TRVE
Denver, CO
Start Date: 2012
Signature Metal Beer: Cursed
The bands that will be performing at the upcoming Decibel Metal & Beer Fest on April 22-23 in Philadelphia are no doubt familiar to Decibel readers, but we wanted to shine a little light on the craft beer underground by spotlighting the breweries that will be pouring their beers at the festival. Denver’s TRVE are a unique kind of kvlt in the beer world. The brewery is so legit, in fact, their head brewer, Zach, who plays in Khemmis, will be performing at the festival. Proprietor Nick Nunns gave us all the details about the beer.
You were, as far as I know, the first brewery that was unabashedly metal from Day 1. What inspired you to make your love of metal part of your brewery?
There are many breweries we have to give a lot of credit to for being pretty fucking metal from the start. Three Floyd’s and Surly both had very “metal” approaches from their inception, so we owe so much to those guys for laying the groundwork that made a place like TRVE possible.
I had always conceived of TRVE as a metal brewery, but it wasn’t until I visited Kuma’s Corner [restaurant in Chicago] that I realized you can really put the heavy metal flag in the ground, and if what you’re making is of high enough quality, people of all walks or musical tastes can appreciate it for being unabashedly true to itself.
Has your metal aesthetic attracted metal musicians (as well as metal fans) to TRVE?
Absolutely. In the time we’ve been open we’ve had a ton of touring bands stop in for a beer on their way into, out of, or simply through town. We always try to hook touring bands up with a bunch of free beer. It’s our way of giving them some respite from the life of pissing in used water bottles and eating Taco Bell while they’re out on the road.
We’re also lucky enough to have seen a goddamned veritable renaissance of heavy metal here in Denver. The caliber of bands that Denver is spitting out is at the highest I’ve seen in the decade I’ve lived there. Shit, two of Decibel‘s top 3 picks from 2016—Khemmis and Blood Incantation—are Denver based!
Metal is always progressing and changing, with styles transforming from era to era and band to band. Do you see the same thing happening in craft beer?
We’re living in an era of trend chasing in craft beer, with a lot of breweries jumping on bandwagons and putting out certain beers in order to fit in with the cool kids. So, in that way, the market is changing, but I don’t know that progressing is always the word I would use. The one thing that I have seen progressing is a collective push by brewers to pump out higher quality beer with each batch, and to take each other to task if they’re not.
I certainly think that beer styles evolve a lot with consumer taste, much like subgrenres of metal have evolved over time. In the same way a band can have elements of death, black and doom metal all combined in some way, brewers have founds ways to take elements from disparate beers they love and mash them together in recipes that work. Sour IPAs and hoppy Pilsners are examples of mashed up or bastardized beer styles.
What’s the most “metal” beer TRVE brews?
Cursed. It has a fucking dimed HM-2 on the label.
Why should attendees of first annual the Decibel Metal & Beer Fest seek out TRVE beers at the festival? Give Decibel readers your best pitch.
If you’re looking for some sour beer at the fest, we’ll be the ones who are gonna give it to you. We’re also going to bring out our annual weedian ode to Sleep, a double IPA called Nazareth.
To get tickets to the Decibel Metal & Beer Fest, go here.
