Coophouse Brewing Company - Honey Rose Amber Ale

Like the other two beers featured this month, Honey Rose Amber Ale is as unusual a beer as they come. It is brewed with a combination of two-row Pale, Caramel, and Munich malts. Brian uses both Chinook and Saaz hops up front their bittering characteristics. Rosehips, for those that may not know, are the crab-apple-like fruit produced by a rose plant when a flower has not been cut back after expiring. Brian uses rosehips as a brewer would use hops to dryhop the beer, by adding them after the beer has already completed fermentation.

: Look for a dark malty and floral hop aroma coupled with the unusual rose hip essence which lingers in the background of this beer’s nose. Note great head retention in this filtered, dark amber, medium-to-full-bodied beer. Honey Rose Amber starts out very sweet and malty, again with the fruity hop tones coming through as well. The rose hips appear in the body of the beer and continue on through the tart, dry finish. Overall, one of the more unusual interpretations of an Amber Ale we’ve ever tried. We liked it!

The Coophouse brewery was conceived in late 1993 by its two founders, Brian Cooper and Dr. John Allshouse whom met in a research lab at the University of Colorado’s Departments of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Disenchanted with the employment they had procured after graduation, they started planning the brewery while drinking some of John’s homebrew, the recipe that later became their Bent Lager. Located in Broomfield, CO, the brewery produces 5 beers with their 10 barrel brewhouse. Dr. Allshouse has since left the brewery which is now operated by Mr. Cooper and only one other employee.

Coophouse is a microbrewery in the truest sense of the word. The two spent over a week bottling each and every beer that we have sent you this month. In addition to their Honey Rose Amber, the brewery produces Bent Lager, Blue Suede Brown Ale, Paramount Pale Ale, and Arcanum Lager, a Bohemian-style Pilsener.

For more information about the brewery and scheduled tours, call (303) 466-3777.