By Amy Tindell

When Corliss cruised up to the sliding doors of my La Jolla hotel, she fished a pile of papers from her backseat and deposited them into my lap. The woman had done her research! In my hands rested our options for the night, including a few local breweries and some choice dining establishments. As the night was young, we decided to conquer both genres, and to begin at a point of inspiration: Green Flash Brewing Company.

I admit to being a bit dubious as Corliss pulled a Uey toward the parking lot of Green Flash: it is housed in a very corporate-y-looking, mirrored glass building in a business park off Mira Mesa Boulevard. However, my fears were quashed as we entered the 4,000 square foot, dog-friendly tasting area, which featured plenty of un-corporate-y looking people – 68% of whom were wearing trademark hipster plaid shirts or hoodies – 30 state of the art taps, and a beer garden, with wooden cask barrels lining the perimeter and the metallic beer fermenters rising toward the ceiling in the distance.

Mike and Lisa Hinkley founded Green Flash in 2002 after deciding to close their pub in favor of producing their own craft beer. Their beer is not the product of traditional brewing guidelines, but instead represents a hybrid style of the craft. Of course, what starts out as a twist on a tradition can become a guideline: the West Coast IPA developed a following so quickly that it helped define a new category. Brewmaster Chuck Silva sees to it that core, seasonal, collaborative and barrel-aged beers all “blaze their own trail.”

Our beertender, John, very patiently listened to Corliss as she explained my “expertise,” demonstrated by my “blog.” Then, he offered to pour us a flight with our choice from the beckoning 30 taps before us. We started with the East Village Pilsner, a solid Pils if there ever were one. The color of straw, it smelled of grass and wheat, and hit the tongue with a moderate amount of carbonation. East Village’s taste was crisp with notes of grass, and slightly sweet cereal grain malts balanced with some lingering bitterness. This Pils actually did a good job of standing up to the bite of 11th Anniversary IPA, which flowed from the tap a transparent copper, with aromas of grapefruit, grass and pine. The taste followed similarly, with the addition of earthy dank overtones and more resinous pine. It finished dry, crisp, and bitter… but not too bitter.

Corliss’ taste buds were very enthusiastic about the chili double stout. It smelled and tasted of roasted malts, chilies, cocoa and bread (tortilla?). The heat of the chili presented itself in each sip, but not overly assertively, and was balanced by the smooth, creamy mouthfeel. My favorite was the Treasure Chest Belgian Brown, peering through the glass in a dark brown and red embodiment. It tasted of brown sugar, raisin, and malty caramel grains, with a hint of citrus hops and the Belgian yeast spice and funk. I read some reviews complaining about the overpowering Brett band-aid flavor, which can be an area of sensitivity for me, but I did not encounter that obstacle when I tasted the Treasure Chest.

(Instagramed because John, in his efforts to provide excellent beertending services, provided only mediocre photography services.)

After our tasting, we wandered around the beer garden and encountered the night’s dinner offering. Green Flash partners with local food trucks to offer its guests sustenance and a variety of treats as they sample its array of beers. That night, Stuffed pulled up to the beer garden and sorely tempted us with its stuffed burgers, spicy mac & cheese, and fried oreos.

However, Corliss had grander plans for us: we were headed for Strip Club. She assured me that the only meat market there involved preparing your own.

By Amy Tindell

The day I was scheduled to fly back to Boston, my parents insisted on introducing me to a second Colorado Springs brewery, ever indulgent of their younger daughter’s penchant for exploring breweries as part and parcel to her travels. Thus, I found myself at Trinity Brewing Company, just around the corner from the red rock formations at Garden of the Gods Park.

At Trinity, I learned that I’m a sucker for a barrel-room with an archway entrance made of books. Back in January 2013, the brewery asked patrons to bring in their unwanted hardcover books as a trade for beer, and used them to construct the archway. The barrel room itself holds many large wooden barrels salvaged from wineries and distilleries, and was constructed in the past year to expand the brewery’s sour and wild beer production.

The books and barrels are not the only parts of Trinity that have been repurposed. The pub is custom-built from nearly 100% recycled materials. Other environmentally-conscious practices include sourcing materials for the beer and “slow food” from local farms, and recycling all glass, plastic, and metal waste produced by the brewery. Trinity additionally donates spent grain and food compost for fertilization processes at the Ketchum Family Farm.

After admiring the books and barrels, we ordered a beer flight and a “slow food” lunch to enjoy on the dog-friendly patio outside. Demonstrating their western tastes, my parents’ favorite was Flo, Trinity’s IPA, brewed with a blend of eight hop varieties and seven malts. This IPA features notes of pine and citrus, with light malty sweetness for balance. I preferred the Slap Your Mammy DIPA with its grapefruit flavors blending with the alcohol finish, although the piney bitterness became overwhelming for this east coaster after a few sips. My favorite was the Soul Horkey Ale, created from a recipe that combines English and Belgian brewing traditions. The aroma and taste both feature sweet dark fruit, caramel malts, yeast ester, and earthy hops, and the brew finishes with a smooth, almost creamy mouthfeel.

The two most interesting beers were the Saison Man and the Farmhouse Rusé. Trinity styles the Saison Man, a golden Belgian ale, as a “Post Industrial Session Saison.” Saison Man combines weyerman pilsen, rye, flaked wheat, flaked oats, spelt, and grains of paradise with Styrian Goldings and Czech Saaz hops, fermented with 2 farmhouse yeast strains and Drie Bretta. The result is a somewhat tart, lemony golden ale dominated by the barnyard funk of the Brett. The Farmhouse Rusé offers a cold weather option for saison lovers, with Colorado ingredients including Anaheim and Pueblo chiles from Mauro Farm in Pueblo and Bartlett pears from Pear Blossom Farms in Palisade. With the addition of cacao nibs, this saison features flavors of light fruit, dark chocolate bitterness, and roast, rounded out with a mild spicy heat. The 9.5% ABV adds a subtle sweetness and a clean finish.

Trinity pays special attention to how its beer is served, and supports a campaign to “Kill the Pint Glass.” By offering different types of beer in different types of glassware or different size pours, the brewery ensures that all pours are based off the same profit margin percentage and promote responsible consumption. Thus, smaller pours may result from higher raw material costs, higher costs of guest beers, or higher alcohol content. Further, Trinity selects glassware to improve the tasting experience, allowing for better evaluation of head retention, color, and clarity, or in the case of snifters, concentrating CO2 for better aromatics. Trinity believes that “Beer is no longer a slap it in a mason jar and slam it down product,” and encourages others to “keep fighting the good fight.”

With its sustainable business practices and attention to consumer experience, it’s not surprising that Trinity also encourages healthy habits in its employees and patrons. On Monday evenings, it hosts the “Soul Runners”, offering 3-4 mile or 8-mile group runs, followed by discounted beers, and a points system toward further discounts at Trinity and Colorado Running Co. I am still trying to convince my parents to check out Soul Runners for me, in hopes of another Trinity family outing the next Monday I am in town.

By Amy Tindell

Over the holiday, my parents brought me to a 97 year old Colorado Springs elementary school building in order to explore an 18 year old brewery. Ivywild School closed to students in 2009, but community members Joe Coleman, Mike Bristol, and Jim Fennell breathed new life into the neighborhood’s centerpiece with their vision of linking commerce and community through a focus on local businesses with sustainable practices, all thriving under one roof. This reincarnation of the elementary school continues as a community project, reflected in the garden beds waiting just outside, painted by camp classes at Millibo Art Theater located in the church across the street. The architects insisted that the repurposed space maintain its identity as a former elementary school, leaving intact its old-style, wide hallways, children’s art lining the walls, and the art teacher’s murals painted in the bathrooms.

Bristol Brewing Company, Ivywild’s anchor tenant, has been a presence in Colorado Springs since 1994. The brewery believes strongly in contributing to local communities and does not distribute outside Colorado. Bristol crafts ales from only natural ingredients and strives to create beer that brings to mind “quality, purity, and sanity” in its imbibers. Bristol’s Community Ale program donates 100% of its proceeds to support local causes that improve lives of Colorado Springs citizens.
The move to Ivywild allowed Bristol to expand its operations to a new 34-barrel brewhouse custom-made by BrauKon in Bavaria, Germany. In addition to the brewhouse and fermentation room, Bristol maintains a pub with a growler station, an outdoor patio, a barrel-aging room, and behind the old elephant doors from the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, an event area called “The Wildcat Room” in honor of Ivywild’s mascot.

My parents and I chose a table at the pub, ordered some brats from the deli down the hall, and settled into a flight of Bristol’s five flagship beers – Laughing Lab Scottish Ale, Beehive Honey Wheat, Mass Transit Ale, Red Rocket Pale Ale and Compass India Pale Ale – along with the seasonal Christmas Ale. Laughing Lab, having won nine medals since the founding of the brewery in 1994, currently stands as the most decorated Colorado beer at the Great American Beer Festival. It boasts the slightly sweet, nutty, roasted flavors common to Scottish Ales, and feels smooth going down.

We all agreed that the Red Rocket Pale Ale and the Christmas Ale were the other standouts of the bunch. The pale ale starts and finishes with bitter hoppiness, but I enjoyed the grassy hop aroma and bready, earthy malt profile. The brew is quite light in the mouth, and almost watery in feel. As intended, the Christmas ale smells and tastes like Christmas. Bristol incorporates cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, cloves and molasses with 2-row, Crystal, Chocolate, and Black malts and Chinook hops into this beer. Its light body balances the diversity of ingredients to create a more drinkable brew than most holiday ales.

In addition to Bristol Brewing Company, Ivywild is home to Fennell’s architecture group, three of Joe Coleman and the Blue Star Group’s food-centered projects, and other like-minded ventures.

The Blue Star Group’s new ventures occupy the south wing of the school, focusing on local, handmade specialty offerings, including The Meat Locker, The Old School Bakery, and The Principal’s Office, a craft espresso/cocktail bar, which serves Bristol’s beers at night. At the Principal’s Office, a repurposed chalkboard forms the bar, and chains from playground swings support the wine racks hanging from the ceiling.

In between the brewery and the Blue Star Group, Hunt or Gather offers local fresh seasonal meats, cheeses, milk, produce, honeys, jams and other treats. Supported by the Pikes Peak Community Foundation, it seeks to rebuild the local food economy through educational programs and providing access to these goods to the surrounding community. Downstairs, where my mom once taught kindergarteners, The ModboCo school for the arts, founded by the Modbo art gallery in downtown Colorado Springs, will offer classes and workshops designed to “bring integrity, joy, and purpose to those who seek to learn about art.” Filling the last available space at Ivywild at the front of the former school, Bicycle Experience encourages cyclists to grab a snack and a brew while enthusiast co-owners Todd Hood and Bubba “Blaze” Hayes tune up their bikes.

The Fennell Group, the architecture firm behind Ivywild’s transformation, occupies a space just down the hall from the Blue Star Group ventures. Also known for its projects at Air Force Space Command and the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, the firm describes the new Ivywild as “a neighborhood multi-use infill development that is highly sustainable, promotes pedestrian activity, and revitalizes the identity of a neighborhood in decline.”

The architects envisioned attaining these goals through symbiosis, “the free exchange of byproducts among the various users in the proposed district that creates efficiencies for the benefit of everyone in the district.” For example, spent grains from the brewery will find a home at the bakery, which in turn will produce delicious breads and pretzels to be served at the brewery’s pub. Other brewing by-products, including grains and greywater, will contribute to irrigation and fertilization processes in the greenhouse at Ivywild and the community garden plots outside. Heat from the brewing process and the greenhouse will circulate to warm the building in winter months. This strategy of converting one venture’s waste into a neighbor’s resource is thought to reduce operating costs and energy demands, thus maximizing efficiencies for all at the Ivywild site.

At Ivywild, these businesses and their sustainable practices certainly live up to Bristol Brewing Company’s emphasis on quality, purity, and sanity in their lifestyle and their products. I’m pretty sure we can all use a little more of all three, so if you find yourself in the Colorado Springs area, make a point to take advantage of all that this feel-good destination has to offer.