Employees and fans of Twisted Pine Brewing Company are eagerly awaiting the upcoming calendar switch, as the brewery plans on kicking off the year 2012 in style.  The Twisted staff is excited about the launch of its Artisan Ale Project, a year-long celebration of the artistic creativity which makes Colorado unique.

 

For the Artisan Ale Project, Twisted Pine developed twelve distinct new beers and then enlisted the help of a dozen talented Colorado artists for artwork to adorn the labels.  On the first Saturday of every month in 2012, the brewery will introduce a small batch of one of the ales at a special release-party which will double as an art show for that month’s featured artist.  The Artisan ales will come in sleek, black 750ml glass bottles and will mark the brewery’s first foray into that size packaging.  Quantities will be limited, especially for the barrel-aged beers in the series.  Distribution of the bottles will be restricted to Colorado accounts and the Twisted Pine ale house will have each new beer on tap for as long as supplies last.  January’s lead-off entry is an American cream-style stout aged in bourbon barrels.  The beer, known as Surreal Stout, will feature artwork by Allison Boozer of Denver.  Other Artisan ales will include an Imperial India-style black ale, a high-octane braggot, a black saison and a barrel-aged sour brown.  “We’re part of a very artistic community here in Colorado,” remarks Logistics Manager Justin Tilotta, “and in this case we’re getting our brewers to feed off that creativity and produce something that, in turn, gives back to that community by offering these artists an opportunity to reach a wider audience.”