Super Bowl? Super Beer!

 The Super Bowl is upon us. For many, this is the penultimate sporting event. Ticket prices are through the roof; the city that never sleeps will come to a stand still as the teams take the field. All eyes and TV sets will fall upon the great pigskin battle.
Regardless of who wins this overblown throw ball competition called the Super Bowl, fans of both teams can rest assured in the fact that they reside in some of the best supplied and well supported craft beer regions of the world. Whether you’re supporting the mile-high horses or the water raptors of the Pacific Northwest, it really matters not. The greater question should be, in a battle of craft beer supremacy, would the victor be Seattle or Denver?
Personally, I’ve visited Denver twice, both for the Great American Beer Fest, so my own opinion is more than biased. Seattle is on my list of places to visit, and, aside from rain and all those quaint twinkly coffee shops, I hear great things.
Depending on whom you ask or where you look, Denver has more than 30 breweries while Seattle boasts over 40. Breweries in Seattle include Elysian, Pyramid, and Pike and Denver’s locals have names like Great Divide, Breckenridge, and Wynkoop. Basically a wash on that end.
On the Ratebeer.com list of the Top Beers ranked by members of their website, Great Divide’s Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout is the highest ranked brew from either city, placing at number 43. No beer from either Seattle or Denver cracks the top 50 of Beeradvocate.com’s top 250 list, although Bourbon Abominable Winter Ale from Seattle’s Freemont Brewing Co. shows up at number 154. As always, take these types of lists with a grain of salt.
As I mentioned in a recent column, beer bars are stepping up their game, and this may be where one of our competitors pulls away in the match. On Draft Magazine’s list of the 100 best beer bars in America, in the West section, Denver makes the list with the fantastic Falling Rock Tap House. However, Seattle crushes the mountains down with four different selections, including Beveridge Place Pub, Naked City Tap House, The Pine Box, and Stumbling Monk.
Considering the Beer Snob’s own, totally unscientific, non-verifiable and statistically invalid measure, I put my favorite Denver, Colo beer up against my favorite Seattle beer and see what pans out.
Great Divide’s rich and delicious old ale, Hibernation Ale, is my pick for the Mile-High city. For the Emerald city, my pick is Elysian Brewing’s spicy pumpkin stout Dark O’ the Moon. I would fight tooth-and-nail for either beer; go for it on 4^th down and whatnot. However, if I were only ever to have one of these beers for the rest of my life, it’s the old ale for the win.
If you’re soon to visit either of these fine cities, I’m quite jealous, you’re in for great beer. If you have a vested interest in the super bowl, either through loyalty or financial pursuits, well, good for you, good luck with that. In either case, here’s to America, the craft beer movement in this country and sports. Enjoy the game. Enjoy the brews … Cheers.
 
Gene’s Haufbrau has at more than 200 beers in bottles or on tap. While they don’t have every beer the Beer Snob writes about, they probably have most. Gene’s is located at 817 Savannah Hwy. 225-GENE. E-mail the Beer Snob at publisher@westof.net.