150 Strong Anniversary Beer Announced

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The Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce will toast its sesquicentennial with a dry-hopped lager brewed by Molson Coors.

Colorado’s beer expert-in-chief, Gov. John Hickenlooper, made the announcement today after he and a panel of beer experts and enthusiasts — Molson Coors Brewing Company President and CEO Mark Hunter, Chamber President and CEO Kelly Brough, current Chamber Board of Directors Chair Todd Munson and Chair-elect Denise Burgess — tried the lager and three sessionable beers perfect for celebrating: a hopped amber, a golden American helles and a German-style pilsner. The beer tasting panel was led by Dan Imdieke, trade brewer for Molson Coors’ U.S. craft division, Tenth and Blake, and one of only 13 master cicerones in the country.

The dry-hopped lager, called 150 Strong, will be tapped at the Chamber’s 150th anniversary party on its founding day: Nov. 13.

“It was a tough six years until Coors opened and began serving Coloradans,” Brough said of the Chamber’s history – and the opening of Colorado’s longest-standing brewer in 1873.

The beer is clean and crisp, balanced by the citrus and pine aromas of Colorado-grown Centennial, Cascade, Chinook, Nugget and Crystal hops. This harmony of hop and malt makes this 6 percent ABV lager incredibly drinkable.

“The Chamber loves our Colorado hops,” said Imdieke.

Hunter said he couldn’t have found a better beer to toast the Chamber’s anniversary.

“We’re thrilled to have been part of this community since 1873, and that the Chamber has been here with us through those past 144 years and more,” Hunter said.

A label, featuring Brough, Munson, Burgess and other Chamber board leaders Linda Childears and Bob Hottman as 1860s-era Denverites, will don a limited release of bottles.

See more photos from the tasting on Flickr.

Sara Crocker is communications manager for the Denver Metro Chamber. Photography by Visualanties.