AC Golden ~ Golden, Colorado

Agree with RD here, AC Golden are serious brewers. Their mainstream brands are awful, but that's where the revenue lies. But give their craft beers a chance.

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A craft brewer within a great big macro-brewery, AC Golden has some commercially-known brands along with a broad array of mostly unknown, but often quite excellent – even award-winning - beers & ales. My familiarity with the beers predates any knowledge of the brewery itself: I’ve been drinking Barmen, their Czech-style pilsner, for at least 20 years (and loving it!). But one of my first days working at the Golden brewery for the organization then known as MillerCoors, I joined some of my colleagues for a beer at the employee pub. Expecting limited variety that included Coors and Coors Light, I was set straight by one of my old friends with a beer called Ctayt, a barrel-aged strong stout that had recently won the gold medal at Great American Beer Festival (this was late 2015). It was remarkable – easily one of my 5 favorite stouts of all time. He also introduced me to their barrel-aged porter – possibly even better than the stout! Other better-known labels include Batch 19, Native and Herman Joseph – all good, but none as remarkable as Barmen or the 2 aged dark beers.

- Rude Dante review