Leave no Cogstone unturned
This weekend is the 8th anniversary for Cogstone Brewing here in Colorado Springs, who has quietly been cranking out stellar cream ales (and other styles) for close to a decade now.
In February of 2016, Cogstone Brewing launched in a small shopping center off of Academy Brewing, right in the heart of Colorado Springs.
Two years in, Cogstone nearly doubled in size as they expanded into the nextdoor space, and started raking in awards at major beer competitions. Since then, Cogstone has continued pumping out award-winning beers and served what may be a metric ton of duck fat fries over their U-shaped bar.
For a brewery that doesn’t have a traditional full-scale brewhouse, that’s a huge feat.
Now, what awards have they won? Cogstone’s Beet It Cream Ale got things started with a Bronze medal at the World Beer Cup in May 2018 and their ultra-unique Chips & Salsa Cream Ale added more bling to the wall with a Bronze in the Great American Beer Festival’s 2018 Experimental Beer category.
Since those awards, Cogstone has continued to produce high quality beer and food and I’ve loved catching up with their crew at festivals like Feast of Saint Arnold. If you haven’t been there, you’re definitely missing out (both the festival and Cogstone).
So, if you’re looking for something to do this weekend (or today), head over to Cogstone to say hi to Robert and the crew! The main party is Saturday, but today and tomorrow, guests will enjoy 8% off their tabs to commemorate eight years.
Saturday night starting at 6:30pm, Cogstone will have “Guys on Boxes” providing live music, and then if you’re still looking for a good time come Sunday, Cogstone will be watching some sort of sporting event with gold miners and Native Americans taking turns juggling an oblong leather ball.
It’s Stout Month
For the uninitiated, February is widely renowned as Stout Month, and many of our local area brewers are releasing fun stouts to help celebrate. Admittedly, I should have included this in last week’s newsletter, but I’m a little late to the game.
The big event is Red Leg’s weekly stout tappings, with new stouts available every Friday. They also are running “Stout Month Bingo” where you can get a stamp with a purchase of a pint…hopefully you’re more on top of things than I am, so you already have a stamp from last week.
Upcoming Red Leg Stouts are:
Feb 9: Salted Caramel Espresso
Feb 16: Thin Mint Stout
Feb 23: Snickerdoodle Stout
Around the rest of Colorado Springs:
Storybook Brewing tapped a small batch of Peanut Butter Stout recently, and will have a King Cake Stout out next week, along with a Chocolate Cherry Stout. Later on, they’ll have an Amburana and Barrel-aged Stouts on tap as well.
Batch Slapped still has a barrel-aged imperial stout available from their anniversary last weekend.
Pikes Peak Brewing is releasing Mexican Chocolate, Coffee and Cherry stouts soon.
Brass Brewing has their “Sing Second” Sweet Stout on tap and will be releasing a small batch of Chocolate Cherry stout and a Thin Mint stout soon.
Bell Brothers has a Thin Mint Stout on tap.
Wackadoo currently has a few stouts on tap, but nothing special for Stout Month.
There may be a bomber or two of Urban Animal’s anniversary Stout left…
Beer is for Lovers
With Valentine’s right around the corner, make sure you get your beer-themed plans figured out…here’s some of what I’ve seen that’s happening:
Cerberus Brewing is releasing their Devil in a Red Dress Cheesecake Sour for Valentine’s Day. Also, every day after 5pm between February 9th and 14th, you can get some special food items like a NY Strip, Chocolate Mousse Entremet, and a limited edition charcuterie board to pair with your sour beer.
OCC Brewing has a five-course French-inspired Valentine’s Day Beer Dinner planned at 6:30pm next Wednesday. The first course, pictured above, is beetroot puri shells filled with smoked oyster Ryewine mousse and champagne/tarragon/shallot jam, topped with charred grapes. Each course has a unique beer paired specifically with it. Tickets are $120 each. Menu here
FH Beerworks’ sister Whiskey House, NEAT is hosting a four course Prime Rib dinner on V Day. Tickets start at $85 here
That’s all for this week. Next week’s newsletter will come from NYC, as I’ll be there for work, so expect something out of the ordinary.
Cheers!
Ryan