De La Vaca’s Random Roundup | In The Cups

Welcome to the year’s first Random Roundup. There’s so much weird stuff going on, events popping up and events canceling (thank you, pandemic naysayers) that we barely know what’s going on. Here’s what we’ve experienced, wanted to experience, upcoming events, and things we tasted. Reminder that we absolutely love tastings so if you have anything going on you want to invite us to, please send an email to De La Vaca at: [email protected] or mail us a bottle at Editorial YS, PO Box 964, Erie, CO 80516.

Rye In July

What we attended

This past month we were able to hang out with our good friends from Big Red F and get way too tipsy off some stellar whiskey. Their annual Rye in July featured some amazing offerings. Shout out the team at the West End Tavern for hosting another fantastic night of sips. Rye selections included Sagamore Spirit Distillery Select Tequila Finished, Angel’s Envy Rum-Cask Finished, Laws Whiskey House San Luis Rye, WhistlePig 10 Year Straight Rye, Michter’s Barrel-Strength Rye, and Minor Case Sherry Cask Finish.

Whiskey ambassadors from Sagamore Spirit Distillery and Laws Whiskey House were there to guide us through the tasting experience. Best part being the in-house made appetizers and accompaniments, which ended up being incredibly delicious and very large amounts of food. Hey WET, please always do this. Count us in.

Things we wanted to attend

WET also hosted their 13th-Annual Jul-IPA Rooftop Party, their annual celebration of the illustrious IPA! This was a lovely rooftop party, live auction, food from the West End Tavern, live music, IPAs from 10+ badass breweries (including Dogfish Head Brewery, New Image Brewing, Bootstrap Brewing Company, Horse & Dragon Brewing Company, and others), and whiskey tastings from Sagamore Spirit Distillery and Breckenridge Bourbon. Sagamore is popular.

Be Social, that nationwide roving band of drunken miscreants and other awesome people hosted both of their annual Denver drink festivals, the summer tequila festival and the summer whiskey festival, which we’ve attended in the past. We did not attend this year because they fell in the same time frame as other events, including the Underground Music Showcase which we love and would never miss. Importantly, we’ve gotten more into our tequilas of late and we were sad to not have the opportunity to further expand our palates. Maybe they’ll invite us next year.

Rye In July

Upcoming events

Deviation Distillery is opening a location at the Dairy Block and Denver; not in our area but they are serving our favorite drink. As a massive fan of artisanal gins, knowing how good the water and botanicals are in Colorado, and what other gin distillers are doing in that area, we’re definitely going to pop in for the tasting on September 14th and you all should plan for a visit shortly thereafter. They’ll be on Blake in the alley space at the Dairy Block, not to be confused with Boulder’s Dairy Art Center.

Bottles we tasted

The good folks over at J Rutledge Distillers sent us a bottle of High Plains Rye, which we enjoyed. We’d be remiss in our reporting if we didn’t state unequivocally that this is not something that you want to drink straight and neat. I enjoyed it more with a few cubes to open it up, let it breathe, and mellow the directness of the distillation. We also enjoyed it with mixers. In our opinion, here at Yellow Scene, it’s almost impossible to mess up a whiskey. We’ve been known to drink plastic bottles of Black Velvet Canadian on occasion. That said, we do know when a whiskey is able to stand on its own. This isn’t quite there yet, but we expect the next batch or two to elevate.

Do you have anything else going on this here? Invite us. We love to come out, get a buzz, and get you some buzz for what you’re doing at your brewery, distillery, winery, bar, restaurant, or backyard shenanigan.