January 9, 2010, Flying Saucer celebrated their second anniversary. With $2 Sierra Nevada Anniversary Ale pints and special tappings every hour, they did it well.

2pm (512) Double Pecan Whiskey Barrel Porter
3pm Stone Double Bastard
4pm Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA 2007
5pm Allagash Victor
6pm Sierra Nevada’s Edge of Darkness (Thanks, Drew!) [I can't remember what this cask was... if you know put it in the comments and I'll update]
7pm Randal with 471 IPA and pineapples and mangos 
8pm Sierra Nevada/Dogfish Head Collaboration Life and Limb
9pm Saint Arnold’s Divine Reserve #9
10pm Dogfish Head Pangaea

I missed the 4pm to 8pm beers, I was helping a friend move, and they all floated within the hour they were tapped, but what I had was good. I regret not getting any of that 2007 120 IPA or the Breckenridge 471 IPA via pineapple/mango Randall [and I'm sure I missed out on the 6pm cask...]. It was pretty cool that the guys reached out to the local BeerAdvocate community for Randall inspiration… you guys should do that more often.

Besides all the great beers, there were a lot of great people that showed up. We shot a short live stream edition of Over a Pint with the Saucer GM, Ted, and ran into Josh and Jeff of Hops and Grain and talked with them some on the live internet channels.

It recorded real choppy but you can watch it here.

Oh, and we recorded this neat time lapse video. Let’s cross our fingers Youtube doesn’t remove it due to the music.

Flying Saucer, congrats on two great years, here’s to many more!

Welcome to Over a Pint Episode 12, our dozenth of the inconsistent, informative, amateur, awkward, improving, technically malnourished, DIY attempts at talking beer and drinking beer with the people who make/sling/influence the beers we drink and love.

The fine folks at Flying Saucer hosted Breckenridge Brewery’s brewery director Todd Usry and invited us out to drink some beers and shoot some video. Todd was on a Lucky U IPA mini tour, promoting the new IPA, as well as the Oatmeal Stout on nitro tap, both very nice.

Todd is very proud of the Lucky U and boasted it has seven hop varieties, including my favorite, Amarillo. Todd described this as a “hop waterfall.” It’s a snappy beer. Coming in at 6.2% ABV, it’s more session-able than the 471 Small Batch IPA. And here is a word of advice on drinking/trying the Lucky U, it’s not the 471 IPA and if you drink it in comparison, or after the 471 IPA, you’re going to miss out on what the Lucky U has to offer. From my understanding, it was created to fill a gap in the Breckenridge line up, not to replace or even be a smaller version of the 471 IPA. But the fact that the 471 IPA has been on the scene for a while now makes it hard not to compare the two.

On to the nitro Oatmeal Stout. Creamy, smooth, creamy and delicious. Aside from the normal nitro beers (Guinness, Bodingtons, Young’s Double Chocolate, etc.,) it’s a pretty special thing to be able to get to try some of your favorite beers on nitro. The craft beers I’ve had on nitro prior to this have only been served on premise where they were made as a tasting room special.

Austin is one of eight accounts in the world that get this beer on nitro tap.

Flying Saucer GM Ted said it would be on nitro top for a limited time, so go out and try it.

Todd also talks up his Christmas Ale and his history at Breckenridge.

Gah. Enough with the writing. Watch the video.

I’m drinking a Lucky U IPA, then switch over to the Oatmeal Stout on nitro and Todd is drinking the Breckenridge Christmas.

Enjoy!