at The Kitchen. It currently includes French, Belgian, and Canadian wild ales on tap, as well as more beers from Norway and Belgium in the barrel-aged and wild section of the bottled beer menu.
The bottled beer menu here is separated by country of origin, and extensive— so ask the knowledgable staff for farmhouse yeast and wild ale options you shouldn't miss. Freshcraft almost always has sour beer on tap, too.
The ever-changing lineup of beers at The Ale House often includes beers like the Boulevard Tank 7 saison, as well as wild ales from many Colorado craft breweries.
He might be a sommelier by training, but the beverage director at Colt & Gray and Ste. Ellie Kevin Burke knows his beer. He chooses the rotating tap list, which features beers that you won't find at other Denver bars.
Lower48 is currently offering two beers that are brewed with brettanomyces: Paradox Brewery Nihilist, and Liefman's Goudenband. Go now— the beer list rotates!
Great Divide has a new sour and wild ale program. The first of its specialty releases: Peach Grand Cru. "Brewed with Colorado fruit, this Belgian-style ale marries two of our home state’s well-known offerings: great beer and fresh Palisade peaches."
Of Star Bar, author of Vintage Beer (that will release March 11) Patrick Dawson says, "A dirty, dive bar with a very impressive dedication to serving sour and wild beers."
"Black Shirt makes a Red Sour Mash Saison that they just call Sour Mash Saison," says Denver Off The Wagon editor Sarah Haughey. "The beer rocks! Highly recommend."
The Brettanomyces-obsessed Chad Yakobson has made a name for himself through experimentation with this yeast strain known to create sour and funky beers. Crooked Stave beers are currently brewed at Epic Brewing, where you can purchase the Crooked Stave and Epic sour saison collaboration, Elder Brett.
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