Upslope Brewing To Release New ‘Christmas Ale’

Upslope BrewingUpslope Brewing plans to release a new seasonal beer, Upslope Christmas Ale, the first week of December.

The beer, an 8 percent dark, malty seasonal is brewed with coriander, brown sugar, orange peel. It will be lightly spiced with ginger and mace then finished with juniper berries at the end of the fermentation process to give the brew a piney aroma. Christmas Ale is also fermented with a Belgian yeast strain.

“It should be Christmas in a pint glass,” said Upslope Founder Matt Cutter.

Only 7 barrels of the limited-release beer were made and it will only be available on draught at the tap room and select restaurant in Denver, CO. 25 percent of the proceeds will be donated to ‘There with Care,’ a non-profit group in Boulder, CO that supports families with critically ill children.

“We have worked with them a lot in the past and we thought to support these families during the holiday season was the right thing to do,” said Cutter. “It’s a great opportunity to be able to support them with our Christmas Ale.”

Upslope Brewing recently increased capacity by 30 percent in order to brew more of their flagship offerings and to allow for more seasonal releases.

“We have no planned new releases in cans for 2012, but you never know how it goes,” said Cutter. “We are small and nimble so we can react to that if we feel that it’s right for our business.”

The brewery currently cans four beers: Pale Ale, India Pale Ale, Brown Ale and Craft Lager. They also brew and can ‘Top Rope,’ a Mexican-style craft lager, for the Big Red F restaurant group.

We interviewed Cutter while at the Great American Beer fest in September. That interview, seen below, is the latest installment in our video series.