House-made beers now flowing Pygmy Stallion at El Rancho in Evergreen

Almost six months after a change in ownership, house-made beer is once again flowing at El Rancho in Evergreen.

On April 14, brewer Adam Gurtshaw debuted six original recipes on tap at the historic restaurant, which is now operated by Frank and Jacqueline Bonanno of Denver’s Bonanno Concepts.

Originally opened as a trading post in 1948, El Rancho became a brewery in 2015 when then-owners Paul, Robert and Thomas Vincent built one. It won several awards for its beers, including a gold medal at the 2016 Great American Beer Festival and a silver at the most recent World Beer Cup.

El Rancho’s new owners inherited the 10-barrel brew house and additional fermenters when they bought the property out of bankruptcy.

While beers were previously released under the El Rancho moniker, the brewery now has a new name: Pygmy Stallion. According to general manager Ashley Weinschenk, the name started as an inside joke among the Bonanno family but stuck because of the quaint brewing space at El Rancho.

Gurtshaw, who most recently worked at Denver Beer Co., joined the Bonannos’ team in January enticed by the opportunity to build something brand new. He describes his ethos as “taking the approach of traditional brewing but pushing the limits of modern beer.”

Gurtshaw cut his teeth working for German-style brewpub chain Gordon Biersch, which brewed according to the strict rules of the Bavarian Reinheitsgebot, so he’s using that foundation to innovate with new ingredients, like thiolized yeast.

“The yeast are modified slightly to produce these things called thiols, which are in all plant matter,” Gurtshaw said. When traditional yeast strains are modified to unbind the compounds and produce free thiols, it amplifies certain ones and “can produce all these crazy flavors,” he said.

“The base of it produces these insane tropical, passion fruit and guava flavors,” Gurtshaw added.

In fact, four of the six beers on Pygmy Stallion’s debut lineup use thiolized yeast, including an American IPA with tropical fruit aromas and flavors; an herbal and earthy American pale ale; a crushable tart cherry and lemon sour; and a 4.9% ABV stout.

Other recipes include a dry-hopped hazy IPA and a golden ale that drinks like a wheat beer hybrid.

All the beers finish clean and crisp like Gurtshaw prefers them. In the coming months, he’ll debut several lagers — for example, a “boutique” lager that Gurtshaw describes as somewhere between an American light lager and a German Helles, and a Marzen-style lager — to pair with the rising temperatures and El Rancho’s numerous patio spaces.

Pygmy Stallion beer is expected to be available primarily at the restaurant in Evergreen, however, it may also grace the taps at other Bonnano Concepts eateries in Denver, Gurtshaw said.

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