A recent trade with our friend Robin out in Golden, Colorado landed us a few cans of awesome from a brewery called Upslope located in Boulder. What sparked the trade was a mini documentary I had watched on the Denver scene, where they spent ample time at Upslope interviewing the owner and brewer discussing everything from self distributing to starting their brewery in the midst of a hop crisis.
Watching that video I got a little background on the Upslope owners, Matt Cutter and Dany Pages. Matt was an avid home brewer with a thirst for making beer on a bigger scale and Dany was the owner of a brewery in the southernmost part of the world located in Argentina. Fate would have it that these two would meet and with Dany falling in love with a Colorado gal, Matt saw the opportunity to recruit Dany and Upslope Brewing got it’s start in 2008, turning out delicious craft beer for the drinkers of Colorado.
Above I mentioned that Upslope started in the middle of the hop crisis a few years back, making it difficult for breweries to get what they needed to make the fantastic beers we are drinking today. Seeing as Dany had ties down in Argentina, they were able to get fresh cascades from Patagonia, ultimately giving their pale ale a different taste than the other pales we have here in America. Some say it doesn’t the have the punch of the American Cascade hops and is described as spicier and more earthy. I think it gives this pale an awesome characteristic and I am happy this is their flag ship.
Like the pale ale, Upslope Brewing’s IPA is brewed with the same patagonia hops but at a higher gravity. Well balanced and definitely a must IPA for any hop head that may come across it in their travels.
Upslope’s Brown Ale was one of my favorites. With a dark malt bill, brown sugar and English hops this beer gives off an amazing roasty nose and nice sweetness from the sugar and malt. Over all a tasty brown and one I would like to revisit down the road some time.
Every brewery has their seasonal beers, limited release, short batches, whatever your fancy is. Upslope is no different. Their limited release, Belgian Pale Ale was their first beer that won an award back in 2009. Brewed with coriander, turbinado sugar and fermented on trappist yeast, this was one of the more tastier beers out of the bunch and could give some of the best belgians in the world a run for their money.
We saved the biggest and baddest can for last. I thought The Alchemist was nuts packaging their double IPA into a can but Upslope takes the cake here with an Imperial IPA that is so big that it can only be contained into 19.2 0z of aluminum cloak. Brewed with a special blend of hops, there is about six pounds per barrel per batch and brewed precisely as to not make the beer overly grassy like some of the other bigger, hoppier IPA’s that we are used to.
These may have been some of the best beers I have ever tasted that came out of Colorado. Don’t get me wrong, there is a lot of great beer there but the story behind these cans is as fascinating as the beer that is brewed within them. We enjoyed having these beers and look forward to trying more in the future. We even have a few bottles on the way of their latest collaboration with Crooked Stave that we are itching to crack, so stay tuned. Cheers to Upslope Brewing and cheers to our good friend Robin for hooking us up with these awesome craft cans.
-Brian