DENVER, Colorado – Last year three prized Colorado craft breweries made headlines when they swept the competitive American Fruit Beer category at the 2021 Great American Beer Festival®. Their collaboration brew Colorado Sweep, an American Wheat Ale, is now available at each brewery’s tasting room.
The hardware that the Crystal Springs Blood Orange Kölsch (gold), Great Divide Wild Raspberry Ale (silver), and Lone Tree Peach Pale Ale (bronze) took home last year was the perfect impetus for these Front Range breweries to join forces for a collaboration beer to celebrate and serve at the annual Colorado Brewers Guild Collaboration Fest.
“This idea came about immediately after the GABF awards were announced in September 2021,” says Matt Sandy, Great Divide’s Marketing Manager. The winners were Crystal Springs Blood Orange Kölsch (gold), Great Divide Wild Raspberry Ale (silver), and Lone Tree Peach Pale Ale (bronze). “Because Colorado swept the American Fruited Ale category, we thought it would be fun to collaborate with the other breweries and keyed in on Collaboration Fest as being the perfect arena to celebrate this group effort. Not only has the fest become one of the country’s premier showcases for unique collaborations, it also fell around the same time we were planning on releasing our winning beer, Wild Raspberry Ale, in 6-packs.”
Crystal Springs, Great Divide, and Lone Tree gathered last month to craft an American Wheat Ale with both white and flaked Wheat, and Hallertau Magnum, Saaz, Cascade, and Lemondrop hops to create complexity of body, and refreshing, citrus and fruit-forward flavors. The breweries then added blood orange, raspberry, and peach to represent the fruits in all three of the award winners.
“The combination of fruits contributed by each brewery should create a fun and refreshing beer that we are all excited to share with the public at Collaboration Fest,” says Lone Tree Sales & Marketing Director Dennis Stack.
Festival-goers at Collaboration Fest should be on the lookout for this inspired fruit beer before it’s gone. Catch Colorado Sweep on tap at each brewery’s respective locations while supplies last.
ABOUT CRYSTAL SPRINGS BREWING CO.
Crystal Springs Brewing Company is dedicated to brewing craft beer that utilizes the potential of hops, malt, yeast, and adjuncts to make the world a happier and better place. The brewery was started in the owners garage in 2010 and opened in Louisville, CO in 2013 where we have expanded our production to serve the Front Range of Colorado.
ABOUT GREAT DIVIDE BREWING CO.
Founded in 1994, Great Divide Brewing Company is?Denver’s oldest and largest packaging brewery and?one of the most decorated breweries in America, recognized for brewing some of the globe’s most balanced yet assertive and flavorful beers. These beers have landed an impressive amount of acclaim, earning 18 Great American Beer Festival® medals, five World Beer Cup® awards and 14 spots on Beer Advocate’s “Top Rated Beers: Colorado.” Here at Great Divide, Bold Character isn’t just a catchphrase. It’s the philosophy behind what we brew, how we think and what we believe.
ABOUT LONE TREE BREWING CO.
Lone Tree Brewing Company was the first brewery to open in Lone Tree, Colorado in Denver’s South Metro area in 2011, and has remained a local staple for a decade. Lone Tree creates community around a stylistically diverse lineup of flagship, seasonal, and limited release beers that are sold in cans and on draft across Colorado, and in select locations in Kansas.
For More Information:
https://radcraftbeer.com/news/colorado-sweep