A Great Little Back Alley Brewery Coming to Belgian Brew Fest
De Steeg Brewing Company Is Bringing a Great Lineup of Their Belgian Brews and some advice on pairing
What’s your backstory?
Tom and I got to know one another through our church, Our Lady Fatima, in Lakewood. We overlapped in a couple of different places and we were doing charity beer/dinner pairings at the Knights of Columbus. I enjoyed the cooking aspect while Tom distributed the beer. We’re both home brewers. We enjoy the craft, and as a central theme around hospitality with food. We were looking for a larger concept going into brewing. Tom worked for Miller/Coors and the beer industry for 12 years and through those contacts he entered the Certified Cicerone program. We were looking to use our combined culinary and hospitality skills, and De Steeg became available. De Steeg, by the way, is a Dutch term for “In the Alley” and that’s where we are, in an alley. Gives it a kind of a speakeasy feeling, and adds to some of the atmosphere. “Hey, I found this great little brewery in an alley!” De Steeg’s Belgian tradition of brewing is influenced by many different parts of the world, so that is reflected in our brewing styles and processes.
So many beer festivals these days promote craft breweries. Why Belgian Brew Fest?
As new owners, this will be our first time attending. We’re excited about the opportunity to showcase our beers. I think the simple answer as to why Belgian Brew Fest, is that there are a lot of brew fests around, and some of them get really cookie cutter, but with BBF there seems to be a real audience, and an appreciation or excitement where they’d likely come to us and say, “Hey, Belgian beers, that’s so great. You have a trippel and a saison. We don’t see these at other festivals we’ve been going to lately!” There are some real connoisseurs out there for the Belgian style of brews.
Taster trays, “intelligent” taps and more; how can events like Belgian Brew Fest and tech marketing apps like Spigot Labs’s Taste Tracker, help promote your brand to the growing audience of craft brew enthusiasts?
We have a number of people that come up and say, well I don’t like Belgian beers but I’ll try them. And then after trying a few they come away from the experience saying they like it, and they’re surprised. So, offering up the Belgian experience and gaining more of an appreciation of ones that are well crafted, that’s helpful to us as a brand. The second part is to connect with the Belgian beer enthusiasts. There are not that many small breweries in Colorado that are going to offer this style. When you walk through our doors you’re going to get that style. There was a little establishment down off Colfax called the Cheeky Monk that offered the craft style of Belgian brews, and now they’re closed. I know a number of people that are very sad about that.
Lots of work goes into attending these festivals. What’ll make it worth the effort?
More customers is always great; more folks in our taproom. So that would be a goal of ours, to get the brand out there, and get people acquainted with us. We’re in the alley, not on a street front, so really the only way people find out about us is from others who have visited our taproom and share their enjoyment of the beers. And then there’s a partnership aspect to this. We help each other. The Fest supports us to be at the event, and we support that partnership with them by giving the participants the best experience.
Brews from De Steeg to look forward to at the fest
Our number one priority is always making a great experience for the guests heading to our booth or into our taproom. We love when they walk away and say that this is the best beer that they’ve had today. Sustenance and hospitality is top notch. As far as flavors, we’ll definitely be bringing a saison, a pale ale, and likely a wit and a golden strong. Our Belgian-style French Saison is probably the most popular. We get a lot of compliments. We’re a little out of cycle on our sours, so we may not bring that, but the others will likely be there.
Your personal favorite brew at the moment
I love the Biere-de-Garde. It’s a great platform for any type of adjuncts. Lends itself very well to, say, a peach Biere-de-Garde, or aging it with brandy. St Patrick’s day’s coming up and a Biere-de-Garde would go well with a nice Shepherds Pie. Tom’s always saying his favorite beer is the one he has in his hands at that moment. We talk a lot about deserted island beers. If you were stranded on an island, what would you take? He’d take the French Saison; very versatile and ubiquitous and goes well with a wide variety of foods. And of course Tom being Irish, he likes the darker beers, a nice Irish Stout. and then there’s the Belgian Trippel.
Our annual Belgian Brew Fest is coming up April 28th. Get your tickets now before they sell out! 10+ breweries, food trucks, live bands, killer time!
