Krispy King Lager Competition Returns To Barrels & Bottles Brewery During 2025 Great American Beer Festival
This year’s Krispy King Lager Competition at Barrels & Bottles Brewery is bigger and better than ever before, with 45 breweries from across the country serving their best expressions of crispy, light-hued, quaffable lager.
Krispy King Lager Competition in 2024
GOLDEN, CO— One of the, if not the, most sought-after lager competitions is back for the fourth year at Barrels & Bottles Brewery. The Krispy King Lager Competition is slated for October 8, the Wednesday before the 2025 Great American Beer Festival® (GABF) begins, from 2 to 8pm at 1055 Orchard Street.
This year’s Krispy King Lager Competition is bigger and better than ever before, with 45 breweries from across the country serving their best expressions of crispy, light-hued, quaffable lager. Returning judges Ashleigh Carter & Bill Eye from Bierstadt Lagerhaus will determine the best five beers, and declare the 2025 Krispy King (or Queen). Winners will be announced at 6pm.
The breweries pouring this year include Barrels & Bottles Brewery, Beachwood Brewing, Benchtop Brewing Company, Black Tooth Brewing Company, Bow & Arrow Brewing Co., Breakside Brewery, By All Means Brewing, Call to Arms Brewing Company, Cannonball Creek Brewing, Casey Brewing & Blending, Chuckanut Brewery, Cloudburst Brewing, Danico Brewing Company, Downhill Brewing, Dry Dock Brewing, Elevation Beer Company, Enegren Brewing, Firestone Walker Brewing Company, Formula Brewing, Fritz Family Brewers, Glenwood Canyon Brewing Company, Heater AllenBrewing Gold Dot Beer, Helper Beer, Hideaway Park Brewery, Jack's Abby Craft Lager, Joyride Brewing Company, Kansas City Bier Company, Launch Pad Brewery, Live Oak Brewing Company, Los Dos Potrillos Cevercería, New Terrain Brewing Co., Odell Brewing Five Points Brewhouse, pFriem Family Brewers, Russian River Brewing Company, Seedstock Brewery, Storm Peak Brewing, Strange Craft Beer Company, The Austin Beer Garden Brewing Co., The Empourium Brewing Company, Varietal Beer Co., Wayfinder Beer, Westbound & Down Brewing Company, Wibby Brewing, Wren House Brewing Company, and Zwei Brewing Co.
For the first time in 2025, Barrels & Bottles will feature a special lager made with ingredients from Krispy King’s generous sponsors: Briess Malt & Ingredients Co., Propagate Labs, and Hopsteiner. The beer will be available exclusively in the event’s VIP area.
This regal GABF pre-game will also feature large format games; the Trinity Cigar Mobile Lounge; a make your own trucker hat setup with TATtered-N-Torn; lager donuts from Kneadful Rings; and oysters shucked on-site and lobster rolls from Shuck Brothers. The stage will feature live music from MC Andy Eppler from 2 to 3:30pm; the Jockey Box Band from 3:30 to 5pm; and Matt Wetherbee & the GnarBillys from 5:30 to 7:30pm.
Additionally, the Barrels & Bottles Brewery kitchen will be open with food specials, and there will also be wine and cocktails on tap.
Two small buses will be looping from the Denver Convention Center to Barrels & Bottles Brewery during this event. Guests are encouraged to travel safely via RTD Train Rail Station, Uber or Lyft, or designated drivers.
The Krispy King Lager Competition is open to the public and free to attend.
Media inquiring about Krispy King can contact Emily Hutto at hutto@radcraftbeer.com.
ABOUT BARRELS & BOTTLES BREWERY
Barrels & Bottles Brewery was formed in Abby and Zach George’s mind many years before they opened their first location in 2013. They met overseas and both found a passion for great people, food and drinks. Nowadays you can find them at their Camp George West location, either pouring you a beer, serving you food and or enjoying a pint with friends and neighbors. Learn more at barrelsbottles.com.
Barrels & Bottles Brewery to Tap Pliny the Younger from Russian River Brewing Company
Pliny the Younger finds its way to Barrels & Bottles Brewery for one day only.
GOLDEN, CO— Eureka! Gold is struck one again in the foothills of the Rockies as the coveted, extremely rare release of Russian River Brewing Company’s Triple IPA, Pliny the Younger finds its way to Barrels & Bottles Brewery and on tap Sunday, February 17 for one day only.
Pliny the Younger will grace Barrels & Bottles beginning at 1pm. The brewery will begin distributing tickets at 11am which will guarantee holders an 8 oz. pour for $8 and is redeemable until 5pm on February 17. All tickets will be given on a first come first served basis.
Elite Brands of Colorado will be donating proceeds from all sales of Pliny the Younger will benefit Sense of Security— an organization dedicated to the support of Coloradans living with breast cancer by providing aid for housing, food, transportation, and other basic living expenses of patients. In addition, Barrels and Bottles will be donating $1 for every pint of Pliny the Younger sold.
In addition to a special tapping of Pliny the Younger, Barrels & Bottles will also have Russian Rivers famed double IPA, Pliny the Elder available on tap throughout the day while supplies last
For more information about Barrels & Bottles and their world-class tap list contact Emily Hutto at coop@radcraftbeer.com.
About Pliny the Younger
Pliny the Younger is considered a “triple” IPA, simply meaning that it is higher in alcohol and has tons of hops. The alcohol should finish at about 10.25%, although it is remarkably dry for the amount of malt used in the recipe. It is loaded with hop flavors, bitterness, and aromatics. The hops used in this year’s recipe are of excellent quality from the 2018 harvest: Warrior, Amarillo, Simcoe, Centennial, CTZ, Chinook, Crystal, and Citra. Russian River brewed Younger for the first time in 2005 as a winter seasonal, building upon the Pliny the Elder recipe while pushing the envelope with malt, hops, and alcohol just to see how far they could go!
About Barrels & Bottles Brewery
Zach and Abby George opened Barrels & Bottles on 12th Street in downtown Golden in October 2013. The brewpub has 27 beer taps, 24 wines on tap, and a slushie machine for serving its infamous wine slushies. Barrels & Bottles also serves farm-fresh food menu with cheese platters, baguettes, and various beer-friendly small plates. The brewpub was named Golden Chamber of Commerce Business of the Year in 2014. Find Barrels & Bottles online at barrelsbottles.com.
Barrels & Bottles Celebrates Fifth Anniversary
Barrels & Bottles will celebrate their Fifth anniversary Sunday, September 2 featuring 45+ beers on tap and all drinks available for just $5— including beer, wine, and wine slushies.
Head brewer, Greg Moore, fills an añejo tequila barrel from 38-State Distilling with Dusty Bottoms, a tamarind Berliner Weisse. Photo: Aaron Sprengeler
GOLDEN, CO— Barrels & Bottles will celebrate their Fifth anniversary Sunday, September 2 from 12pm-8pm. The brewery will host 45+ beers on tap in their tasting room and back parking lot with all beers, wines, and wine slushies available for just $5.
Barrels & Bottles’ 5th Anniversary tap list will feature beers from the Mockery Brewing Tap Bus Bell's Brewery, Melvin Brewing, Cigar City Brewing, River North Brewery, Firestone Walker, Surly Brewing Co., Maui Brewing, Bierstadt Lagerhaus, Delirium, Comrade Brewing, and many more— including rare barrel-aged beers from Barrels & Bottle.
The brewery will be tapping their special barrel-aged Barleywine, That Sauce, as well as their Anejo Barrel-Aged Dusty Bottoms— a variant of their tamarind Berliner Weisse brewed earlier this year in collaboration with Former head brewers Shaun Salyards (Red Truck Brewing) and Cory Carvatt (Little Machine Beer) for the brewery’s 300th brew.
In addition to the amazing beer lineup, the brewery will also be hosting live music all day (featuring Tim Stiles, Ruben Gonzalez, Kenny Lee Young, and Matt Weatherbee & the Gnarbillys), four food trucks (Bob's Atomic Burgers, Anthony's Pizza, Smokey J's BBQ, and Espy's Street Eats), Anniversary t-shirts printed on site from EB Brands, and limited-edition glassware to commemorate the fifth anniversary.
For more information about Barrels & Bottle's 5th Anniversary Celebration contact Aaron Sprengeler at coop@radraftbeer.com.
ABOUT BARRELS & BOTTLES BREWERY
Zach and Abby George opened Barrels & Bottles on 12th Street in downtown Golden in October 2013. The brewpub has 27 beer taps, 24 wines on tap, and a slushie machine for serving its infamous wine slushies. Barrels & Bottles also serves farm-fresh food menu with cheese platters, baguettes, and various beer-friendly small plates. The brewpub was named Golden Chamber of Commerce Business of the Year in 2014. Find Barrels & Bottles online at barrelsbottles.com.
Barrels & Bottles Brews 300th Batch
Barrels & Bottles’ former head brewers returned to the brewery to craft Dusty Bottoms, a special Berliner Weisse with tamarind fruit that will tap Thursday, June 21.
L-R. Former head brewers Shaun Salyards, Cory Carvatt, and current head brewer Greg Moore share a pint.
GOLDEN, CO — Barrels & Bottles Brewery celebrated their 300th brew in May with a little help from their friends. Former head brewers Shaun Salyards (head brewer of Red Truck Brewing in Fort Collins, CO) and Cory Carvatt (head brewer of Little Machine in Denver, CO) returned to the brewery to team up with current head brewer Greg Moore and craft Dusty Bottoms, a special Berliner Weisse using tamarind, a sweet and sour fruit indigenous to the tropics of Africa. The brewery will release Dusty Bottoms on Thursday, June 21 with plans to release a tequila barrel-aged variant of the beer later this year for their 5th anniversary in September.
"The plan is to use the acidity of the tamarind to provide the tartness that is traditionally in a Berliner Weisse," explains Moore. "That being said, if the non-barrel aged version lacks the desired tartness we may decide to sour it in the barrel... There's a lot up in the air with this beer but it's exciting to still be experimenting after 300 brews."
After five years and 300 brews, Barrels & Bottles has seen its fair share of experimentation and challenges along the way. "On our first brew, we clogged everything with the hops." reminisces original head brewer Shaun Salyards. "I was here until nearly 3:00 in the morning cleaning everything and figuring out how things worked and Zach George (Barrels & Bottles Co-Owner) was right there with me the whole time. It's great to work in a place where the owners care."
"This place is small but we've made it work," Moore adds. "It's come a long way in the past 300 brews."
ABOUT BARRELS & BOTTLES BREWERY
Zach and Abby George opened Barrels & Bottles on 12th Street in downtown Golden in October 2013. The brewpub has 27 beer taps, 24 wines on tap, and a slushie machine for serving its infamous wine slushies. Barrels & Bottles also serves farm-fresh food menu with cheese platters, baguettes, and various beer-friendly small plates. The brewpub was named Golden Chamber of Commerce Business of the Year in 2014. Find Barrels & Bottles online at barrelsbottles.com.
Barrels & Bottles Brewery Releases Pale Boy Ale V
Pale Boy Ale V weighs in at 5% ABV and uses five different malt varieties and five hop varieties, including semi-rare German hops which lend fruity notes of cherry and raspberry.
GOLDEN, CO — Barrels & Bottles Brewery is excited to release Pale Boy Ale V, a collaboration with Brian Quarnstrom and the Golden Civic Foundation, on Tuesday May 15.
This is both the fifth iteration of the Pale Boy Ale recipe and the fifth year it has been brewed. In commemoration of these milestones, Pale Boy Ale V weighs in at 5% ABV and uses five different malt varieties and five hop varieties, including semi-rare German hops which lend fresh, fruity notes to this very quaffable beer.
Pale Boy Ale V will be available on tap and in growler fills at Barrels & Bottles on Tuesday, May 15. $1 of each pint sold will be donated to The Golden Civic Foundation, who have invested more than 5 million dollars in the Golden community, and matched by Quarnstrom and The Golden Real Estate Advisors.
For more information about Barrels & Bottles, contact Emily Hutto at coop@radcraftbeer.com.
ABOUT BARRELS & BOTTLES BREWERY
Zach and Abby George opened Barrels & Bottles on 12th Street in downtown Golden in October 2013. The brewpub has 27 beer taps, 24 wines on tap, and a slushie machine for serving its infamous wine slushies. Barrels & Bottles also serves farm-fresh food menu with cheese platters, baguettes, and various beer-friendly small plates. The brewpub was named Golden Chamber of Commerce Business of the Year in 2014. Find Barrels & Bottles online at barrelsbottles.com.