Outer Range Brewing founders Lee and Emily Cleghorn opened the brewery in late December of 2016, but it wasn’t their first rodeo — the two met at a home brewing party in Colorado Springs where they were both serving in the Army; Lee was a 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne) Detachment commander. Lee had spent his youth in the beer mecca of Brussels, where he developed a palate refined beyond his years. After moving to the US to attend college, he quickly learned he’d need to brew his own beer if he wanted to enjoy those styles again. Fast forward several years, including many homebrew batches of Belgian-style beers and hazy IPAs, Lee and Emily marry, have a daughter, and after Lee’s third deployment overseas, decided to attend the American Brewers Guild Brewing Science and Engineering school in Vermont to pursue their dream of opening a brewery in the place they loved most — the Colorado Rockies, specifically, Frisco. Fast forward several years again, Outer Range is now brewing in France. Situated at the base of Mont Blanc in Sallanches, France, Outer Range Alps serves as a mountain brewery catering to the local community and nearby resorts such as Chamonix, Megève, and Saint-Gervais-les-Bains. Embodying the same spirit as its original Frisco location, Sallanches is surrounded by iconic mountains and communities deeply rooted in outdoor recreation. Today, Peaks & Pints presents an in-house, all-draft flight of Outer Range beers — a flight we’re calling Peaks and Pints Beer Flight: Outer Range Brewing.
Peaks and Pints Beer Flight: Outer Range Brewing
Outer Range Change of Scenery
6.1% ABV
“We envisioned our next brewing frontier as a catalyst for our growth, a place that would transform us into an international mountain brewery,” said Lee Cleghorn, the visionary co-founder and head brewer of Outer Range Brewing, in a press release. “Guided by our mantra, ‘Leave the Life Below,’ we sought a location that embodied our values on a grand scale, and what better stage than the birthplace of après ski itself — the French Alps. …” Well, that’s a change in scenery. This Change of Scenery is a hazy IPA brewed with Mosaic, Mosaic Cryo, and Columbus hops for notes of blueberry, apricot, and pineapple.
Outer Range Cosmic Sauce
6.4% ABV
This West Coast IPA is brewed with Citra, Mosaic, and Cascade hops. Outer Range uses a lot of Mosaic with their Citra because Mosaic can be tricky offering either blueberry, dark fruit, or dank and herbal notes. It can really change the perception of the beer, how it hits in the dry hop. For Cosmic Sauce, the Mosaic adds berry and dank notes to Citra’s bright citrus. Expect a bitter finish.
Outer Range In The Steep
6.7% ABV
In The Steep isn’t a hop bomb like other Outer Range IPAs. This hazy IPA is a drinkable exercise in hop simplicity. This cloudy pale yellow beauty hits the nose with apricot, resin, kiwi, honeysuckle, and tea followed by mellow stone fruit, subtle kiwi, grapefruit, and delicate malt with a mild bitterness and some earthy grass and pine.
Outer Range Colorado Cou Cou
7.2% ABV
A hazy IPA staple for Outer Range, Colorado Cou Cou is brewed with Nelson Sauvin, Mosaic, and Kohatu hops. Dip your nose into pineapple, cut grass, ripe mango, and just enough dankness to keep it interesting. On the tongue, expect a grapefruit, lychee, pineapple, and cannabis flavors.
Outer Range Sun In The Clouds
7.2% ABV
This past spring, Kilian Heinzmann became Outer Range’s new head brewer. He’s a German brewer trained in Bavaria who made his way through the Canadian craft beer scene with his steadfast approach to fine-tuning beer recipes and brewing processes. His Sun In The Clouds hazy IPA is brewed with Mosaic and Nelson Sauvin for notes of pine, gooseberry, and white grape.
LINK: Peaks & Pints beer and cider cooler inventory
