Uhl’s Brewing in Boulder Turns Two

Two years in business means two thousand stories, but we decided to focus on some that you might not know about yet. In the spirit of our two year anniversary of brewing in Boulder, Colorado, we’re diving into two things you never knew about Uhl’s Brewing.

1) How Our Barrel Aged Big Mole Anniversary Stout Got its Start

This stout is full of unique, intriguing, and intentional flavor. We brew it with a laundry list of exotic ingredients, including Ecuadorian cacao nibs, Tahitian and Madagascan bourbon vanilla beans, Vietnamese and Indonesian cinnamon, and ancho chili peppers. Not only delicious, Barrel Aged Big Mole is a once in a lifetime taste. We brew every batch of this Imperial Stout slightly differently from year to year, like a wine vintage. Aaron adjusts the spices himself to bring out the best flavor each time. 

Big Mole started without any added barrel aging, but this year we’re only releasing a barrel aged version.  This year’s Barrel-aged Big Mole has been aging in a single 9-year-old Buffalo Trace barrel for 14 months.The addition of the barrel adds layers of complexity  that only barrel aging brings to the table.  Complimenting the notes of smooth chocolate and vanilla notes on the nose and palate.

Big Mole’s creation stemmed from an award-winning homebrew recipe, inspired by some of the best spiced beer makers in the world, Perennial Artisan Ales, Prairie Artisan Ales and Cigar City. Specifically, Aaron took flavor notes from Prairie’s Bomb and Perennial’s Abraxas Stouts to create Big Mole.

“The feedback I got on the original homebrew recipe helped me realize I just may be able to do it on a larger scale,” he says..

And we’re so glad he did. 

2) We’re Here for the Barrels

Uhl’s is proud to help represent barrel aged beer in Colorado. Most small breweries don’t have the infrastructure to focus on barrel-aging programs to the extent that we do, and always have. We were lucky to have some great industry connections for sourcing our barrels–and we actually had beer already aging before we even opened the brewery. 

Plenty of breweries have some great barrel aged options this time of year, but our focus and intentionality behind bringing you multi-dimensional, world class barrel aged beer means we have a robust line up regardless of the season. Our tappings are based on when the barrels are ready, and that alone. We’ve also been working hard on many barrel aged creations specifically for our second anniversary, including a rum barrel-aged Quad. 

In case you hadn’t noticed, we love barrel aged beer. We love them so much, we want to share our small batch barrel creations with you. Now that you’re dreaming of barrel aged Stouts, we look forward to hosting you for our anniversary weekend! There will be a different band each day, a different food truck each day, and of course, plenty of Barrel Aged Big Mole and other barrel aged beers for you to try.