Wynkoop Brewing Company now serving our latest custom, ultra-small-batch beer, Brown Palace Rooftop Honey Saison. The beer features loads of local terroir and terroof: it’s made with 75 pounds of honey from the three beehives atop the iconic Brown Palace Hotel here in Denver. This very rare honey features a unique mint note due to the bees foraging on the linden trees that line the streets of downtown Denver. In addition to this honey, the beer was built with pale malts, wheat, and European hops. It was fermented with a blend of four strains of saison yeast.
The beer features aromas and flavors of sliced pears, pale malt and white pepper, with a creamy body, herbal notes and a dry finish. It’s 6.7% ABV.
We made just 10 barrels (20 kegs) of this beer and it’s available on draft in Denver only at the Brown Palace’s Ship Tavern bar and Wynkoop Brewing Company.
Rooftop Honey Saison was a hit at its release party at the Brown yesterday. Thirty members of the press enjoyed it and three other Wynkoop Brewing beers paired with a one-time-only menu prepared by the Brown’s acclaimed chef, Thanawat Bates.
How did this beer come about? Management at the historic hotel (opened in 1892) was looking for ways to elevate the Brown’s beer list, get more involved with our pioneering brewpub, and be a bigger part of the beery joys surrounding this week’s Great American Beer Festival.
So we brainstormed ideas for a beer that matched the elegance and great taste of the hotel, and showcased the Brown’s bees and their unique honey. This beer is the result of our efforts.
One more thing: this beer is also the first tag-team brewing effort between Wynkoop Brewing and our allies at Breckenridge Brewery. Our head brewer Andy Brown created the recipe and brewed the beer at Breck’s original brewpub in Breckenridge,CO, with its head brewer, Matt Darling. (The pub there has four kegs of the saison.)
