City Star Brewing
Happy Mango IPA is a juicy American IPA is infused with pureed mango and dry hopped with Citra hops. Juicy, tropical and delicious!
Available on draft and in 16oz. cans.
Raise a pint in support of Colorado beer! $1 from each limited edition glass goes to Colorado Brewers Guild which is instrumental in keeping breweries operational.
Glass sales launch online the morning of Colorado Pint Day, Wednesday 4/7. $8 glass + first beer. Take your glass ‘to-go’ by picking up from citystarpickup.com and we’ll include a ‘free beer’ nickel inside.
City Star Brewing, Berthoud’s small town brewery is one of the first Colorado breweries to join the Craft Maltsters Guild. The Guild is a grassroots movement in today’s malting industry dedicated to promoting and sustaining the burgeoning craft malt tradition across North America. Small-batch, independent maltsters are coming together, in a rising tide to bring heart, diversity, relocalization, and excitement to the marketplace.
Joining the Craft Maltsters guild was originally inspired by City Star’s partnership with local malthouse, Root Shoot Malting. The two local businesses were brought together in 2016, when City Star crafted Local Yokel, all-Colorado ingredient pale ale that led City Star brewers to work with the then newly established Root Shoot Malting. The fifth generation farmers had just kilned their first batch of barley in their state-of-the-art malting facility. The Olander family had been growing quality barley for decades, but craft malting was a new venture. Since that first collaboration brew City Star has moved to use Root Shoot’s Genie Pale Malt as the base malt for all ales in addition to brewing with various specialty malts.
City Star is committed to craft and quality from grain to glass. This means an emphasis on quality ingredients and where they come from. The brewery is supporting local farmers and community plus using a quality product that incorporates the Northern Colorado terroir. City Star’s carbon footprint is lowered by using barley grown and malted right in its backyard.
Root Shoot is “Saving Farms One Beer at a Time” and City Star is proud to play its role. Frankly, brewing with craft malt is an easy business decision. City Star Brewing and the Root Shoot family have forged a strong friendship. Northern Colorado communities and the greater craft beer scene reap the benefits of this partnership. As one of Root Shoot’s first brewery partners, City Star is excited to support our local maltsters, the Craft Maltsters Guild, and the greater craft malt movement.
Professional Banjoist Chris Elliott (C-Bob) is arguably one of friendliest and finest banjo players on the bluegrass scene, a formidable finger-picking musician. In 2007 he swept the Colorado Bluegrass Competition scene, championing the RockyGrass Banjo Competition, RockyGrass Band Competition and 2007 Telluride Band Competition. C-Bob plays with local musician Geoff Union and his band Ragged Union. He’s also a former member of the acclaimed Spring Creek Bluegrass Band and Blue Canyon Boys.
This December 21st, the darkest day of the year, we celebrate the Winter Solstice at City Star Brewing with the release of our darkest beer of the year. Widow Maker is a colossal Imperial Stout, to be released on draft and in bottles alongside coconut and coffee decaf variants. This nod to the Winter Solstice boasts a big, bold and complex flavor profile. Smooth, rich and ready to sip and savor. Not for the faint hearted.
Happenings of this evening include free live music, henna tattoos, night sky telescope viewing with the Little Thompson Observatory, flower crowns, photo booth by Phobia Entertainment, Cirque Kitchen food truck, tarot card readings with Mary D’Agostino, and there will be a limited amount of commemorative glassware available.
The Solstice is a celebration of the return of the Light. It is indeed the twenty four hour period when the day-time or light is shortest and the night is longest, but the very next day is when the daytime starts to become longer! This brings hope and light for better things to come, along with our dreams, and hopes for love and all good things “coming to light”. Bringing out, love, inspiration and joy are always the basis of my readings, with positive insights, blessings and wisdom thrown in for good measure.
We look forward to hosting this second annual event and celebrating the return of the light with good friends, great beer and fun activities. Festivities begin at 6pm with free entry in our downtown Berthoud taproom.
Kick off Oktoberfest season at City Star!
Oktoberfest Release on draft and in 16oz can 4-packs. City Star’s festbier lager is brewed with German malt and noble hops. Moderate, elegant malt flavor and light hop character. Golden-copper hue. Easy drinking fall seasonal.
Join the coffee experts at Dark Heart Coffee to learn more about coffee and discuss coffee in brewing beer. Dark Heart’s specialty Coffee Bar in downtown Loveland features award winning Single Origin Coffees anchored by Coava Coffee Roasters while rotating Small Batch Roasters from around the World on Pour-Over and Whole Bean Retail.
Festbier Lager brewed with German malt and noble hops. Moderate, elegant malt flavor and light hop character. Golden-copper hue. Easy drinking fall seasonal. Lederhosen optional. On draft and in 16oz can 4-packs.
An Interview with Voyage Denver:
Whitney, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
City Star Brewing first opened its doors May 4th, 2012 after a year of construction and rehabilitation of the 100-year-old downtown Berthoud building. The taproom and brewery’s namesake is the City Star Barn livery stable, operated at the same location in the early 1900s.
Proprietors John and Whitney Way opened City Star, motivated by their passion for craft beer, community and creating meaningful experiences. Head brewer John Way was an avid home brewer with one year of packaging experience at Oskar Blues. He built the brewhouse, featuring a 3.5 barrel (100 gallons) direct fire brew system and two 7 barrel (200 gallons) fermentation tanks. The brewhouse has since grown to include 80 barrels worth of fermentation tanks, the addition of a whirlpool vessel, comprehensive glycol chilling system, installation of a second cold room, and an oak barrel aging program.
City Star Brewing was awarded Gold and Bronze medals at the world renown, Great American Beer Festival in 2013 and a Bronze medal in 2015. An extensive taproom expansion was completed in 2017, opening an outdoor beer garden and barrel house that doubles as an event space.
Constant improvement on the experience front has likely allowed City Star Brewing to expand and further provide their loyal consumer base everything they love and desire. Growth is the obvious direction in which a business, whether it’s a brewhouse or a corporate service company, aims to move towards. Gathering the right information from customers via a meaningful questionnaire or two on a regular basis, and more importantly, acting on it, can help foster better business relationships, in turn benefiting the business and enabling it to grow.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Opening and operating City Star has been a more than a worthwhile journey. The adventure has not been without its ups and downs and continual navigation of the tumultuous craft beer scene. Day to day struggles include (though are not limited to) frozen water pipes, refrigeration malfunctioning (over and over again), maintaining relationships with vendors, food trucks, musicians, staff, town, neighbors, customers, etc. Navigating actively running City Star as a married couple (especially during construction) has been a struggle at times. From every struggle we learn and grow making the business stronger as well as ourselves personally.
City Star Brewing – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
City Star is a taproom centric brewery with a focus on community and producing quality craft beer. Our taps line-up features 5 mainstay approachable beers and 5 rotating specialty beers. There is always a beer for everyone on tap, including our 3 Great American Beer Festival medal winning beers. With our relatively small brew system, we are afforded flexibility in regularly releasing new specialty and experimental beers.
John and Whitney are both very hands-on in the business, creating an inspired culture for staff and great experiences for guests. We are proud of all the details in our space that we crafted with love (and blood, sweat, and tears!)… from the oak barrel chandelier to the re-purposed wood tables, and hops in the beer garden.
As a keystone business in our small town City Star has helped revitalize the downtown business district. We regularly donate beer, merchandise, funds, and time to support local causes. City Star Brewing hosts the annual Hops and Harley festival in Berthoud, attracting 3,000+ festival goers to a fantastic community event that supports local non-profit Harley’s Dream. In 2019 the event raised $38,000 to support the organization’s mission to end puppy mills.
City Star also has a strong connection with the Berthoud Historical Society, sponsoring their events as well as raising funds for them at City Star’s Annual Flap Jack Day. In 2015, we brought back this Berthoud Labor Day tradition from the 50s. Now it’s an annual throwback event featuring vintage cars, Flap Jack Queen contest, 50’s dress, breakfast beer flights, and 1500+ free flapjacks.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
Success for us is happiness… for us, our family, staff, and customers. Markers range from online reviews to nice notes left behind, from staff interest in our business to simple laughter.
We’re doing this interview on our way from a two-week road trip. While gone our staff went above and beyond to take care of the brewery and taproom. Regular customers sent photos and ideas (and mowed our lawn!). This is a success. ?
Original article: http://voyagedenver.com/interview/meet-whitney-way-city-star-brewing-north-denver-berthoud-colorado/
Happy Mango IPA is an American IPA is infused with pureed mango (12lbs per barrel) and dry hopped with Citra hops. Juicy, tropical and delicious! Happy Mango IPA pays homage to our building’s owners (Dan and Rudi Taylor) and their business, www.happymangobeads.com. Back in the day City Star co-owner Whitney Way managed Happy Mango Beads. Ask her about beads next time you catch her in the taproom 😉