Savour 3 20 2014

© Berthoud Weekly Surveyor March 20, 2014

“Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.”

— Benjamin Franklin

If you enjoy beer festivals, you are living in the right state and the right region. There is liter-

ally a beer festival or beer event every weekend of the year here in Colorado, and keeping up with them can be a bit

of a chore. We’ve com-

piled a list of upcoming area beer festivals that should be on your list this spring and early summer.

The first event is not a festival, but rather a celebration of beer. Colo-rado Craft Beer Week (CCBW) runs March 21-

29, and is nine days filled with beer-related events taking place at restau-rants, pubs and breweries across the state. The Colorado Brewers Guild has taken over the reins of this of CCBW and there are way too many activities planned to list them all here. Go to ColoradoCraftBeerWeek.com for the entire list of scheduled events.

Hops & Handrails Beer Fest & Rail Jam is March 29 and takes place at Left Hand Brewing in Longmont. This event is in its second year and fea-tures 37 breweries, plus a 25-foot-high ski ramp on the Left Hand Brewery property. Sponsored by Winter Park, Burton Snowboards and Christy Sports, you can register to ride your board at this event.

Hops & Handrails is from 12 to 6 p.m. with the Rail Jam from 1 to 5 p.m. For more information and to register to ride, go to LefthandBrew-ing.com.

New Brew Fest is exactly that — a brand new festival featuring brewer-ies that are less than five years old. It will take place on Saturday, May 10, at Whistle Stop Park in Niwot from 1 to 5 p.m. The festival will feature 25 new breweries, including City Star Brewing from right here in Berthoud. Live music will be performed by Filthy Children and THUNK, and an after party will be hosted by Boot-strap Brewing from 5 to 10 p.m. The VIP tent, open from 12 to 1 p.m. will have cheese and chocolate sampling, event t-shirts, shuttle transfers and a voucher for beer at the Bootstraps Brewing after party.

This festival is brought to you by

Colorado Beer Trail and tickets are available through EventBrite.com.

Also in May, it’s American Craft Beer Week, the 12th through the 18th. Like Colorado Craft Beer Week, events will occur throughout the state in conjunction with this American craft beer celebration, and more infor-mation can be found at CraftBeer.com.

Second Annual Front Range Rally, a beer and food truck festival, takes place Saturday, May 31, in the Love-land Food Shares parking lot at 2600 N. Lincoln Ave. in Loveland. This is a benefit for the Food Bank of Larimer County and features more than 50 breweries and food trucks, plus the bands Monocle and The Railsplitters.

The festival takes place from 2 to 7 p.m. with the VIP entry occurring at 1:30. VIPs also have all-day access to a special tent and private rest-room facilities. Tickets are available at FrontRangeRally.com or at City Star Brewing and other participating breweries.

Colorado Brewers’ Festival (CBF) is the granddaddy of all beer events in Colorado. The event celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. CBF takes place in downtown in Fort Collins on June 28-29. New this year, admis-sion is free, so if you are a designated

driver or just want to enjoy the band lineup, it’s easier than ever. Taster tickets can be bought at various loca-tions around the festival, and there will be a VIP tent where hard-to-find specialty beers will be pouring and appetizers will be served throughout each day.

There’s lots of fun in store for the 25th Annual Colorado Brewers’ Festi-val, and not all has been revealed yet, but keep an eye on DowntownFortCol-lins.com, as the details are unveiled.

Mark your calendars for Hops & Harley, scheduled for June 29 in Fick-el Park right here in Berthoud. Last year this wildly successful fundraiser for National Mill Dog Rescue was held at City Star Brewing, but since the event was busting at the seams, they’ve moved it to a larger, outdoor location.

Harley, the spokesdog for National Mill Dog Rescue (NMDR), and Ber-thoud resident, will be there to sign “pawtographs” and $1 from every beer sold will go to NMDR, along with the proceeds from the Hops & Harley t-shirts that will be sold at the event. Keep up with this event at CityStar-Brewing.com, or by following City Star Brewing, Harley and National Mill Dog Rescue on Facebook.

Page B2 March 20, 2014 Berthoud Weekly Surveyor

Beer fests brewing in the Berthoud area

Surveyor Columnist

Heidi Kerr-Schlaefer

Berthoud Weekly Surveyor March 20, 2014 Page B3

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Homebrewing an enjoyable, money-saving hobbyDo you like beer? I do. In fact, I

like it so much I have recently begun brewing my own. And I

am not alone; according to the American Homebrewers Association (AHA), there are an estimated 1.2 million home-brew-ers in the United States. It is a hobby

that is rapidly growing in popu-larity as well; roughly two-thirds of home-brewers in the United States have stated brewing in the last 10 years.

While the chemistry behind beer is pretty complex, the actual process of brewing it is rel-atively straight-forward. Put simply, a specific amount of water

at a certain temperature is added to an amount of malted barley (the amount and temperature of the water depends on the amount of grain being used) to create fermentable sugars in the grain. That solution, known as “wort,” is then drained from the grain, transferred to a kettle and boiled while other ingredients, most notably hops, are added for additional fla-voring. The boiled wort is then cooled and transferred to a fermentation tank and sealed after yeast is added (or “pitched”) to begin the fermentation process. Over a period of 10-14 days the yeast “eats” the sugars in the wort, emitting ethyl alcohol and carbon dioxide. After fermentation is complete, the beer is transferred from the fermentation tank to bottles, with some added sugar, capped and allowed to car-bonate over a one-to-two week period.

For a modest initial investment, regular folks like you and me can brew our own beer. The most efficient way to get your homebrew equipment is to buy an all-in-one kit from a homebrew supply store, like Hops and Berries in Fort Col-lins or High Hops in Windsor, or from an online retailer like NorthernBrewer.com. These kits include just about everything you need to begin brewing — mash/

lauter tuns with valves and false-bottoms, fermentation tanks (called “carbouys”), funnels, hoses, and a digital thermom-eter. You will need to separately purchase a stainless steel kettle for the boil and a free standing propane burner.

The question asked by most beginning home-brewers is whether to do the simpler extract brewing or to jump in with both feet from the start with an all-grain system. Extract brewing is simpler and less costly, but buying the ad-ditional equipment for an all-grain system allows more control over your recipe and thus your brew. Basically, the difference between the two is an all grain system which will require you to purchase raw grains and conduct a “mash” — the process where the grains are soaked in water to draw out fermentable sugars. In extract brew-ing that step is already done and you simply add the extract to water, boil it and throw it in the fermenter.

An analogy I once heard explaining the difference between the two was to think of it like the different ways you can make marinara sauce — you can buy a jar of Prego, heat it in a sauce pan and pour it over your pasta or you can buy tomatoes, tomato paste, herbs and vegetables, dice them all up, boil it down and then add it to your pasta. The latter is more compli-cated and time-consuming but allows far greater control over the final product. The other side of that coin, however, is there are also more chances to screw up.

I prefer the all-grain method. The pre-brewing trip to Hops and Berries or High Hops to purchase grains, hops and yeast is one my favorite parts of the whole process. Generally a home-brewer will want about 60 percent of their grains to be a of standard brewer’s grain variety, such as two- or six-row American pale malt. After selecting your base malt, the fun part begins as you get to decide which additional grains you want to use. If you are brewing a dark beer, like a stout or a porter, you will select some dark malts like roasted barley or chocolate malt. If you are brewing an amber ale you will want some amber malt and maybe even

some crystal/caramel malt. The staffs at the brewery supply stores

are great resources of information and suggestions for your homebrew, so do not be afraid to ask them for help, as they love discussing beer recipes with their customers. After selecting which malts

you are going to use, known as your “grain bill,” you select hops and other adjuncts for your brew.

The amount of choices here are just as, if not more, numerous than for grains. Hops can affect both your brew’s flavor and its aroma, and they come in many varieties. Three factors play into how they impact your brew’s flavor and aroma — what hops are used, how many ounces of them are used, and when they are added to the boil. More hops mean more bitterness, as do hops with higher alpha-acid content, and hops added earlier in the boil contribute more bitterness than

hops added later in the boil, which tend to contribute more aroma. Even this very simplistic outline gives you an idea of how many permutations exist when it comes to the use of hops.

Basically, anything can be added to your beer. A lot of winter and Christ-

mas beers use spices like cinnamon and nutmeg as adjuncts. Chili beers have hot peppers added (usually during fermentation, not during the boil or mash) to make the beer spicy. You can add oats to make an oatmeal stout or lactose to make a milk stout. Both will affect the flavor of the beer as well as serve as a thickening agent to give the beer more body.

Once you have everything — 14 to 18 pounds of grain, three six ounces of hops, a vile of yeast and maybe some adjuncts — and when you make your way to the cash register, you might be surprised to see that everything, added up, costs less than $50. You will brew five gallons of beer (640 fluid ounces), enough to fill 53 or 54 12-ounce bottles, or a little more than two cases. I cannot think of the last time I bought two cases of a quality microbrew for under $50.

You live in northern Colorado, which has become akin to the Napa Valley of beer, so join the fun and start home-brew-ing. Cheers!

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Free events include:Tuesday — Jazz Jam

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ALWAYS SOMETHING NEW ON TAP


By Heidi Kerr-SchlaeferThe Surveyor

We love City Star beers and we know you do to, so that’s why we de-cided to find out where City Star beer is on tap outside of Berthoud. It turns out that there are quite a few places around Colorado where you can find your hometown Berthoud brew. There are currently 56 locations around the state serving up City Star beer; as far away as Castle Rock and as close as right here in Berthoud.

If you are dining in Loveland, City Star has permanent taps in down-town at Next Door Food & Drink and Henry’s Pub. Next Door serves up tapas and delicious entrees such as grilled Colorado lamb and Catalan Seafood Stew. A longtime staple of downtown, Henry’s provides upscale pub fare. The third location that cur-rently has a City Star tap is Wapiti Pub, located at Mariana Buttes Golf Course.

City Star is on tap at 19 Fort Col-lins locations, including beer bars such as Black Bottle Brewery, Crank-stein, Forge Publik House, Mayor of

Old Town, The Mainline Alehouse, and Tap & Handle. If upscale food is what you seek, find City Star at Jax Fish House & Oyster Bar and Moot House. They’ve even managed to snag a tap at William Oliver’s Publick House, a whiskey bar tucked into a King Soopers shopping center mall on South Timberline.

Berthoud’s hometown brewery has made a good dent in the Denver mar-ket, and you can find them at 14 loca-tions, from Freshcraft in LoDo to the Stapleton Tap House on Northfield Boulevard. At Beast + Bottle, City Star’s signature Barnhouse Beast is the only beer this up and coming eatery has on tap. To see the entire list of Denver locations go to citystar-brewing.com/findcitystar.

If you’re in Estes Park find City Star at Smokin’ Dave’s BBQ & Tap-room. In Frederick they are on tap at another barbeque joint, Georgia Boys Smokehouse. Barrels & Bottles Brewery in Golden has City Star, as does The Tavern at St. Michael’s in Greeley. You can also find them at The Wine & Cheese Restaurant &

Wine Bar in Westminster and Mad-die’s Biergarten in Castle Rock.

In Boulder County, Lulu’s BBQ and Lucky Pie in Louisville serve City Star, along with Fate Brewing Company and Backcountry Pizza. The Sink, a staple of the University Hill Neighborhood has decided to keep Bandit Brown on a permanent tap.

In Longmont, Harold’s Restaurant & Lounge, Dicken’s Tavern and the brand new bicycle shop and taco bar, CyclHOPs on Airport Road all serve City Star. At Old Chicago on Ken Pratt Boulevard in Longmont, Ban-dit Brown is currently part of the St. Patrick’s Mini Tour, and next month Chili The Kid will be included in the “Cinco de Mayo Mini Tour.”

City Star owners, John and Whitney Way, live in Lyons, where their beer is on tap at Pizza Bar 66, Smokin’ Dave’s BBQ and Lyon’s Fork, recently opened after severe flood damage. In town, you will find City Star beers at Mi Cocina and Whistle Stop Tavern and, of course, in the taproom.

Where to find City Star on tap outside of Berthoud

BERTHOUD DININGA & W Restaurant120 Bunyan Ave. 532-2272

Brick Oven, The269 Mountain Ave. 532-4747

Da Bean434 Mountain Ave. 532-1451

Derby Grille110 Bunyan Ave. 532-0986

Grandpa’s Cafe903 Mountain Ave. 532-2254

Mi Cocina400 Mountain Ave. 344-5022

Nonna Bella335 Mountain Ave. 532-0224

New China Chan Restaurant506 Welch Ave. 532-3895

Pizza Hut821 Mountain Ave. 532-1111

Subway307 Mountain Ave. 532-9818

Tito’s Mexican Grill405 Fifth St. 532-5500

Trailhead Cafe250 Mountain Ave. 532-9886

Whistle Stop Tavern, The535 S. Third St. 988-9257


Berthoud’s Best Beer BBQ Sauce from the Soricelli kitchen

Beer can chickenThis is a really intriguing

method for grilling, or roast-ing, a whole chicken.

Years ago, if someone had told me that someday I would be placing a whole chicken on a grill with a half can of beer shoved in its keester, I would probably have had a good chuckle.

However, after getting over my initial amusement, I would prob-ably have realized the prospect of a

chicken slowly roasting on the grill, while at the same time getting a beer marinate inside, could be a good thing.

In case you are interested in attempting this method for grilling a chick-en, here are some things to consider.

Prepare the grill for indi-rect heating.

If you use a charcoal grill, bank the coals at the sides of the grill before igniting. The chicken will be placed where the coals are not, so that the bird gets no direct heat. This is somewhat easier to accomplish with a gas grill in that the bird can be

placed with the grill cool and turned on afterwards. Turn on burners that are not directly under the chicken. If your grill is equipped with a tempera-ture gauge, set the burners to heat to about 350 degrees.

To prepare the chicken, have it at room temperature. Remove the neck and giblets from the cavity, if they are present.

Open a can of beer. Drink one-third to half of the beer. Place the can (with

the remaining beer — no cheating) on a sturdy surface and set the chicken atop it, inserting the can well into the cavity. The can and chicken legs (drumsticks) should act like a tripod to keep the bird standing at atten-tion.

Carefully transfer the bird and beer to the grill. Cover and allow about one hour and 15 minutes to an hour and one half of grilling time.

If you prefer, the recipe below

makes a nice rub to coat the bird before placing it on its “throne.”

2 Tblsp. olive oil or other vegetable oil

1 Tblsp. coarse salt2 Tblsp. chopped fresh thyme

leaves or 1 Tbsp dried thyme. Al-ternatively use an equal quantity of your favorite commercial BBQ spice.

1 Tblsp. black pepperNotes: I have found it is easier to

set the bird up in a pie tin than to set it up directly on the BBQ grate. A more fl avorful beer will give more fl avor to the bird.

Bonus recipe. As a bonus I am including a beer batter recipe which can be used for fi sh, onion rings, or other vegetables. This batter also works as a sauce for fondue.

Beer Batter1 cup fl our2 Tblsp. garlic powder2 Tblsp. paprika2 tsp. salt2 tsp. ground black pepper1 egg, beaten1 (12 oz.) can or bottle beerCombine fl our, garlic powder, pa-

prika, salt and pepper. Stir egg into dry ingredients. Gradually mix in beer until a thin batter is formed.

Dip fi sh fi llets, onion rings, mush-rooms or other vegetables into the batter, then drop into hot (350 to 365 degrees) oil. Items may be removed from hot oil with a slotted spoon.

Looking for a BBQ sauce that will make your back-

yard BBQ a hit this Sum-mer? This one of a kind, homemade, beer BBQ sauce will do the trick. It’s simple to make and has an exceptional blend of spicy and sweet with a delicious beer-base. This sauce is perfect for dress-ing up any grilled or slow cooked meats. Enjoy this beer BBQ sauce with your favorite beer.

Prep Time 5 minutesCook Time 15 minutesBeer BBQ Sauce1 ¼ cups of your favorite

Ale or Stout Beer1 ½ cups Ketchup¼ cup Worcestershire

Sauce1 Tbs White Vinegar1 tsp Liquid Smoke1 Tbs Chili Powder3 Tbs Brown Sugar½ tsp Paprika2 Cloves of Garlic

Minced½ tsp Red Pepper Flakes

Directions:Combine all ingredients in a me-

dium sauce pan. Heat to bubbling on medium-high

heat.Reduce to low heat and simmer for

15 minutes.Stir occasionally, until sauce

thickens, then remove from heat.Sauce can be preserved in an air-

tight mason jar or can be immediate-ly used as a sauce for any grilled food, or slow cooker meat, or as a dipping sauce.

Yields approximately 3 cups

Surveyor Columnist

RudyHemmann

Surveyor Columnist

MaySoricelli

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Savour 3 20 2014