2015 is going to be huge!

Happy New Year everyone! Hope your holidays went well! Well after a few days of rest, we're back on the grind. We're filtering the Queen City of the Plains, starting the newest batch of Ledville Snow Queen, and finalizing the new recipe for Old Mose. We're hitting 2015 hard and fast. We're also hitting the legal ground running! If all goes as planned you should start seeing our sakes in a couple of bars and restaurants around Denver by late spring. We will keep you in the loop as more news comes down the wire.

2014 had lots of setbacks for us, but they also taught us a lot about ourselves and the industry we are breaking into. We met a lot of great people along the way that helped shape the direction of things to come and we are really excited about where 2015 is going to take us.

Thanks to all of you who have stuck with us along the way! 2015 is going to be huge!

Marc & Keith

Happy Holidays!

It has been a crazy year full of starts and stops and we thank you all for taking the journey with us. We are still furiously navigating the legal system to get our sake out in the world, rebuilding our press (it worked, but can be better), working on new batches of the Leadville Snow Queen, Old Mose, and a sake beer concept with Grandma's House.

We still have a bit of the Palisade Peach sake. We wanted it as fresh as possible so we didn't pasteurize it. Since we won't be able to sell it any time soon, please come down to the brewery and sample it. Just drop us a line and we'll set up a time for you to come down and taste it.

We also got our site updated for ordering shirts. It was a small run so get yours before they're all gone :)

Thanks again for a great year! Have a great holiday season and a fantastic start to your 2015! Marc & Keith

The Queen is Coming Soon

Today we spent a lovely day in the mountains harvesting snow to make our latest batch of the LSQ. We were joined by our good friends Lenny, Lexi, Sean, and Kay. The weather was great and the snow was plenty. After finding a great spot we collected a 24 gallon bucket of snow, then we're treated to the best bbq at Chicken Hill BBQ. This is always one of our favorite part of the brewing season and we're looking forward to what kind of water this snow makes. Its always a gamble, but it makes some damn good sake.

Press test #1

We pressed the first batch of The Queen City of the Plains on Saturday. The press prototype still has a few kinks that we need to work out, but it works! The Queen is now sitting in secondary fermentation and should be ready for drinking by December 20th.

We have also gotten a huge dumping of snow and will be harvesting snow for the Leadville Snow Queen really soon.

We'll just have to hold tight a little longer

Well, we ran into a big speed bump this week that we'll hopefully get smoothed out by the end of the year. We found out that we are able to make the sake in our current location (Grandma's House - shameless plug...go drink there today!), but we are unable to sell it in the tap room. So upside, we're still making all of the planned batches...downside, we're going to have to go back into the legal tussle to figure out the best plan of attack. We've got a meeting with some great layers this week to start that plan, but it may be up to 3 months before we can sell. Hopefully this will all work out quicker than expected and we can get all the goodness to you soon!

Leadville Snow Queen - Barrel Aging Experiement

So this experiment went interestingly. We had some leftover Leadville Snow Queen that wouldn't clarify so we decided to let it sit for a few months...then we decided to try and "barrel" age it as an experiment. It was a hit with some and a flop with others. The medium French oak stave that we placed in it brought out some of the earthy flavors, added a bit of caramelness, and some hints of the oak. Those that enjoy whiskeys and scotches really enjoyed it. They loved that it held many of the characteristics of a short aged whiskey, but removed all of the burn. It is an interesting experiment that I would love to try again at an earlier stage of resting the sake. I may try this with a small portion of each batch going forward. I realize that aging sake is a rare occurrence, but I think the flavors would appeal to quite a few people. Let me know how you feel about it.

- Marc

The Quest Continues

 

I've always been interested in drop shots, especially the sake bomb. I always figured there had to be a better way to do it. I realized now that we share space with a brewery, I should try to work on this project again. The first attempt was the above photo. I paired Grandma's Blonde Ale with our El Colorado red sake...and it was darn tasty. The lightness of the blonde combined with the cider and fruit notes married very well together making the best sake bomb I'd ever tried. I'm excited to keep trying out different flavor combos and seeing what we can make.

-Marc

Works in progress...

Hey kids! It has been a crazy month.1. We moved into our space - Grandma's House Brewery 1710 South Broadway. Come down and have a beer! Maybe if you're nice we'll give you a taste of what we're working on :) 2. We built some work tables and are working on some fancy shelves. 3. We are completing our first batch, a Palisade Peach sake. If all goes as planned it will be naturally carbonated and ready to go in late November. 4. We started the first batch of Queen City of the Plains. It should be ready to go December 20th. 5. We're heading back to the Liquor Board for more talks. 6. We got a short run of shirts printed. They will be available for purchase soon! 7. Our site crashed so we're rebuilding it from scratch! (Thanks Rob!)

It has been a crazy ride getting everything up and going, but super fun. Here is what our 2014-2015 brewing schedule looks like so far. Peach Sake - Late November 2014 Queen City of the Plains - Late December 2014 Leadville Snow Queen - Shooting for February 2015 (Just waiting on the snow to get going) El Colorado - February 2015 Old Mose - April 2015 Cherry Blossom - April 2015

Thanks!

Here We Go!

Looks like Denver is going to get it's own sake brewery after all! The Department of Revenue gave us the green light on Monday and we've jumped immediately into high gear. We're super excited to move into Grandma's House, a collective brewery space at 1710 South Broadway Denver, CO 80210. Not only will it be a great place to make sake, but it is a great neighborhood. We're still working through a few of the final details, but should hopefully be moved in and starting to brew by the end of September / beginning of October. We'll post our brew schedule soon. We just want to say thanks to everyone who has helped us get this far and we look forward to all the crazy months ahead! 

Marc & Keith

Green lights all the way!

Looks like Denver is going to get it's own sake brewery after all! The Department of Revenue gave us the green light on Monday and we've jumped immediately into high gear. We're super excited to move into Grandma's House, a collective brewery space at 1710 South Broadway Denver, CO 80210. Not only will it be a great place to make sake, but it is a great neighborhood. We're still working through a few of the final details, but should hopefully be moved in and starting to brew by the end of September / beginning of October. We'll post our brew schedule soon. We just want to say thanks to everyone who has helped us get this far and we look forward to all the crazy months ahead! 

Marc & Keith

2014 Fermentation Festival

We had a great time at the first day of the Fermentation Festival today.

1. We found a great new tequila - Casta Negra
2. Found a great beer in a very excellent can - Crystal River Stout Ridge Amber
3. Got to experience the excellent Baere Brewery Baere-Liner Wies with all its lovely syrups
4. Melted our faces with some great fermented jalapeños from Vibrant Veggies
5. Got hopped up on the intense flavor of hopped coffee from Corvus Coffee
6. Helped save some tents from getting sucked up into the crazy storm
7. and drowned ourselves in super fantastic Korean BBQ and kimchi from Dae Gee

We were also fortunate to teach a Sake 101 class. It was super fun and really challenging to squish a lot of tasting and homebrew knowledge into just 30 min.

Sake Time!

We're excited to have our head brewer featured in this month's 5280 magazine! http://www.5280.com/eatanddrink/spirits/magazine/2014/07/sake-time

Well July Just Blew Up!!!

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Well July Just Blew Up!!! Hey Kids! Last week just blew our summer up! We learned that we will be in August's edition of 5280. So that means July is going to be kinda crazy for us. Not only are we preparing for two tastings in August, but we have to prepare for whatever the article throws at us. We're finishing up bottling the latest batch of the El Colorado and will have it ready in the next week.  If you're interested in a bottle shoot an email to Marc with how many bottles you'd like. We also sat down with the liquor board yesterday and made significant progress. We hope to have answers back by the end of the month! Our friend Anna Greenhous over at Harpers.co.uk was also nice enough to mention us in her recent article Anna Greenhous on America's growing love affair with sake. It is full of history on sake and sake breweries in America. Thanks again for all your support and we look forward to your feedback! Marc & Keith

 

Upcoming Events August 1st - First Friday Art Show at HeadDress Salon (12th & Santa Fe). Come down and sip our late spring Leadville Snow Queen and get a taste of the latest El Colorado as Marc and Keith play some tunes! August 8th - Happy Leaf Kombucha will be opening their kitchen which will feature different fermented foods from around the world. We will also have a special carbonated version of the El Colorado on tap for the celebration. August 9th & 10th - Unfortunately we had to back out of a booth at the  2014 Fermentation Festival, but we'll be there checking out some great fermented foods, beverages and products! Last year was really great and this year is poised to be even better.

 

Upcoming Brews We are also working on developing a sake/beer with our friends at Grandma's House. It is still in the initial stages, but it will be a combo of The Leadville Snow Queen and Grandma's saison. It's almost peach season here in Colorado and we're working on a new sake commemorating the miners of Auraria, CO and its sister mining site in Auraria, GA. More info to follow when we get our hands on some peaches!

 

 

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