Westminster Westin welcomes quenching collaborations again
As Tanner Hulse added the Chinook finishing hops on Feb. 23, 2024, the Horse & Dragon brewhouse was quiet, except for humming overhead lights. The tidy brewing floor was a bit livelier earlier that day though, as Hulse and fellow local brewers began the “Fort Collins Class of 2014” batch. The unique hoppy lager collaboration had a singular purpose and commemorated a professional milestone for three local craft beer brands.
The Class of 2014 idea was born in the summer of 2023, though its story began serendipitously a decade earlier. Tim Cochran, co-founder of Horse & Dragon, ignited the project in an email string sent across the ether to founders of two other Fort Collins breweries that opened in the fateful year of 2014: Dave Rosso of Snowbank and Kirk Lombardi at Zwei Brewing. Cochran suggested they design a beer for the annual Collaboration Fest to represent their respective brands’ journeys — aromatic, clean, bright in hue and richly dryhopped.
Hulse, Horse & Dragon’s head brewer, massaged the vision Cochran and his colleagues floated into a hoppy modern Italian Pilsner: Class of 2014. He grounded the celebratory beer on a light malt from another local craft enterprise that also opened in 2014 just down the street: Troubadour Malting.
Chris Schooley, Troubadour’s founder, embraced the idea of a modern throwback beer. Throughout the fall of 2023, he mused with Hulse about his malthouse’s artisanal grains, picking through aroma and Lovibond schedules until they arrived at a sweet spot with Troubadour’s Pevec as the solitary malt for the light-bodied three-brewery collaboration.
Troubadour’s proprietary Pilsner-style malt takes its name from the Czech word for songbird, and like a song, it delivered in a clear, bright voice with light honey and white grape flavors. “This malt is ‘craft’ itself,’” said Schooley, noting how small batch maltsters leverage temperature and moisture content to engage Maillard reactions and deepen the fruited flavors of barley and wheat malt, creating a delicate background against which brewers ply their art, ultimately yielding “craft” beer. “Successful brewers know their maltsters.”
Stories like that leading up to the Class of 2014 brew day at Horse & Dragon played out across the state, as Colorado Brewers Guild members prepared for the 2024 Collaboration Festival, held on March 30. Even the CBG board of directors met in February at Elevation Brewing in Poncha Springs (between runs at Monarch Ski Resort) to create the event’s “welcome” beer. The CBG board’s Helles lager, dubbed “Party Laps,” used a new Alora hop variety from Hopsteiner, Thunder Pilsner malt from Loveland-based Root Shoot Malting, and Propagate Yeast’s Weihenstephan strain.
The State’s largest celebration of locally-made craft beer collaborations returned to The Westin Westminster this year, where more than 180 craft breweries offered over 145 rare beers. Among those, the CBG board’s hop-forward Helles, bursting with peach, apricot, sweet melon and yuzu fruit aromatics; and the elegant Class of 2014 Pils, brightly finished with piney Centennial hop freshness.
The magic of “Collab Fest,” as it’s known in the industry, lies in the non-conformity of the beers presented that day. It opens the gates to brewers’ creativity as they join in experimentation and fill hotel ballrooms with one-ofa-kind, style-bending creations. Each beer also showcases artistic expression in bringing together two or more breweries’ methods, melding genius in liquid form.
As the din in The Westin ballrooms grew on March 30, patrons filing into the largest Collab Fest yet, the air charged with promise: brewers eager to show off imaginative exotic creations and attendees yearning to expand their palates. Seasoned aficionados, home and commercial brewers and first-time attendees mingled, sharing samples of Coconut Spiced Witbier, barrelaged darks, hoppy mix-culture sours and “hazy”-everything’s, exchanging tasting notes, smiles and good cheer. And once again, Collab Fest pulsed with the inspiration and skill that launched the craft beer revolution.
From forgotten styles to newage innovation, beer is an art form designed to be shared in its brewing and enjoyment.