Is it ever too early to enjoy a beer that looks like motor oil? No. I settled this question years ago when I learned that my favorite Brew Pub was opening at 7am for breakfast. I promptly arrived at 7 and ordered a 9% Oatmeal Stout–you know, breakfast beer. It went down very nicely.
Sunday morning, sometime barely after 11am, my lovely travel companion and I made our way to Breckenridge Brewing Company one of the highest Breweries in the US by elevation at about 9600 feet above sea level.
A high elevation deserves a high alcohol content. I promptly ordered the Two Planker–a double IPA at 8.9%. Who am I kidding–I always order the double or quadruple IPA or any extreme sounding beer. Beer is an artform and I love when microbreweries “explore the space” rather than play it safe and create something the “tastes like bud light.” By the way, one of my biggest pet peeves is when nervous travelers enter a brewery unsure of what to order, many of them ask that very question–“Do you have anything that tastes like Bud Light” so I know that the temptation is there to create a milquetoast malt for the masses.
We ordered the Nacho Fries and paid extra to add Jalapeños. Undoubtably one of the many added costs of ascending the mountain. The Fries were good but the portion was small (Shrink-flation?).
Breckenridge Brewery is definitely one of those places where the beer stands head and shoulders above the food and at 11:20 on Sunday morning, I’m ok with that.
Next I ordered “Sexy Motor Oil”. Did I mention that I’m a sucker for a catchy name in addition to a high alcohol content?
This is a beautiful beverage–a bourbon barrel aged oatmeal stout weighing in at 12%. But you wouldn’t have guessed that because it goes down so smooth. This is on a short list of my favorite stouts of all time.
If you’re ever ascending this mountaintop for a rocky mountain high, Breckenridge Brewery is worth a stop.
