If you walk into the taproom at TRVE Brewing (pronounced “True”) in downtown Denver, Colorado you’ll quickly realize it’s a bit different — black walls, pentagrams and heavy metal music are the norm. But while TRVE can be intimidating at first, once you order a beer (probably of the mixed fermentation variety) from founder and brewmaster Nick Nunns, it’s apparent the brewery, beers and Nunns himself are incredibly approachable. Since 2012, TRVE has made beers that aim to go “beyond the pale” (a fancy way of saying it’s not just IPAs), and his own tastes run the spectrum from classic macro-lagers to Belgian-style icons. Here’s what he’s drinking nowadays.
Favorite Everyday Beer: Coors Banquet
ABV: 5%
Beer Style: Lager
Availability: National, year-round
“I’m lucky to be in a city where we’re awash in great independent beer. I’m also lucky enough to be able to bring home excellent, everyday beers from work. However, when I think of an everyday beer, it’s one that you could get at a venue controlled by the shitty mega-distributors, or a beer you could find in some rural town with a single stoplight. For me, this beer is Coors Banquet. It’s never disappointing, ridiculously shelf-stable (thus, generally always fresh), and in my opinion, is one of the best macro-lagers out there. Do I drink it every day? Nah. Is it a great everyday beer? Hell yeah.”
Grail Beer: Allagash White
ABV: 5.2%
Beer Style: Witbier
Availability: National, year-round
“I’m a chronic hobbyist and as such searching for beers has long been replaced with new passions. I don’t think a grail beer to me would need to be rare, or even particularly laborious, aged, ingredient-heavy, etc. When I’m lucky enough to be in a state where I can find it, I’m almost always on the lookout for Allagash White. It’s about as much of an Arthurian quest for a beer as I’m willing to pursue these days.”
Best Beer You Drank Recently: Free Range Party Time
ABV: 6.4%
Beer Style: Festbier
Availability: Local, seasonal
“I just got back from Arizona Wilderness’s Camp Coolship, which was an incredible weekend. They hosted a tap takeover with all the participating breweries at their downtown Phoenix location the night after we camped out, so I got to try a bunch of really great beers. One of the standouts for me was Party Time, a festbier from Free Range out of Charlotte, North Carolina. I haven’t had a lot of opportunities to try their beers up until now, and apparently this was the first lager they ever brewed. If this is where they’re starting off I think their lager program is gonna be great.”
