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City Star Brewing Releases Biggest Beer of the Year

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City Star Brewing Releases Biggest Beer of the Year
Outlaw Whiskey Barrel Aged Imperial Stout

The Berthoud, Colorado brewery’s biggest annual beer release of the year, Outlaw, will be unleashed this weekend.  The 2022 vintage of this imperial stout was aged 1 year in Deerhammer Whiskey oak barrels and weighs in at a whopping 12.7% ABV. Flavors of rich chocolate, dark dried fruit, oak, vanilla and of course American whiskey. A rich and creamy mouthfeel leaves you lingering for another pour.

Outlaw will be available on tap for sampling starting at noon on Saturday, February 5th. 400 wax dipped 22oz bottles will be for sale in the taproom ($20/each with a 12 bottle limit per person).

City Star’s Barrel Aging Program
City Star’s Zoller Barrel House is home to 48 oak barrels from wineries and distilleries near and fear. Each barrel is branded with a number for tracking barrel and beer history along with tasting notes. Stainless nails are pulled every 3-6 months to sample the barrel’s contents. The room separates clean and sour barrels. Most barrels age one or two clean beers and then are re-purposed as sour barrels.  Occasionally barrels are retired from City Star, but the original barrels #1 and #2, first filled in 2014, are still in-use as some of the preferred City Star sour barrels.

The Zoller Barrel House building was constructed in the early 1900’s. Its current name pays homage to a piece of its history: immigrant Jake Zoller operated the Zoller Shoe Shop in the space from the 1930’s to 1980’s. In 2014 John and Whitney Way purchased the property and remodeled the building to accommodate stacked barrels along each of the long walls. Radiant floor heat was installed to facilitate beer aging and complex sour development year round.

Winter Solstice at City Star

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Widow MakerA celebration of the shortest day and the darkest beer. 
This weekend, City Star Brewing celebrates the Winter Solstice, the darkest day of the year 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 toasted coconut and vanilla 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.

Celebrate the Solstice in style with a flower crowns handmade by local florist, The Flower Gypsy. Pre-order yours online here and pickup at the taproom. We’re also adding a little magic to all bottle orders for the weekend! When you purchase any bottle of Widow Maker we’ll add in Flying Wish Paper. In spirit of looking forward to the changing of seasons and the return of the light we invite you to write down your hopes and wishes for the coming year and light the paper to watch it fly and disappear into the air!

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 welcoming the return of the light with good friends and great beer!

Taproom Release: Widow Maker Imperial Stout

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A winter favorite returns! Our darkest beer for the darkest day of the year. This Imperial Stout will be available on draft with original, coconut coffee, and vanilla variants. Commemorative glasses available for purchase in taproom while supplies last. Grab your stouts to-go in a mixed 4-pack or single can option.

Winter Solstice Party

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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.

City Star Releases Biggest Beer Yet

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For Immediate Release:
City Star Brewing Releases Biggest Beer yet: Outlaw Whisky Barrel Aged Imperial Stout, weighing in at 14% abv.

The latest in the City Star Zoller Barrel Aged Series will be released in the City Star taproom Saturday, February 2nd, Outlaw. The 2019 vintage of this imperial stout was aged 1 year in Spirit Hound Distillers whisky oak barrels and weighs in at a whopping 14% abv. Flavors of rich chocolate, toffee, dark dried fruit, oak, vanilla and of course American whiskey. A rich and creamy mouthfeel leaves you lingering for another pour.

A limited supply of orange and vanilla Outlaw variants will be available in bottles for purchase and sampling on Saturday only. Heirloom navel oranges were zested and soaked in Gran Marnier to infuse Outlaw for about 100 bottles. The vanilla variant features a brewhouse made tincture of Madagascar vanilla beans to feature in about 100 bottles.

Outlaw: $18/22oz bottle, $9/10oz on draft, $3.50/4oz tasters (tax included in prices)
Outlaw + Orange: $20/22oz bottle (6 bottle limit), Saturday only: $10/10oz and $4/4oz
Outlaw + Vanilla: $20/22oz bottle (6 bottle limit), Saturday only: $10/10oz and $4/4oz

Catch a glimpse of City Star’s labor intensive bottling process in action early in the day during the release. Interested in 2017 Outlaw? There will be a few bottles in the taproom for some vertical tasting fun!

Beer Release: Outlaw

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The 2024 vintage of City Star’s Outlaw Imperial Stout spent one year doing time in Leopold Bros bourbon whiskey oak barrels. This big beer features flavors of dark chocolate, toffee, dark fruit, oak, vanilla and of course American whiskey. Each bottle is dipped in wax and hand stamped with the City Star Brewing seal.

1 case limit per person, online ordering opens Friday morning, February 2nd at citystarpickup.com.

Winter Solstice Party

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Join us for a special celebration on the shortest day of the year 12-9pm!

  • We will be releasing our darkest beer of the year… Widow Maker imperial stout with vanilla, coconut, and Dark Heart Coffee variants. 
  • 2024 commemorative glasses. 
  • Hand made flower crowns and pop-up shop from the Bloem Beautiful 
  • Tarot and palm readings
  • Permanent jewelry
  • Hair tinsel
  • Live music 6-8:30pm with Joe Kuckla & David Richey
  • Food Truck 12-8pm: Ciao Mobile Pizza
  • Stay tuned for more to come!

Beer Release: Widow Maker

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In honor of the darkest day of the year, we are tapping our darkest beer of the year… Widow Maker.
 
Widow Maker is an imperial oatmeal stout with rich, sweet roasted malt and dark fruit aroma and flavor. Chocolate notes and a creamy mouthfeel. Rings in at 10.5% ABV…
 
We will also be offering a Solstice Flight for the event featuring variants of Widow Maker: tbd

City Star’s Darkest Beer for the Darkest Day of the Year

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As the sun hangs lower in the sky each day City Star head brewer John Way tracks how far it shines inside through the taproom’s new huge south facing windows. Solar noon is celebrated daily and well known by all those who work in the brew house mid-day with John. Fascinated by the Winter Solstice John Way originally crafted Widow Maker, his darkest beer of the year, with the darkest day of the year in mind. The sun won’t be shining tomorrow during the Winter Solstice (yay snow!) but Widow Maker will be as it flows from the taps. At 2pm Widow Maker Imperial Stout will be released on draft and in 22oz bottles, side by side with French Roast Widow Maker and Vanilla Bean Widow Maker. Bottles will be for sale at $12-15/bottle with a 1 case limit per person of each beer. 10oz pours, tasters, and flights of all three imperial stouts will be available to enjoy in the taproom.

More about the beers…
Widow Maker is a colossal Imperial Stout. This nod to the Winter Solstice boasts a big, bold and complex flavor profile of dark roasted malt, chocolate and dark fruit. Smooth, rich and ready to sip and savor.

The French Roast variant of Widow Maker Imperial Stout is infused with Denver based Dazbog’s French Roast coffee. Two pounds of coarse ground coffee per barrel are added to the conditioned beer for a robust 24 hour cold brew. Bold coffee mingles with the imperial stout’s dark roasted malt, chocolate and dark fruit flavors. Not for the faint hearted. Caffeine included.

The Vanilla Bean variant of Widow Maker Imperial Stout is infused with organic Bourbon vanilla beans from Madagascar. The conditioned beer is dosed with a tincture made in house of the scraped vanilla pods and tiny seeds. Sweet, dark roasted malt, chocolate and dark fruit notes showcase the delicate vanilla flavor and aroma.

To date City Star Brewing has only bottled barrel aged beers. The bottle release of Widow Maker is the brewery’s first non-barrel aged beer to be packaged. As supply is very limited bottles of Widow Maker and variants will only be sold out of the downtown Berthoud taproom. More specialty bottle releases can be expected in 2018.

Cheers to darker beers and longer days!

New in brew: A stout worth saving article in Boulder Weekly

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City Star releases the 2017 Outlaw Imperial Stout in bottles

By Michael J. Casey – November 2, 2017
Most savvy beer drinkers will tell you the same thing: The fresher the better. While true for the vast majority of American lagers and ales, some beers do benefit from a pit stop in a barrel and a little lag time in the bottle. It takes a little patience and some experimentation, but Whitney Way, co-owner of City Star Brewery, says she is enjoying “digging into the barrel-aged side of craft beer.”

Located in Berthoud and operating with a 3.5-barrel brewing system, City Star began playing around with barrel-aged beers in 2012 — it was a raspberry brown ale aged in a cabernet sauvignon barrel. It soon started bottling barrel-aged concoctions, starting with Outlaw, an imperial stout aged in whiskey barrels from Breckenridge Distillery.

“The response was overwhelming,” Way says. “Since then, we’ve been releasing a barrel-aged beer in bottles ever two to three months.”

If the response was overwhelming for the 2015 Outlaw, then City Star’s latest bottling, the 2017 Outlaw Imperial Stout, ought to garner even more enthusiastic acclaim. Aged in Heaven Hill Kentucky Bourbon barrels for 14–18 months, the Outlaw is loaded with dark chocolate, dried red fruit, black strap molasses, vanilla and plenty of boozy bourbon. It’s thick and rich, but drink it slow; at 12.75 percent alcohol by volume (ABV), the Outlaw packs one hell of a wallop.

“It was brewed to be a high-ABV imperial stout, brewed for those barrels,” Way explains. “In barrels, there is a little bit of evaporation that occurs, especially when you’re keeping beer in there for over a year.”

Not too mention the residual liquor absorbed by the barrels.

“We like to use barrels that are still pretty wet,” Way continues. “We really like the flavor [it] provides.”

The aroma of bourbon whiskey greets you once you chip through the black wax sealing Outlaw’s bottle cap and pry the beast open. It’ll come out swinging, but give it a minute or five to open up in the glass and let the air smooth out those edges — a solid indication the brew will only improve over time.

“This particular beer will definitely age well,” Way says. “We’ve had several different people who had a 2015 [Outlaw] and are drinking them side-by-side with the 2017 now. [They say] right now is the sweet spot for 2015.”

Do an Outlaw side-by-side comparison and you’ll taste what can be achieved by cellaring: the aggressiveness and heat diminish while the flavors deepen into a mellow, nuanced taste.

“That’s kind of the beauty of aging those big imperial stouts,” Way says. “A lot of those key flavors hang out and the beers just improve over time.”

Twenty-two-ounce bottles of 2017 Outlaw Imperial Stout can be acquired at City Star for $18. Grab one for the holidays and one for the cellar; 2019 will be here before you know it.

Original article source: http://www.boulderweekly.com/cuisine/new-brew-stout-worth-saving/

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