Mountain Tap releases new bike-inspired beer, Prickly Pedal, Friday

Rich Tucciarone was hard at work inside The Mountain Tap Brewery Monday, but this was not just another day for the longtime brewer and co-founder of the downtown brewpub.

This day he was not crafting one of his beers, but instead was installing a new fermenting tank that will allow the brewery, located at 910 Yampa Street, to increase it’s production by 20%.

“This winter, we literally could not keep up with the demand for beers,” said Tucciarone. “It was a busier winter at the brewpub with both residents and visitors, and that, combined with our increased draft beer presence at the Steamboat Ski Area and the introduction of our beer in cans, resulted in spending much of the winter operating tank-to-mouth, so to speak.”

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Tucciarone said a fourth fermenting tank was always part of the plan, and after ordering the tank in October he had hoped it would be online in February. However, supply chain issues delayed its delivery to Monday, April 25 — six years to the day of when the brewery had its pizza oven delivered. Tucciarone is thrilled it arrived in time for the busy summer.

On Monday, Tucciarone worked alongside assistant brewer Cory Adanalian and local rancher Tim Brodman, who used his tractor to carefully move the tank from the flatbed trailer, navigate it over the patio, and stand it upright in the brewery. Once there, the three men used a pallet truck to place the new fermenter in line with the others.

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“The shipping and logistics and supply chain is real,” Tucciarone said. “The shipping industry is in a complete disarray with shortage of workers and higher volume, so just trying to get this lined up was a bit of a challenge.”

It will take a couple of days to plumb the fermenter, which measures 12 feet tall and weighs 1,200 pounds, but Tucciarone hopes to put it to use next week.

“It will enable us to maintain a variety of beers on tap at the brewpub,” Tucciarone said. “It will also help keep up with the demand for our off-site sales with the cans that we’ve been doing.”

In addition to being sold at the brewpub, Mountain Tap beers are sold in cans at the brewpub, Central Park and Ski Haus liquors.

“We’re just trying to manage it,” Tucciarone said. “Our core business is at the brewpub, and we want to take care of the brewpub, but there’s also demand for the cans and we wanted to have that as an additional offering a few locations in town.”

The list of beers the Mountain Tap offers will grow this week with the release of Prickly Pedal — a collaboration with Routt County Riders. That beer will be released on Friday, and Tucciarone, who describes himself as an avid mountain biker, is excited to see how the beer is received.

“A lot of our regulars at Mountain Tap are avid in the cycling community, so we’ve been talking about doing a collaboration all winter,” Tucciarone said. “We kind of brainstormed some ideas and since spring is typically the kickoff of desert riding season, and a lot of people migrate to the desert, we thought we’d do a little desert twist.”

The beer is brewed using the prickly pear fruit, which can been found growing on cacti in desert regions. Riders who renew their Routt County Rider memberships or sign up for a new membership on Friday will get a free pint. The brewery will also donate a $1 for each Prickly Pedal beer it sells to Routt County Riders.

“It’s got a melon, and guava type flavor and aroma,” Tucciarone said. “We also felt that it should be a beer that’s really refreshing after a bike ride, whether it’s a mountain bike, road bike or gravel bike ride.”

To reach John F. Russell, call 970-871-4209, email jrussell@SteamboatPilot.com or follow him on Twitter @Framp1966.