As a purveyor of beers for The Mayor, I can tell you that many customers are surprised, dismayed, or questioning of the fact that we sell Bud Light or Coors Light at all, I can ALSO tell you, that as we have had Bud Light on tap since opening, it has been a frequently requested and oft imbibed beer, and that no keg of it has reached even the danger zone of the 30 day keg pulling rule. As a beer bar in Fort Collins, you have to have something for everyone – leave no beer drinker feeling alienated!

So in our most recent Battle the two giants squared off, bringing their best drinkers to represent… many a skeptic would say that these beers both taste like water or worse, but the crowd last monday would beg to differ – blind samples were had by all and a clear light beer favorite emerged: Bud Light lovers rejoice!

Best selling beer in Colorado - quenching thirsts since 1983!

Since Bud Light emerged as the taste-test champion, a record number of Bud Lights have been poured at The Mayor, and Bud Light currently has a record lead in the sales competition with a margin in the 100s of pints – so Coors Light lovers there is only one weekend left – come Tap the Rockies at The Mayor this weekend if you want to see Coors Light remain on tap!

But, all light beer lovers rest assured, regardless of the outcome of this battle, there will always be a beer to satisfy any palette on draft at The Mayor!

zwei Oktoberfest bitte!

An Oktoberfest is classified as a Marzenbier, owing to the fact that they are brewed in March (Marzen if you are a Deutschlander). This rich history has made the trans-atlantic journey to the U.S. with many craft breweries now brewing Marzen style Oktoberfest beers, in honor of which the Mayor held a beer celebration of their own in the form of an Oktoberfest Fight Night!

The contestants for our Oktoberfest-off were Left Hand Brewing out of Longmont and Bristol Brewing of Colorado Springs. Pre-competition, both contestants were feeling confident, even purchasing a pint of the competition’s offering to see what they were up against. Both breweries list their beers as Marzen style, with its signature ruby color… but who could hold up against the discerning Fort Collins palettes, eager for the best Oktoberfest Colorado has to offer them?

Blind tasters were poured, showing the subtle differences in color and aroma, but not enough to give away A vs. B.

Samplers were sipped, and slips submitted, and the summit was surmounted!

rawr... I would face this beast to get to this beer...

Meaning: no tie-breaker was needed, the Mayor’s beer-loving citizens had spoken and Left Hand Brewery’s Oktoberfest was what they said!

But the history of Fight Nights have shown us that it ain’t over till its over, and that more often than not, the winner of the taste test is not the winner of the two-week sales competition. And here we find ourselves again, mid-way through said sales competition. So far, Left Hand is maintaining their lead, but we have seen many second week switcheroos, so get down here quick to cast your votes by showing us how many Oktoberfests you would have if you were in that big Munich tent with your stein.

Rumor is elephant riding soon to replace bull riding in local bars...

But now we are once again mid-way through the portion of the competition that so far no taste-test winner has managed to conquer as well: the two-week sales tally. And as has proven to be the trend thus far, Firestone is currently in the sales lead, with just under a week left to go. So all you loyal Odell IPA lovers it is time to get your guzzle on! And all of you Firestone fans who have waited anxiously for their arrival in Colorado, come and show your allegiance to your brew! Just six short days left in this round of the new hot sport of beer battling!

Passionate representatives from each brewery made their pitches for their beers, blind samples were had by all. The results were looking tied, but as the casting drew to a close one of the beers inched ahead for a final tally of 36-33, with the Master living up to its name…

No victory had to be stolen here!

And so, in a style that made The Mayor proud, our friends from Grimm Brothers stayed and celebrated with us late into the night (you can come back and drink with me any night)! I am already planning a trip to the brewery, and if you are looking for a good time you should join me!

Master Thief is a German style porter that follows the traditional Deutschland style of porter brewing, a twist on the traditional English Porter. Master Thief is black in color with coffee and chocolatey flavor and aromas that make for pleasurable drinking on a winter night or a summer day.

But as many of you know, Fight Night is only phase one of our beer-offs at The Mayor – phase two is tracking sales for the following two weeks, and so far in our competitions, no beer has won both. We have hit half way through this round of sales competitions which means you have one week left to come in and purchase the beer you want to see come out on top… see you tonight!

While serving I’ve found one of the major concerns of beer lovers visiting us is that our taps rotate so quickly. A valid concern in deed as I myself have trouble keeping up on them in many cases and having to taste beer everyday is no fun at all ; ). But to answer those concerns is actually relatively easy as the reason for the ever-changing line is the reason I take pride in working for The Mayor.

Say you have been turned on to a beer at The Mayor you absolutely love. It is the primary reason you keep returning. Then to your surprise and disappointment it’s gone, replaced with some crap you’ve never heard of, something alien. For a comfortably habitual person, this can be devastating. But you have to trust us as deeply as you would trust your parents when you fell six feet through the dome climber face first into the pea stone. It hurts and you might even bleed a little but you’ll be better for it.

In truth, we would hate to see anyone live their life to the last days and not have tried as many different beers as they could. That’s what we’re here for. Beer is brewed–in most craft cases–with the same devotion and perfectionism as wine is made. If a wine drinker can have such an accepting and imaginative palate, why can’t we. In fact, beer is arguably more differentiated and diverse anyway, so come in and take advantage of a new tap.

Mayor's favorite and it was the FIRST beer we tapped!

All of us at The Mayor can agree on at least two things: we love beer, and we love the sour beers from New Belgium! On Monday night for our state of the Brewnion we had no less than FIVE on tap: Eric’s Ale (at least for two hours), Kick, Clutch, Le Terroir, and LA FOLIE! In order to prove my dedication as an employee I tried all five and they make an impressive spectrum of sours.

We all know that the tireless employee-owners of New Belgium promote following your folly, and La Folie is a fitting tribute to that. La Folie is New Belgium’s original wood aged beer in the style of Peter Bouckaert’s former home’s famed Flanders Red Ale – there is a reason La Folie is seated at the right hand of the Duchesse on the beer wall. La Folie is a delicious beer with sour apple notes and that dry aged red wine barrel flavor that even gets better year after year. La Folie is a beer that has been able to sway many a “non beer drinker” (or so they say, I do not know any of these non beer drinking people…) But, whatever your drink of preference may be, there is something in La Folie for you.

So from all of us at The Mayor: a huge thank you to the Salazars, and all of our other friends at New Belgium! And with that I must get back to following MY folly, of drinking delicious beers not just writing about them.

p.s. a hint for my sour loving friends out there: the amount of Le Terroir is quickly dwindling, so get into The Mayor ASAP and get some while you can!

Gezondheid!

Tasty in a can, even more delicious flowing abundantly from the tap!

Our neighbors from Boulder with their finely crafted roasty toasty brown ale came out victorious! This brown ale will be perfect for a crisp fall evening hike (cans are easy to pack in and out!) but on this warm summer monday night, I found myself swooshing it appreciatively around in my mouth. As you, my readers, may know about me, I do my research faithfully and tirelessly, and with that sole purpose in mind I quaffed a celebratory pint that night and currently have a frosty can of Brown Ale cooling my hot hand as I type…

Earlier this summer, while doing background research, or what some might call business trips, I ventured to Upslope (1501 Lee Hill Rd. in Boulder) and received the warmest of welcomes, the most reasonably priced of ample tasters, and education on their craft-canning ways. Upslope “taps into” the active lifestyle of its local Boulder and greater Colorado citizens by choosing to be one of the first small breweries packaging all its beers in aluminum cans – canning has been a somewhat prohibitive process for small breweries in the past due to the cost and the scale of a canning operation as opposed to bottling, however, an engineering firm previously residing in the building with upslope, designed a smaller scale canning operation for them, one now being used by other small breweries looking to move craft beer into cans!

But enough about my trip to the brewery and more about how you can sample their delicious beers right here in Fort Collins – at The Mayor of Old Town! Come on down, escape the heat, and see what made this beautiful brown victorious!

Hint: Next Monday at the Mayor holds VERY exciting Monday night festivities for those lucky enough to be there… don’t miss out!

Post prohibition American beer drinkers consumed primarily light lager style beers, as the only few breweries to survive prohibition had been the brewing giants such as Anheuser Busch. Anchor was the first post-prohibition U.S. microbrewery, and the first American brewery to produce a unique, non-light lager style beer, starting a wave of emerging microbreweries – that beer was Anchor Steam Beer.

One of these was listed as "museum quality" on ebay... come in and see The Mayor's museum!

Anchor Steam Beer is a trademarked “Steam Beer” which refers to a process of fermenting lager yeast at warmer temperatures, due to a lack of refrigeration available in the early days of Anchor. Today, any other “Steam Beer” brewed, due the trademarking of the Anchor Steam name, has become known as California Common Beer.

Anchor Steam Beer is an American classic, widely known, loved, and drank, as evidenced by the six month waiting list to tour the brewery. Anchor does make a small selection of other brews, but we bring you the original Anchor Steam Beer – caramely, lightly hoppy, and deliciously well balanced. Rated “Excellent” by the brothers of Beer Advocate, your friends at The Mayor have to agree. Highly drinkable and sessionable at 4.9% ABV, Anchor Steam is widely distributed and consumed in the identifiable bottle –  but it is an even more delicious experience flowing out of the tap – so it is recommended that you come in and have one, and have a sip of the foundation of our amazing, creative, and tasty American craft brewing industry – Cheers!

Drum roll please…

Double IPA? Double Trouble!

It was nearly a tie, but Odell’s Myrcenary came out on top – and many Myrcenaries were had all around, and in honor of the victory I am continuing to pay my respects by drinking one as I write up these competition results.

So the natural choice for beer of the week this week would be our roguish winner from Odell, named for Myrcene, an essential oil of the hop. Myrcenary, hop warrior, weighs in at 9.3 ABV and is brewed using hops containing the highest levels of Myrcene, giving it a pungent floral hop aroma and citrus flavor. But, since it was a blind taste test and an anonymous vote, don’t let me tell you which one was my favorite, come in to The Mayor this week and have one yourself – or better yet have one of each and decide see if you find Myrcenary worthy of victory!