By Dylan Hochstedler

It was a sunny Thursday morning in July when the Thirst Colorado tribe mobilized its office for the day, setting up shop in the brewhouse of Tivoli Brewing Co. to work on a collaboration brew. Well, sunny for most of the group. The exception was Neill Pieper, marketing manager for Thirst Colorado.

By the time the rest of the team members arrived at Tivoli at 9 a.m., Pieper already had five hours of work under his belt. He had met Tivoli head brewer Nate Nicklas at 4 a.m. to help start the mash for the brew.

After weeks of meetings and benchmark testing, it was finally time to brew Thirst Hoppy Märzen, an updated version of the classic German Märzen style.

“Nobody has tweaked this style so I proposed to Thirst that we dry hop it for our collab,” said Nicklas. “A Märzen is a style that was traditionally brewed in March and then lagered in the cold caves through the summer and was to be served during Oktoberfest. This collab will differ from the traditional style simply by adding more hops to the recipe and by using American hops rather than traditional German noble hops.”

The result? A lager with a deep copper hue and ruby highlights. Hints of peach and pear dominate the hop aroma while the pilsner malt provides a well-rounded character, intertwining with the hop fruitiness and lager fermentation.

Thirst Hoppy Märzen initially tastes very fruit forward, followed by a stream of malty-bready-caramel flavors. It provides a medium-dry finish with lingering peach and caramel flavors at the end.

According to Pieper, the early-morning effort truly paid off. “It’s really a unique, flavorful beer that will stand out among the more traditional German styles,” he said.

If you’re itching to try some, there will be plenty to go around for everyone.

“We currently have 28 barrels of this brand, which is equivalent to approximately 9,260 bottles,” said Nicklas. “We will be distributing this statewide.”

The first time you’ll be able to get your lips on a Thirst Hoppy Märzen will be Friday, Sept. 8, at Tivoli’s Second Anniversary Party. From 5-10 p.m., head over to Tivoli’s Tap House, 900 Auraria Parkway, to taste the Märzen and other offerings from more than 15 breweries. Live music will be headlined by Woodshed Red, a Colorado Springs-based band that’s inspired by bluegrass, blues, funk and rock genres. There will be a chance to win a pair of handmade Meier skis that are co-branded with the Tivoli logo or a full ski-rack with a custom fairing from Colorado Fairing Co.

“I am very excited for this brand to make its way into the marketplace. I feel that it will do well solely based on the flavor profile and the comments heard from people that have tasted it,” Nicklas said. “Also, it has been fun tweaking a traditional style to fit more modern hops and to throw a fun spin on the flavor profiles by combining the nice caramel flavors with some late summer fruit flavors and a touch of pine to play with the outdoors concept from Thirst’s mission.”

Tivoli CEO Corey Marshall said collaborating with Thirst Colorado made sense for both companies.

“Thirst Colorado Magazine shares a lot of our values,” Marshall said. “We both stand for Colorado craft beer and Colorado outdoors. Because of their solid and creative coverage of the Colorado craft beer scene, our brewery and our customers have become regular readers of Thirst Colorado Magazine. When the idea of a collab beer came up, it was a no-brainer for us.”

Dylan Hochstedler is a student at Metropolitan State University who enjoys exploring Colorado and the craft scene.