Mile High

December 16, 2008

I know, it’s been a while since my last post. But, I’ll try to compensate by presenting you with a special feature.

Recently I was fortunate enough to spend a week at Breckenridge Colorado. For those not familiar with Colorado, Breckenridge is a small resort town a couple of hours west of Denver. Now, unlike other winter resort towns, Breckenridge actually started off as a real town in the old west, a mining town, and only recently was converted into a resort town. As far as I know there are no operational mines in the actual town and the mountain peaks (all 10 of them) are left to the skiers and snowboarders. It’s a really pleasant place to spend a week in.

Did I mention that the town is about 9600 feet above the sea level (that’s almost 3 kilometers!)? This apparently requires special cooking methods and affects the taste of just about everything. Even the US Department of Agriculture has something to say about that. I’m sure this gives the Colorado brewers some extra challenges.

For this post I picked two beers that seem to be available only locally. At least, I haven’t seen them anywhere else and they are immensely popular in the area. These beers are: Fat Tire and Single Track. Initially I was planning to just talk about Fat Tire but decided to review them together because at one place I asked for Fat Tire and was offered Single Track as a substitute with the claim it was very similar.

First let’s talk about Fat Tire. The beer looks awesome, complete with a cool bottle label. It’s actually an Amber Ale. It has a nice orange-brownish color, a little bit of a head which goes away pretty quickly. Interestingly enough, Fat Tire is very gaseous. I attribute it to the altitude (I found out a lot of things get attributed to that, whether or not it’s accurate). Unfortunately it does not look like I’ll be able to compare it to low altitudes anytime soon, I’ve yet to find Fat tire on the east coast. Now, it has a see-through perfect look, but can it live up the expectations?

Here’s what the brewers had to say about it (on the bottle):

FAT TIME Amber Ale’s appeal is in its feat of balance: toasty, biscuit-like malt flavors coasting in equilibrium with hoppy freshness. Named in honor of Jeff’s mountain bike trip from brewery through Europe.

FAT TIRE is still crafted following the original home brew recipe that Jeff brainstormed on this cycling trip.

The beer has a chocolaty after taste and until just now I didn’t quite make the connection, but I guess that’s what they mean by “biscuit-like malt flavors.” Fat tire is pretty light and feels crisp as it goes down.  There is some bitter taste to it, but not enough to turn away the bitter haters. However there really isn’t anything special about it, it’s something nice to drink. Fat Tire is not particularly strong or heavy, so you can actually drink it casually and enjoy it. After a full day of snowboarding it is definitely a welcome taste.

I had Fat Tire at two different places, albeit maybe one block apart: Whale’s Tale and Gold Pan. Both on Main street of Breckenridge and both very cool places.

At Gold Pan you see things like this (photo on the left). Yes, it is a stuffed deer’s butt on the wall. There’s also a DJ and a small dancing area for the dedicated. Gold Pan is one of the first and oldest bars in the town and it shows. There is big game on the wall (Buffalo’s or Bison’s head) and an ancient coal stove that is no longer in use. The place is as dark as you’d expect of any bar except for what I can only call a game room. It is an adjacent room that is fully lit with two pool tables and Foosball. Clearly a modern addition. I have yet to figure out what the deal with the cover charge is, but it does look like a popular destination for the young crowd.

Whale’s Tale, on the other hand, doesn’t really leave much of an impression. It’s mostly just another bar/restaurant place with absolutely amazing chicken wings. The above photo of Fat Tire was taken there.

On the way back to the East coast I spent quite a lot of time at Denver International Airport. It a very nice airport and probably the size of Manhattan. But, while there I decided to refresh my memory of Fat Tire and perhaps start writing about it. There was a nice brewery there, Boulder Beer Company, but I was greatly disappointed to find out that they did not serve Fat Tire.

Instead, they served me Single Track. The bar tender said it is very similar to Fat Tire and I would not be disappointed. I wasn’t disappointed but it wasn’t exactly what I would call ‘very similar’. Similar, but not very. Although I find it funny that the representing pictures are very similar. Perhaps that’s the ‘very similar’ part.

Anyway, the beer was mildly  good. Not quite as well balanced as Fat Tire. There’s just too much bitterness for such a light beer. It’s more bitter than Fat Tire even though it’s just as light and crispy. The look is just about the same, maybe a little lighter… but that most likely just the lighting in the airport versus a dark bar. Single Track has practically no foam and, just like Fat Tire, it goes very well with meaty foods such as burgers or chicken wings. Unlike Fat Tire, Single Track is a Copper Ale.

I must say though, sitting at a bar in the airport for a couple of hours listening to those security announcements really got me scared of the threat level ‘Orange‘ and I realized that I cannot, for any reason, accept packages from strangers!

If you ever get a chance to visit Denver or its surrounding area then do it. It’s definitely a nice place with a big selection of good local beer.

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