Collaboration Fest, Denver's Best Craft Beer Festival

Collaboration Fest comes to Denver for the sixth time in March 2019 photo by Jerome Shaw 

Are you looking for one of the best beer festivals in the country?  Look in Denver on March 16th from 3-6pm at the downtown Hyatt Regency. Collaboration Fest will be back for its sixth year pouring 100 beers brewed from collaborations between 200 breweries.

Cheers to Collaboration Fest - the can't miss beer festival of the year   photo by Jerome Shaw 

Collaboration Fest is an intimate craft beer experience much more approachable than larger beer festivals like the Great American Beer Festival (GABF) or even Big Beers, Belgians and Barleywines Festival (BBBBF.) But just like BBBBF there are some incredible big chewy beers for you to sample.  If you love Imperial Stouts, Double IPAs and beers that run over 10%ABV you’ll love Collaboration Fest.  The tickets https://www.collaborationfest.com/2019-ticketing are priced at $65 for the Collaborator Ticket and $85 for the Connoisseur Ticket (early access at 2 PM)

Collaboration Fest at the Downtown Denver Hyatt Regency  photo by Jerome Shaw

This festival is a chance to expanse your style-education and pushes the boundaries of what you regularly drink.  You’ll find beers that defy classification and beers that expand the definition of beer.  There are also beers that bring together two breweries and two beer styles along with what seem to be familiar beers but they often have a bit of a twist.

The brewers from CO-Brew are just one of 200 brewers to participate in Collaboration Fest    photo by Jerome Shaw 

If you make only one beer festival this year make it the Collaboration Fest!

Collaboration Fest is a chance to try new beers - this is a Grapefruit Gose   photo by Jerome Shaw 

Here are a few of the collaborations and beers that will be presented:

Something Brewery & Colorado Plus Brew Pub   Avocado Beer

Little Machine Beer & Joyride Brewing Company  Peanut Butter Jelly (Blend) Concept

4 Hands Brewery & Left Hand Brewing Company  Barrel-Aged Imperial Milk Stout with Boysenberry

Jagged Mountain Craft Brewery & 105 West Brewing Company  Rum Barrel Aged Imperial Ice Cream Old Ale

14er Brewing Company & Eddyline Brewery  Hazy IPA

Odell Brewing - RiNo Brewhouse & Brewability Lab  Mango Coconut Gose

Vail Brewing Company & Lone Pine Brewery  Brut IPA

Liquid Mechanics Brewing & Bottle Logic   BA Barleywine

Tivoli Brewing Company & Grist Brewing Company & Root Shoot Malting  Juicy, Hazy, Milkshake Double IPA with Guava

Crystal Springs Brewing Company & White Labs Brewing Company  Kumquat Rye Sour

Dead Hippie Brewing & Twisted Vine Brewery  Barrel-Aged Honey Ale

300 Suns Brewing & Gemini Beer Company  Imperial Brown Ale

Strange Craft Beer Company & Freetail Brewing Company  Ancho Chili, Bitter Orange, and Lemongrass IPA

Funkwerks & Reuben's Brews  Barrel-Aged Brett Saison with Cherries

Jameson & Revolution Brewing  Nitro Vanilla Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout

El Rancho Brewing Company & Barrier Brewing   Pina Colada Milkshake IPA

Dueces Wild Brewery & Brass Brewing Company & Cerberus Brewing Company  Imperial IPL

A full list of beers here.

Collaboration Fest PhotoBlog

Good food, good beer, and good friends at the Denver Collaboration Fest   photo by Jerome Shaw 

TICKET INFORMATION

COLLABORATOR TICKET - EARLY BIRD $55.00  +$6.00
LIMITED QUANTITY AVAILABLE
- UNLIMITED BEER TASTINGS
- COMMEMORATIVE GLASS
- NEW: COMMEMORATIVE PIN

COLLABORATOR TICKET $65.00  +$7.00
- UNLIMITED BEER TASTINGS
- COMMEMORATIVE GLASS
- NEW: COMMEMORATIVE PIN

CONNOISSEUR TICKET (2PM ACCESS) - EARLY BIRD $80.00  +$8.00
LIMITED QUANTITY AVAILABLE
- 1-HOUR EARLY ACCESS (2 PM)
- UNLIMITED BEER TASTINGS
- COMMEMORATIVE GLASS
- NEW: COMMEMORATIVE PIN
- NEW: BEANIE
- MEAL TICKET VOUCHER

CONNOISSEUR TICKET (2PM ACCESS) $85.00  +$8.00
- 1-HOUR EARLY ACCESS (2 PM)
- UNLIMITED BEER TASTINGS
- COMMEMORATIVE GLASS
- NEW: COMMEMORATIVE PIN
- NEW: BEANIE
- MEAL TICKET VOUCHER

Collaboration Fest at the Denver Hyatt Regency Hotel March 16, 2019   photo by Jerome Shaw 

Denver, Dallas, Southwest Airlines and Ritz Crackers appetizers, a virtual culinary travel experience.

Jerome at the Stockyards in Fort Worth, Texas.
A grandson and a grand dog make
Dallas /Fort Worth a favorite destination.

Were are doing virtual culinary travel this month.  I'm working with my daughter, Tannith on a project creating recipes for Ritz Cracker appetizers based upon my home base and Southwest Airlines destination,  Denver, Colorado and my daughter's home city and Southwest Airlines destination Dallas / Fort Worth, Texas.

Tannith (her blog is FranklyTannith) and I collaborated on the creation of the recipes.  Well,  I should say Tannith created the recipes with just modest input from me.

It seemed natural to tailor the two recipes to our respective cities since we both love these two travel destinations. I travel from Colorado to Texas several times a year to visit my daughter's family. And, every once in awhile I manage to cajole Tannith into bringing her family back to Colorado.

We'll be testing out our recipes and having a little party in Texas later this month.

You can create your cracker creation / travel destination combo.

Ritz and Southwest Airlines want to know where you want to go and how you enjoy Ritz Crackers. One lucky winner will win $5,000 in Southwest gift cards! Just Tweet or Instagram your response along with #LuvRitzSweepstakes to be entered. (Example: "I want to go to #Dallas for the holidays and enjoy Ritz Mint Thins #LuvRitzSweepstakes")

So get on Twitter and/or Instagram and make your entry and please visit http://luvritz.com/  to vote for "The Roaring Fork" and "The Dirty South."  There is a search box to locate them - just enter Dirty or Roaring to locate our cracker creations.

You can vote every 24 hours - so vote early and often!



Here are our recipes:

For Denver, Colorado our cracker creation is called:
"The Roaring Fork”

"The Roaring Fork" our Ritz Cracker appetizer
in honor of the Southwest Airlines destination
Denver, Colorado

Ingredients:
1 cup shredded chicken (directions for shredded chicken will be below)
1 can diced green chilies
1/4 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon of your favorite hot sauce
1-2 tablespoons milk
Salt and pepper
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chopped cilantro

Begin by cooking 1 large chicken breast in 2 cups of chicken stock in a medium sauce pan. Season with half the cumin and salt and pepper.
Boil covered for 20 minutes or until chicken is tender when poked with a fork.

Dicing the green chiles

Move chicken to a bowl and shred. A stand or hand mixer is also a great way to shred your chicken quickly. However if you don't have that available two forks and some determination will get the job done.

You can purchase prepared shredded chicken at most groceries.

Add green chilies, salt and pepper and the rest of the cumin. Toss to combine.

In another bowl combine sour cream, hot sauce and milk. Mix into a nice creamy sauce. Set aside while you chop your cilantro.

Now it's time to assemble your crackers. Place crackers on a plate and place a small amount of the chicken mixture on to each cracker. Drizzle with sauce and top with a garnish of cilantro.

Now imagine you're in the Mile High City enjoying a few Roaring Forks with some of Denver’s great craft beers.  I highly recommend a couple ales from Avery Brewing’s Barrel-Aged Series: Rumpkin Imperial Pumpkin Ale and 5 Monks, a Belgian-Style Quintupel Ale.

For Dallas, Texas we created "The Dirty South"

"The Dirty South" our Ritz Cracker appetizer in honor of the
Southwest Airlines destination, Dallas, Texas

Ingredients:
1 cup farm rich pulled pork (can be purchased at Walmart and most grocery stores.)
1/3 cup BBQ sauce of your choice
1 bag red Cabbage mix
1/3 -1/2 cup Mayonnaise
1 TBSP Vinegar
2 TBSP Sugar
Salt and pepper

Start by making your coleslaw. Mix the mayo, vinegar, and sugar into a bowl until well combined. Add salt and pepper and mix in shredded cabbage. Set aside.

Follow package directions for heating pulled pork.

To assemble set crackers on plate and add a small amount of meat to each cracker. Top with cole slaw and drizzle with BBQ sauce.

I recommend the Ritz Bacon Crackers for this savory and spicy delight. Serve with a crushingly cold Dr Pepper or a jigger of Deep Eddy Ruby Red Grapefruit Vodka or Deep Eddy Sweet Tea Vodka over cracked ice.






This post is sponsored by Ritz Crackers and Southwest Airlines.

Everything Big Gets Small Again: Nanobrewery Boom in Denver

Everything Big Gets Small Again: Nanobrewery Boom in Denver

Colorado's craft brewing industry has created some of the biggest fish in the microbrewery pond. The growth has catalyzed a brewing ecosystem, as the big fish have spawned many little fish. Nanobreweries are opening up in Denver at a very swift clip. But one question remains: What is a nano brewery?

The nano brewery motto might well be "go small or stay home." Stay home and drink the canned and bottled offerings of the top commercial and craft brewers, but if you want a truly unique experience, find a nano brewery near you.

Nanobreweries are creating tailor-made experiences for their customers by brewing small batches with special ingredients, revived brewing styles, and an experimental attitude.

"It takes big balls to always be brewing new beers," says Bryan Leavelle of Our Mutual Friend Malt & Brew in Five Points.

But there's an upside, adds Leavelle. "Not being tied to a huge inventory of beer is one of the great things about small-batch brewing. Your mistakes cost you less. The difficulty is finding a balance between new beers and the beers your regulars like to drink."

Looking for other things to do in Denver in Winter ?  << Here

Read the full story and see the slide show at Confluence-Denver

Jerome has written articles & columns for  Johnny Jet, Recommend Magazine, Boulder Planet, and Encompass Magazine.

Photography and text copyright Jerome Shaw 2013 / www.jeromeshaw.com. This article and photos may not be reposted or reproduced without prior written permission from the author.

Contact Jerome on Twitter at @JeromeShaw or find him on Facebook

Amaluna & Cirque du Soleil come to Denver - a return to the circus

Cirque du Soleil workers prepare to raise one of the
sections of the Big Top in preparation for Amaluna's
run in Denver. Photo: Jerome Shaw

by Jerome Shaw  Jerome on Google+

The smell of wet canvas, the sight of muscular men hauling ropes and the sounds of animals that aren’t normally found in Southwest Nebraska are just a few of the odd memories that came flooding back to me last week.

I was invited to watch the blue and yellow Big Top being raised in the parking lot south of the Pepsi Center in preparation for Cirque du Soleil’s traveling show Amaluna, which opens in Denver July 18th.

My behind-the-scenes peek into what goes into preparing for a Cirque show gave me more than just insight into how many people and how much stuff it takes to create one of these high-flying acts.  For a few moments I was transported back to when I was a child and a traveling circus would come to visit my small town.  They didn’t come every summer and long before I was grown they stopped visiting such hamlets as mine.  I still got go to the circus but we had to travel 30-40 miles to see it.  Lost was the opportunity to hangout in the background and watch the circus being setup, which, for 8-9 year old boy, was nearly as thrilling as the performance itself.  

Gone from today’s experience is the canvas, there is not an elephant in sight and no children peer eagerly as forklifts and workers rush about.  I am here now as an adult watching the setup for a modern day, “slick” circus. Cirque du Soleil has gone from being a band of 20 street performers without so much a musty old tent in 1984 to a company based in Quebec, Canada with 5,000 employees (1300 of which are performers.) 

The Bit Top is raised but that is just on of the early
milestones in readying the Cirque du Soleil village for
Amaluna's Denver run. Photo Jerome Shaw

While much has changes since the more traditional traveling circuses visited my tiny village it still takes a bunch of strong people (more than 60) and lots of cables, ropes and 100 support poles to create the space for the performers of Amanluna.  The 19 meter high Big Top takes 8 days to erect (2 days to tear down) with its 4 − 25 meter masts it seats over 2,600 people. The tent is now made of high tech fabric with a interior structural design that can withstand winds of nearly 75 miles per hour. 

But the excitement preparing for the big show is still here.  And, once the last section of the Big Top was pushed up and the stabilizing poles in place a cheer when up among the workers.

Amaluna opens tonight in Denver and runs through August 25th  I’ll be there tonight and I’ll feel a special sense of connection to this Cirque du Soleil having had the chance to recapture my youth and see what goes into the making of a modern circus.

for more information on Amaluna, performance times and tickets please visit http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/shows/amaluna/tickets/denver.aspx

Watch for my review of Amaluna in the next couple of days. 

Photos and text copyright Jerome Shaw 2013 / www.JeromeShaw.com

you can contact Jerome on Facebook 

Looking for a job in the Snow Sports Industry? SnowShow ShmoozaPalooza wants you!

The SIA SnowShow at the Denver Convention Center.
Photo copyright Jerome Shaw / http://www.jeromeshaw.com/

The SnowShow is an event closed to the general public but on Friday from 10AM to 6 PM SIA SnowShow hosts an event for those interested in getting their foot in the door in the Snow Sports Industry.

ShmoozaPalooza is your ticket to future SnowShows and a job in the Snow Sports industry. Come on over to the Korbel Ballroom at the Denver Convention Center to talk to the Ski, Snowboard & Winter Sports companies that are reviewing resumes.

Companies particiapating in ShmoozaPalooza as of 01/07/11
BOA Technology
Copper Mountain
Manic Snow
Moment Skis
Oakley
Recon Instruments
Skullcandy
Snowboard Colorado Magazine
Steamboat
Under Armor
Winter Park

*The SIA Snow Show is only open to the industry trade, IS NOT OPEN to the public. Only the Shmooz is open to the public.

More information on the show

More information on the job fair

other stories on Travel Boldly about the SnowShow

Images & Text copyright Jerome Shaw / http://www.jeromeshaw.com/ 

on Twitter at @JeromeShaw & @DenverTwitR

The SIA SnowShow opens to a chorus of cowbells

The SIA SnowShow starts with a clang. Governor John Hickenlooper & other notables sound the opening bell of the Snowsports convention.

Governor John Hickenloper led a rousing Colorado rendition of the cowbell ski cheer to open the 2nd year of the Snowsports Industries of America SnowShow here in Denver. After the sounding of the cowbells 19,000 delegates headed up the stairs and escalators to the show. SnowShow began an 11 year run in Denver last year. While the show is not open to the public several events surrounding the trade show are open to the pubic. Most notable is a job fair on Friday billed as ShmoozaPalooza

More information on SnowShow

http://siasnowshow.snowsports.org/
More information on the job fair
http://siasnowshow.snowsports.org/ShowInformation/JobFairNetworkingEvent/

DenverBigAir hits Denver January 25th & 26th

 

DenverBigAir ramp in Denver's Civic Center park copyright Jerome Shaw 2011 DenverBigAir ramp in Denver's Civic Center park copyright Jerome Shaw 2011

The ramp is built – the snow is made and on January 25^th  & 26^th, 2011 skiers and snowboarders will start flying off the 106 foot jump located in Denver's Civic Center Park.   DenverBigAir is part of SnowFest and one of the public events that surrounds SIA SnowShow.  Concerts by Switchfoot and One Republic are also part of the two-night event.

Tickets for DenverBigAir are $45 for single sessions and $80 for both sessions. 

More info on Denver Big Air available on line at www.denversports.org/denverbigair.html

More info on SnowFest Denver events available at www.milehighsnowfest.com

 

Schedule of events:

January 25th, 2011 - Nature Valley Big Air Challenge ·               3:30pm Doors open to the public ·               4:00pm  Food and beverage open to the public ·               5:00pm-5:45pm Battle of the Brands Ski Big Air Practice ·               6:00pm-8:00pm Battle of the Brands Ski Big Air Exhibition ·               8:15pm Award ceremony ·               8:30 - 9:15pm Concert by Switchfoot

January 26th, 2011 - LG FIS Snowboard World Cup ·               3:30pm Doors open to the public ·               4:00pm Food and beverage open to the public ·               4:00pm – 5:15pm Snowboard Big Air Heat 1 Qualification ·               5:15pm – 6:15pm Snowboard Big Air Heat 2 Practice ·               6:15pm – 7:30pm Snowboard Big Air Heat 2 Qualification ·               7:40pm-8:30pm Concert by One Republic ·               8:10pm-8:40pm Big Air Finalist Practice ·               8:40pm-9:00pm Finals Jump #1 ·               9:00pm-9:20pm Finals Jump #2 ·               9:20pm-9:45pm Finals Jump #3 ·               10:00pm-10:10pm Awards

 Dates

January 25^th 2011 – Nature Valley Ski Big Air Challenge

Time: 5 - 9 p.m.  Doors open at 3:30

January 26^th 2011 – LG FIS Snowboard Big Air presented by Sprint

Time: 5 - 10 p.m.  Doors open at 3:30

Civic Center Park (Broadway & Colfax)

Denver, Co 80202

images and text copyright Jerome Shaw 2011 / www.jeromeshaw.com

find me on Twitter at @JeromeShaw or @DenverTwitR

Free beer Denver Beer Fest at City O' City

Denver Beer Fest kicks off at City O' City with 10 days of beer.

City O' City has special punch card for sale that entitles the purchaser to a Denver Beer Week T-shirt, a City O' City 10-ounce beer glass, and twenty 10-ounce pours of their draft beer at 2 per day during Denver Beer Fest September 10-19, 2010.  You do the math there is some free beer in there for sure.

City O' City is a hipster chic coffeehouse/bar on 13th Avenue and Sherman Street that offers a unique menu including thin crust vegetarian and vegan pizzas.  They also have some of the city's best bake goods from  the next door Watercourse bakery.

City O' City
206 East 13th Avenue
Denver, CO 80203
303/831.6443
www.cityocitydenver.com



Read my other stories on Examiner
text and photo copyright Jerome Shaw 2010 / www.jeromeshaw.com

 

  


The Simpsons Duff Beer Logo T-Shirt 3XL Size : XXX-Large
Entree Entree lifestyle fml beer pong Black,T-shirts for Men, Large,BlackEntree Entree lifestyle FML beer pong navy,T-shirts for Men, Extra Large,Navy
OKTOBERFEST - RECORDED LIVE! - vinyl lp. ALL THE EXCITEMENT AND FUN OF THE FAMOUS OCTOBER GERMAN BEER FESTIVAL