T is for Tommyknocker Brewery

Well ... as I'm sure you know if you've been following along on the A to Z Denver Breweries series of posts, we've made our way all the way through "S" in our 4th round.

We posted S is for 6 and 40 Brewery just a couple weeks ago.

If you're at all familiar with our concept ... it doesn't take much intellectual ability to figure out that next we need a "T" brewery.

There are tons of "T" breweries on the Colorado Brewery Map & List.

However, after filtering out breweries the start with "The", breweries that are too far away from our house, and breweries we've already blogged about in the A to Z Denver Breweries list ... there is really only one good choice....

T is for Tommyknocker Brewery

Geocaching up to St Mary's Glacier

When I was typing up my Article about Letterboxing post yesterday, I realized that it had really been a long time since we had been geocaching. We actually tried to go two weekends ago when Grandma and Grandpa Shepard were visiting, but the battery ran out on our GPS right at the beginning of our hike. Since then, I've added a couple of fresh batteries to our Geocaching pack so this would not happen to us again.

Before that attempt, the last time we had been geocaching was way back in April on our Geocaching Bike Ride.

Before that, the last time I blogged about purposely geocaching was back in 2009 with Valley of Fire. We have actually done geocaching that I have not blogged about, but really not that much.

Yesterday, I decided to load up my GPS with a few stops on a hike up to St. Mary's Glacier.

Colorado 6 pack

Not too long ago, I got a tweet and then a subsequent email from one of my virtual blogging / brewing buddies, @BryanDRoth at This Is Why I'm Drunk. He had this crazy idea for a blogging collaboration. He wanted to get 6 different bloggers from six different states to each come up with a 6-pack of beers that "best represent your state and/or state's beer culture".

It is actually very similar to Denver's 5280 Magazine's 6 packs that they put out from time to time. Check out Billy Brew's article "What's Your State's Dream Team Six Pack" and you can also read more about the 5280 six packs on my blog.

@BryanDRoth had some rules:

• Must pick a six-pack of beers that you feel best represent your state and/or state's beer culture
• Beer must be made in your state, but "gypsy" brewers are acceptable, so long as that beer is brewed with an in-state brewery and sold in your state
• Any size bottle or can is acceptable to include
• Current seasonal offerings are fine, but try to keep selections to year-round brews as much as possible. No out-of-season brews preferred. (ideally that could be another post)

New Tommyknocker

I've talked about Tommyknocker Brewery quite a bit in this blog. It is a brew-pub in Idaho Springs that the Colorado Shepards go to quite a bit.  I like the location. I like their story. I like their food. I like their beer. Additionally, they have the best AHA pub discount out of all the places I've used my discount so far.  We end up there for lunch quite a bit after spending the morning in or around Idaho Springs. Quite often, we plan return trips from the mountains so that we end up by Idaho Springs around lunch time as well.

Recently, Tommyknocker Brewery significantly updated their website. I think the new site looks much better than the old one. They also updated the look of their graphics for logos, packaging, etc. Personally, I thought the old logo and other graphics were great, but I will probably get used to the new look.

According to their web-site, they are expanding. That is good too.

But, to me, the best news is that they decided to make their Hop Strike Black IPA a regular member of their beer lineup. Last time I asked, the bartender I was talking to told me that it was just a seasonal and would not be around too much longer. I communicated my disapproval.  I told him that Hop Strike was the best beer they make. Apparently, he agreed and convinced the owners and / or brewers to keep it on tap permanently.  I'm sure all he had to tell them was "Hey ... Shep wants us to serve Hop Strike year-round".

Not only are they keeping the Hop Strike Black IPA as year-round brew, but they have started bottling and distributing it. Personally, I rarely buy Tommyknocker beers from a liquor store since I go to the pub so much, but it is nice to know I can get it if I want to "down here" in the metro area if I want to. And, in fact, when I saw some in the liquor store, I did grab a couple of bottles.

Yesterday, we decided to go to Idaho Springs and visit the Argo Mine and Mill. This gave me the opportunity to go to Tommyknocker and buy a hat with the "old" logo on it. Of course since we were there, we had lunch and I had a couple of beers.

Here the boys are in jail at the Argo mill.

Here the boys are at Tommyknocker Brew Pub.

Tyler thought it would be funny to steal my hat.

This is some random pirate who made his way into our house.

Sunday (after coming to terms with the fact that we had not been raptured), the Beer Model and I kegged up her Summer Lovin' American Wheat Ale. We had over 88% attenuation, which means the beer is almost 6% ABV. That is a bit higher than we were shooting for, but the sample tasted pretty much exactly how I had expected it to taste. It is light with just a touch of citrus flavor from the orange peal and coriander.

We are force-carbonating it right now at about 31 psi. Its carb level should be a bit higher than my first keg. Tracy is hoping to share this with her family when they come to visit in July. I'm a little afraid that if that is the goal, we should have brewed it a bit later. We'll see if it lasts.