Since June of 2011, we've been at full brewing capacity and unable to pursue new accounts for our small-batch draft and hand-canned beers. Yes, a good "problem" to have in these tough times. And we're not complaining.

But despite that scenario, our pioneering brewpub (founded by Colorado governor John Hickenlooper) boosted its annual sales for our self-distributed liquid art by 33% over 2010. We also produced 3870 barrels of beer in 2011, up from 3500 barrels in 2010.

Very exciting for us!

To help us increase the supply of Rail Yard Ale, Silverback Pale Ale and our other fine beers, we're now wrapping up our first brewery expansion in 13 years.

Our panel of US and CO beer experts has picked the three finalists for our 2012 Beerdrinker of the Year award. Warren Monteiro, Greg Nowatzki and J. Wilson will compete in the Beerdrinker of the Year finals on February 25, at 2 PM, at Wynkoop Brewing Company. The event is open to the public and admission is free.

Our Dec. 3 Parade of Darks fundraiser exceeded our goals for big fun, great beer and hearty fundraising for Denver food pantry MetroCareRing. The grand total was a whopping $12,890.

We brought in $9100 through ticket sales (way beyond our $7500 goal) and additional dough from the event's silent auction and a separate donation Web site we set up in conjunction with the event.

With Metro CareRing's dollar-stretching, donated-food-gathering, almost-all-volunteer efforts, that money provides a whopping 97,000 meals and feeds the group's clientele for a month. That's huge.

Our brew team landed a pair of medals in the 2011 Great American Beer Festival judging at this year's festival here in Denver.

At Saturday's GABF award ceremony, head brewer Andy Brown and his team won a bronze medal for B3K Schwarzbier in the Kellerbier/Zwickelbier bracket. The category had 48 entries.

Belgorado -- our fresh-hopped, all-Colorado-ingredients, Belgian-style pale ale -- won a bronze medal in the Experimental Beer category. That bracket held 83 entries.

We're psyched about the honors and this huge recognition for the quality of our beers.

These are the third and fourth medals for Andy and his Wynkoop Brewing Company staff, they won gold GABF medals in 2008 for both B3K and Wixa Weiss.

Wynkoop Brewing founder and Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper stopped by our booth at the fest to help us celebrate the medals. What a thrill!

See the complete list of GABF medal winners at www.greatamericanbeerfestival.com.

We're now serving our latest custom, ultra-small-batch beer, Brown Palace Rooftop Honey Saison. The beer features loads of local terroir and terroof: it's made with 75 pounds of honey from the three beehives atop the iconic Brown Palace Hotel here in Denver.

This very rare honey features a unique mint note due to the bees foraging on the linden trees that line the streets of downtown Denver. In addition to this honey, the beer was built with pale malts, wheat, and European hops. It was fermented with a blend of four strains of saison yeast.

Rooftop Honey Saison features aromas and flavors of sliced pears, pale malt and white pepper, with a creamy body, herbal notes and a dry finish. It's 6.7% ABV. We made just 10 barrels (20 kegs) of this beer and it's available on draft in Denver only at the Brown Palace's Ship Tavern bar and Wynkoop Brewing Company.