If it wasn’t clear by now, Denver loves its coffee and booze.
This weekend, Ratio Beerworks and Novo Coffee hosted its annual Cool Beans Beer & Coffee Festival. The event featured an array of Ratio beers, Novo brews and breakfast foods from carrot cake doughnut holes by Glazed and Confuzed to Hot Browns by Julep. It kicked off at 10 a.m., and guests were greeted with a check-off list of the expected offerings — a ticket for a full ratio beer and a small glass meant for sampling it all. The lineup this year included the beloved Coffee Domestica American Standard Ale, Novo Hold Steady Chocolate Rye Scotch Ale, a Chocolate Mocha Genius Wizard Imperial Stout and Cascara Rented World Session IPA. There were also two firkins filled with a Dirty Chai Hold Steady and Irish Coffee Nobody’s Darlin’ Blended Whiskey Ale. If we had to choose our favorite, though it’d be hard to turn down a full pour of that delicious Mocha Genius Wizard.
In addition to these concoctions, the event featured a few unexpected offerings. The nitro infused Oat Milk Irish Stout Latte by Huckleberry Roasters, being one. By cold steeping toasted barley for 16 hours, the makers of this unique drink created an alcohol-free play on Guinness. They then boil malt for two hours, add sugar to the mix to create a syrup and nitro infuse the mix to make it light and frothy.
READ: Our Favorite Booze-Filled Coffee Drinks and Cocktails in Denver
READ: Julep Brings Sophisticated Southern To RiNo
Another dynamic offering was the Geisha Tea from Novo — a tea made from the flower of the rare and highly exclusive Geisha coffee. Steeped in small batches via a French press, the delicate brew was an excellent break from the barrage of booze and brunch bites.
From coffee infused beer and seemingly endless amounts of bacon, the Cool Beans Festival 2018 had something for every palette. For those seeking a hangover cure, The Real Dill served up a Bloody Beer and coffee infused pickles. If you were just trying to stay awake, Method, Novo and Huckleberry all had craft coffee samplings from across the globe. And if that weren’t enough we all left with a complimentary coffee mug complements of Ratio Beerworks.
From sip to bite, Cool Beans 2018 made for an ideal Saturday morning in RiNo. If you didn’t catch it this time, stay tuned for round three next year— we will be there with a beer in hand.
All photography by Brittany Werges.