My First Taste of Durango Beer
I moved to Durango knowing there were plenty of fantastic brewery’s both in town and in the region in general. But before coming here I’d only tasted a couple and hadn’t been too impressed (I won’t mention what beers or breweries, but will say I’ve had other beers from that brewery and loved ‘em).
About two days after arriving in Durango I got word that Ska Brewing Co was releasing a new IPA. Modus Hoperandi is what they call an American IPA weighing in at 6.8% ABV and 65 IBUs according to Beer at 6512 a fantastic blog about Durango beers. This was a great introduction to Durango! We went up to the brewery to taste the new beer and check things out. There was a good crowd and a band playing and the sampling room at the brewery was nice and big.
A few days later I found myself at Star Liquors on a Friday afternoon when they do free beer tastings. That day they were sampling Ska Brewing Co’s DIFF and The Durango Bootlegger’s Society’s Insider Ale. The Durango Bootlegger’s Society (as I understand it) is a collective of the four breweries in town, the Insider Ale is an apple beer, maybe a malt beverage, I’m not sure on the distinction. I’m glad they were giving out free tasters and I didn’t buy a bottle because I wasn’t a fan. It was far too sweet for me.
Ska Brewing Co’s DIFF on the other hand was great. It’s a Belgian White (Witbier) brewed once a year to support the Durango Independent Film Festival. 10% of the proceeds go to the festival. I liked it enough to buy a bottle.
Looking around Star Liquors I was pretty impressed with their selection. They have a ton of beers (wine and liquor too) and quite the local/Colorado selection. They even have a few San Diego beers (I saw Stone and Green Flash). I’m not homesick enough yet to pay premium prices for SD brews and I want to explore CO beers to I stuck to the local section.
In addition to the Ska DIFF I picked up Durango Brewing Co’s Winter Ale and Left Hand Brewing’s Snowbound Ale. Left Hand Brewing isn’t local, they’re in Longmont up near Boulder, but I figure with all of Colorado’s great craft breweries I’ll have to explore them all.
Durango Brewing Co’s Winter Ale was good, not amazing but not bad at all. It poured dark with a good head and at 6.3% ABV it warmed me up as I drank it while playing with the dog in the cold Colorado evening.
Left Hand Brewing Co’s Snowbound Ale was a pretty damn fine brew. It poured dark with a good head that stuck around for a while. It’s brewed with honey and spices including cinnamon, ginger and cloves among others. It was sweet, but not in the sugary sense, and it didn’t taste like ginger but there were hints of it in there. At 8.6% it’s up there, keeping ya warm and a little tipsy if you’re not careful during the cold winter months.
To finish of my first week in town I stopped by Carver Brewing Co and had their Lover’s Chocolate Stout. Being a huge fan of stouts I knew I had to try this when I saw the ad in the Durango Telegraph. I was a bit weary because some of the chocolate stouts I’ve had in the past have been too sweet and strong on the chocolate, but this one wasn’t. It knew it was a beer, not some sort of hard-chocolate milk. It was served in a smaller stemware glass, maybe 10oz and warmed up as I took my time drinking and holding it.
Pretty good I’d say for my first week in town. There’s a lot more exploring to do.
