By Erica Buehler
A popular brew spot off East Colfax since its infancy in 2015, Cerebral Brewing just seems to know good beer. Constantly winning among a plethora of competition and surviving a pandemic that aimed straight for bars and breweries, Cerebral is clearly sticking around for the long haul and boy, are we glad.
You might already be familiar with Cerebral’s intriguing and varied tap list, comprising everything from New England-style IPAs, barrel-aged porters, and smoothie-esque sours. But if you haven’t yet made it to the 1477 Monroe Street taproom, you’re in for a treat.
As the name suggests, the brewery takes “a scientific approach” to every one of its beers. Two of three founding members—Head Brewer Sean Buchan and Founding Member Chris Washenberger—initially started out as a doctor of physical therapy and a microbiologist, respectively. While running a brewery has since become their primary objective, most of the beer names remain homages to the field of science. “No matter what style, we take a scientific approach,” says Marketing Manager Matt Mendini. “We’re very calculated with our yeasts and have our lab, which we utilize to check our beers and propagate in-house yeast.”
This uber-technical approach to high quality (and good tasting) beer certainly makes for an interesting tap list. “[It’s a] pretty varied list. We are IPA heavy, with Rare Trait being our house IPA,” says Mendini. “Our Here Be Monsters double barrel aged stout is also a big hit. Whether it’s a lager or something sour, there’s something for everybody. We aim to serve beer that’s approachable for everyone.”
Perhaps one of the most interesting of Cerebral’s offerings include its dual approach to sour beers. Though not new in existence, sour beer popularity has grown exponentially in the last several years, prompting breweries to take notice and take a shot at their own versions. For Cerebral, that means highlighting both the “wild side” and the “clean side” of sours.
“There’s quite a bit of variation in the sour realm and two main sides of sours: the wild and the clean sours. So we really explore a lot of both of those,” says Mendini. “We’re releasing one of our single barrel wild ales; we have an off-site storage area with a bunch of different barrels where we go through and test for taste. [The] single barrel bottle series [is unique] as a lot of sours are blended. Single barrel means a lot of specific notes.” When this article was written, on tap at Cerebral was the Hereditary Title Fruited Wild Ale—”brewed with spelt and wheat and hopped with Citra and Nelson Sauvin. Aged on second-use Palisade Viognier grapes, third-use Colorado apricots, and third-use California nectarines for four months. Notes of Meyer Lemon, Peach Blossom, Hay, and Sweet Tarts.”
As for the “clean side” of sours, the team in the Cerebral lab continues to figure out a selection of different series. In mid-March, they released Ultra Modern as part of the Smoothie Sour Series, which includes pre- and post-fermentation variations. “Everybody here enjoys sours,” notes Mendini. “The sours world has blown up, and the smoothie-style post-fermented fruit has been a big part of that. People still appreciate old classic wild yeast sours, which are not as thick as smoothie-style.”
Another upcoming sour series is the Chromosphere, for those dying for summer and good beer-drinking weather. This series will be a lighter, crushable, and fruity, sour, highly drinkable for warm days and nights. Plus, the brewery recently put out an open-call to Denver artists to (initially) do a sticker collaboration. But due to the high volume of killer art, Cerebral decided to pivot to something even cooler: There will be a rotating IPA series where each iteration will have a design done by a different local artist, with merch available in the taproom to go along with it. “We love involving the community. We’re hoping to do this rotating IPA once a month.”
And last but certainly not least, don’t forget to catch the brewery’s annual release of its barrel aged porter in the beginning of May, this year with a slight rebrand: “In the past, it’s been called Work from Home, which has been a little touch-and-go,” says Mendini. “This year, we’re rebranding it to be Work from Anywhere. There will likely be some kind of photo competition with that to encourage people to bring bottles on their adventures where they work from anywhere, and a waffle breakfast to accompany it, too. We’re really looking forward to that release.”
Find Cerebral Brewing just off E Colfax on 1477 Monroe St, Denver. Call (303) 927-7365 or visit cerebralbrewing.com for more details. Be sure to check Cerebral’s rotating food trucks, available Wednesday through Sunday.
Erica Buehler is a freelance writer living in Littleton with her two dogs and plenty of coffee.