The thick dark bubbles sitting on top of beers - with bodies as dark as a winter’s night - can be a little misleading according to Kevin Daly.
"Not all stouts are big heavy beers," he says.
The founder of Mountain Sun Pub and Brewery would know. They’re celebrating their 25th annual Stout Month this February.
'“Stout Month is a month that our first brewer Jack Harris started,” he explains, “as a way to celebrate the darkest days of the year.”
Daly has seen a lot change in the Colorado brewery scene since his brewery's inaugural shadowy suds celebration a quarter of a decade ago. Mountain Sun was just the third brewery in Boulder when they opened in 1993. Without much of a local beer community, they looked elsewhere for inspiration.
“We were still kind of looking to California and Oregon for beers,” he says.
Boulder now boasts about two dozen breweries, and this year Mountain Sun is pouring over 30 of their own original stout recipes. They are also serving as a venue for other Colorado breweries to show off their stouts
“The brewing industry in Colorado particularly in the front range is so collaborative,” says Daly. “It’s a great way to celebrate all that by featuring so many different styles of stout.”
Daly doesn’t plan to stop serving up this nice distraction from the long dark days of winter anytime soon. “It’s more than just beer to us.”
