The second annual Collaboration Fest was a huge success. With 70 collaborations, 2000 attendees and a larger venue, this year’s festival was even bigger and better than last year.
Welcome beer from Telluride Brewing and String Cheese Incident
Collaboration Fest 2015 was held on the club level of Sports Authority Field at Mile High with fantastic views of downtown Denver. There was more than enough space, which was refreshing, as most festival-goers know that an overly crowded situation can definitely put a damper on the experience. The lines weren’t ridiculously long (yay!), and there was ample space to wander around, eat, and enjoy those tasty beers.
Lots of space
Since I wasn’t able to find a list of all the beers (like they had last year), I unfortunately missed a couple that I wish I would have gotten to try. But luckily for me, I found one of them on tap at Falling Rock a couple days later: New Belgium Brewing/Star Bar/Falling Rock: Rock Star Part Deux sour brown. Though I didn’t drink it at the festival itself, I’m still going to call this my favorite beer overall. So tart–just the way I like it!
Other standouts include:
Lady Brew: FMR Double Red IPA (all female collaboration)
FATE Brewing Company and Yak & Yeti: Belgian Style Cherry Dubbel
Odell Brewing and Mountain Sun: Mutual Respect Java Imperial Stout
Bootstrap Brewing and Walnut Brewery: NutStrap Imperial Coffee Stout
Odell Brewing and Liquid Mechanics: Charlie’s Sour Brown
Fiction Beer Company/Chain Reaction Brewing/Cerebral Brewing: Farmhouse ale with Cascara and plum fermented with Brett. I was hanging out at Fiction the night they were brewing this, so I was excited to try it. It had delightful a hint of spiciness that I wasn’t expecting.
I missed the Carrot Cake Brown from Front Range Brewing and Kokopelli, but I have a feeling it would have been a fave of mine. I’ll have to look for it at either brewery to see if I can catch it.
See you again next year, Collaboration Fest!
