(Lyons, CO) -- Spirit Hound Distillers and Boulder’s Upslope Brewing
Company are celebrating the tapping of the first kegs of a unique, limited-release
collaborative beer.
This very special barrel-aged beer is now on tap at both Upslope Brewery tasting
rooms in Boulder, at 1501 Lee Hill Drive and 1898 S. Flatiron Court.
Additional kegs of the beer will be tapped on March 9 at Back Country Pizza (in
Boulder), on March 10 at Lyons Fork Restaurant (Lyons, CO) and March 11 at
Falling Rock Taphouse (Denver, CO). Tapping times at these establishments are
all 5:30 PM
Aged in the former barrels of Spirit Hound’s “flood-proof” whisky (released last
August), the beer’s unique backstory covers three years and serves as a
testament to the cooperative nature of these small-batch beer and spirits makers.
The beer’s history starts in August of 2013 when Spirit Hound was awaiting the
arrival of its brewhouse for its Lyons-based distillery.
“I’ve known Upslope founder Matt Cutter for years,” recalls Wayne Anderson, the
distillery’s head of sales. “So I asked him if we could brew on the Upslope system
while we waited on our own. He and his team were eager to help and they let us
come in on a series of Saturdays to brew. It was extremely gracious of them.”
Spirit hound co-founder and head distiller Craig Engelhorn brewed five batches
of distiller’s wash at Upslope. He trucked the wash to Spirit Hound where it was
fermented, distilled and then placed in five 53-gallon oak barrels to age and
become the company’s first Straight Malt Whisky.
On September 12, 2013, the distillery was shut down for six months by the flood
that severely damaged Lyons, Boulder County and other parts of Colorado.
This past August, Spirit Hound released and quickly sold out of the first bottles of
its long-awaited Straight Malt Whisky, aged for two years in those first “flood-
proof” oak barrels.
In November of last year, Upslope filled those now-empty barrels with a special
Upslope beer. Upslope brewer Charlie Condon collaborated with Engelhorn and
fellow distiller Steve Williams on the beer recipe.
“We brewed the beer on the same Upslope system that we used to make our first
whisky,” Engelhorn notes. “So we’re completing a nice little circle with this beer
and it’s pretty special. We would not have had any pre-flood whisky without
Upslope’s very generous help.”
"When deciding what to put in the Spirit Hound barrels,” Condon says, “I thought
it was only right to design the beer after the original whiskey wash. I worked with
the Spirit Hound team to craft a beer that is deep and complicated and highlights
some of the unique flavors of the whisky."
“It’s a Scottish-style ale of around 9% ABV,” Engelhorn says, “that is made with a
little peated malt. It’s much like our distiller’s wash and was aged in barrels #5
and #6.”
Spirit Hound’s next bottles of its Straight Malt Whisky will be released on April 1
and will be available at a select number of retailers along the Front Range. 
Spirit Hound was founded in 2012 by friends, Lyons residents and Boulder
County businessmen Craig Engelhorn, Wayne Anderson, Matt Rooney, Neil
Sullivan and Rick England.
The group set out to put Lyons on the US distilling map with a range of small-
batch spirits topped by a signature gin and a straight malt whisky. The Spirit
Hound tasting room is a popular destination for lovers of distilled spirits and
cocktails.
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