It’s been a tough year for backcountry snow sports in Colorado. Eleven people have died in avalanches so far this season, the most since 2012-13 and just one short of a record set in 1992-93. It’s a tragic toll that crossed over into the craft-beer community on February 1, when Bonfire Brewing co-founder Andy Jessen died in an avalanche near Silverton, along with friends and fellow skiers Seth Bossung and Adam Palmer.
Brandon Capps knew about the slide that took their lives long before most of the rest of Colorado. As a backcountry skier himself, Capps says he makes coffee every morning and then checks the daily avalanche report to see if there have been any new incidents. “There have been incredible, powerful and sad stories,” he says. “There are every year.”
Loveland s homegrown Root Shoot Malting took home a medal last weekend in the Malt Cup, an annual competition hosted by the Craft Maltsters Guild. This is the third year in a row that Root Shoot has won a piece of hardware, making it the only small malt producer in the country to pull off that feat.
The company s prize-winning grain was Genie Pale, which took bronze. Genie Pale Malt starts as Limagrain Cereal Seed’s award-winning Genie 2-row, which Troubadour Malting also cultivates in its Genie Pale and also won at the Malt Cup this year, Root Shoot says. More flavorful than a traditional 2-row base malt, this light malt has notes of bread and honey, making it an excellent base malt for any style beer.