K is for Kokopelli Beer Company

It has been a long time since I've done one of these A to Z Denver Breweries.

I have excuses, but you don't care what they are. They are sort of lame anyway.

I'll try to do better.

What is this series of A to Z Denver Breweries? you ask?

Well ... as a reminder ...

Back in early 2015, I composed a list Denver Breweries that I had not visited (see Denver Breweries II). As I was composing the list, I realized that most of the letters in the alphabet were covered by the first letters in these brewery names.

I started with A ... A is for Alpine Dog Brewing Company

The most recent one was J ... J is for JoyRide Brewing Company

There are 8 in between which you can review by looking at Sheppy's Blog: A to Z.

If you know your alphabet, you probably suspect that the letter K is up next.

K is for Kokopelli Beer Company

Kokopelli Beer Company was the longest trip I've had to make so far for one of these little Denver breweries. It is a nice little brew pub in the Solaire Shoppes at ...

8931 Harlan Street in Westminster Colorado

... just across from the future Westminster Mall renovation.

There isn't a whole lot of table seating, but the bar is a pretty decent size. It has more of the tiny production brewery tasting room feel than that of an actual brew-pub. It is almost a surprise that they serve food.

However, the food that I had was fantastic. You can see a menu on the website, "On the Menu". I had an appetizer that they called "Pizza Wheels", which I don't see on the website menu. These were so yummy it is ridiculous. They were basically pizza dough around cheese and sausage. Sort of like traditional pizza rolls except they were shaped more like wheels and much much better.

I also had a grill chicken sandwich that I thought was excellent.

And the beer ... oh the beer ...

I guess I hadn't done my research, because I was shocked at how many beers they had on tap. I did two flights of 7 tasters, and I did not try all the beers.

The beers ranged from good to excellent. There was one of the 14 that I didn't really care for, but I am sure that lots of people do like it. Just wasn't my thing.

Flight 1:

• Goofstaf Altice Amber -- a nice traditional Alt-beer with nice bready Munich malt base and wonderful noble hops on the nose and in the flavor. Wonderfully balanced. Finished nice and dry.
• Red Moon Red Ale -- an Irish Red that reminds me quite a bit of my own Eric's Red. Nice maris otter base with rich caramel notes and noticeable noble hop character. Great balance and very drinkable. Wonderful beer.
• Angel Rye'pa -- Nice rye ipa. Has that rye spiciness without being overpowering. Lemony / tropical hops. Very well done.
• Pale Face -- An American Pale Ale. It was nice and hoppy, without being too bitter. Very drinkable. I think my wife would have liked this despite its hops. This is the beer that I would have been taking home in a growler, but it wasn't available for that.
• Hop Slugger IPA -- Pretty typical IPA. I'm sure this is a very popular beer and it was very good. 
• 8x8 Elk Nut Brown -- Nice sessionable, flavorful English Nut Brown Ale. Malty and pleasant to drink. The kind of beer that you can have pint after pint.
• Cow Tipper Milk Stout -- A nicely balanced milk stout. Just the right amount of roast to dry out the finish a bit to balance out the sweet. Lots of coffee flavor. Yummy

Flight 2:

• Chai Summer Wheat -- This is the one beer that I didn't care for. I thought it overdid the Chai flavor. However, I'm sure plenty of people would disagree with me. 
• Leia Lime Lager -- This is a light bodied / light colored lager, which was apparently a collaboration with a homebrewer. I really liked this beer. The lime was very subtle, and I thought the perfect amount. Really a quality-made beer.
• Better Half Amber Ale -- A really nice amber ale with significant (but not overpowering) American hop flavor. Apparently, this was Kokopelli's pro-am entry in 2015 GABF.
• Copper Road ESB -- Nice beer. Pretty classic ESB. I didn't think it was good as most of the beers, but that is what happens when you have so many fantastic beers. Some of the beers just overshadowed this one I thought.
• Spencer's Pale Ale -- Great hoppy pale ale. 2014 GABF ProAm Competition Silver medal winner. This is the beer that I took home in a growler.
• Razzmatazz-Chocolate Raspberry Sweet Stout -- Great descriptive name. It was a chocolate sweet stout with raspberry flavors. Quite delicious. I think the chocolate and raspberry were about the right amount for this dessert beer.
• Vanilla Moon -- Is a vanilla milk stout. They went light on the vanilla, which I think is perfect. Another delicious beer. 

As I mentioned before, this wasn't even all the beers that Kokopelli had on tap. I fully expect that the rest of the beers were as yummy as the ones I had.

Make sure you check out their "On Tap" page on their website.

This is a wonderful Brew Pub. If you find yourself in the Westminster Mall area, and are hungry and/or thirsty, I totally suggest you stop in for a couple of beers.

If you have a few minutes ... check out their website for more of the story around the Kokopelli name and the rest of their story.

That is what I have to say about K is for Kokopelli Beer Company.


And now ... I will be looking for a Denver-area brewery that starts with the letter "L". I have a couple in mind.

Leave a comment below if you have a suggestion.

Go Bears!