Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project was founded in 2010 when Chad Yakobson completed his master’s thesis on wild yeast fermentations. The Coloradan used his research to launch a brewery and distributor that would produce 100 percent Brettanomyces-fermented beers. The Denver brewery brews with Colorado floor malted barley as their base malt, produced exclusively for them by Leopold Bros Distillery. Crooked Stave features Colorado grown hops in many of their recipes and work meticulously with whole fruit and only whole fruit, most of which is grown in Colorado. Today, Peaks and Pints presents a to-go flight of Cooked Stave beer that we call Peaks and Pints Pilot Program: Crooked Stave On The Fly.
Peaks and Pints Pilot Program: Crooked Stave On The Fly
Sunnyside of Bruxelles
6.7% ABV
A collaboration with Brasserie de la Senne — a brewery in the municipality of Sint-Jans-Molenbeek in Brussels, Belgium, named for the river Senne which flows through the city — this red sour ale pours a beautiful dark red with a medium head. The aroma is of tart cherries and light funk, followed by all the sour, but deliciously balanced with malt, cherries, dark fruits, and a dry finish.
Mama Bear’s Sour Cherry Pie
7% ABV
Mama Bear’s Sour Cherry Pie is an American wild ale aged in oak barrels with more than 3,000 pounds of Colorado sour cherries harvested on the Western Slope of the Rocky Mountains. It pours reddish brown with a slight, transient tan head. Aroma of wood and cherries hits the nose. Expect jammy sour cherry notes all over. It has a strongly acidic taste, but the cherry character is phenomenal. We also taste yeast, oak, vanilla, dough, and some caramel.
Nightmare on Brett
9.7% ABV
Crooked Stave has garnered high praise nationwide for their Belgian-style sour and wild ales. Most of these beers take months or years to make; they’re aged in wooden barrels with wild yeast or bacteria. Their Nightmare on Brett also fits into the whiskey sour theme — a dark sour ale aged in Leopold Brothers whiskey barrels. The aroma is full of beautiful tart raspberry with a hint of funk and dark grains underlying. Flavor is full of sour raspberry with a bit of acid, malty ballast, nice funk note and fairly hot due to the whiskey barrels.
Serenata Notturna Blueberry
12% ABV
Crooked Stave is a play on the word “stave” — one of many strong wooden slats, collectively bound together by metal hoops to shape a wooden barrel. The Denver, Colorado brewery’s name is a commitment to how closely it works with each barrel and embodies the love it puts into each beer. Wooden barrels are the focal point of the brewery and the beers it brews — specialty Brettanomyces-only, wild, sour, and barrel-aged beers. Serenata Notturna Blueberry is a barrel-aged golden ale with Washington state blueberries for a flavor of tart Brettanomyces, tart blueberries, and woodsy oak.
