This Saturday, December 3rd, at the Fillmore Auditorium in Denver, Kyle Hollingsworth will host his third annual Hoppy Holidays event. The action starts from 5:00-7:30 with tastings from over 30 craft breweries, followed by performances from the Kyle Hollingsworth Band and JJ Grey & Mofro. Hoppy Holidays, which also serves as a Benefit for Conscious Alliance, also will offer a musical debut: Bill Nershi & Kyle Hollingsworth Duet. On Thursday afternoon, just moments before walking into area radio station KBCO for a performance, Hollingsworth offered some thoughts on Hoppy Holidays, the latest in brewing trends and the forthcoming album from the String Cheese Incident as well as some very special inspiration from Dewey Cox to duet.
How did Hoppy Holidays come about and what can people could expect from the event?
Hoppy Holidays is a celebration of the craft brew industry and the music industry. It came about three years ago at the Fillmore here in Denver. They had an opening in December, so my friend Brian [Heisler] and I threw together Hoppy Holidays. That first one went really well with the Infamous Stringdusters and of course my passion for beer. I was able to connect the dots and bring together a good collection of breweries. I think the first year we had sixteen or so. This year we have over thirty.
We always find a headlining band and I do the in-betweener sets. Last year was Anders Osborne and this year is JJ Grey [& Mofro]. Then we were looking for an opening band and I called Billy. I had been watching Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story where he performs that song “Let’s Duet,” which is kind of a play on words with “do it” and “duet,” so I thought, “That’s it, Billy and I need to duet on stage in front of everybody!” [Laughs]
So I called him up and said, “I’m watching Walk Hard, do you want to duet at the Fillmore?” And he said, “Yes, let’s duet.” We’re not even called a duo on the flyers, it says Billy and Kyle Duet at the Fillmore.
We had rehearsal yesterday and it was a little scary at first, but we finally figured out what will and will not work in that setting. It’s gonna be a lot of fun this year, I’m really excited. A lot of work, but it’s going to be a blast.
Have you previously performed with Billy as a two-piece?
No, never before. It was a brainstorm for me and Billy said, “What the heck.” Billy does a lot of solo acoustic things. I kind of do that but not too much, so it actually gives me a little bit of a crutch having Billy up there with me.
At first we were saying we should get really complicated and learn a bunch of Frank Zappa songs, but then I thought about playing all those basslines with my left hand. [Laughs] So we decided to go with some more familiar material and throw in some fun covers. We’re going to do a new take on some String Cheese stuff and bring in some new songs.
I saw a photo of yourself and members of the band chopping wood at Billy’s house. Is that a tradition where you go help him out?
Wouldn’t that be awesome? It should be. No, we all went up there because he hurt his arm or something, and he needed some help with the cutting of the wood. So we had this huge family String Cheese event, it was really great. Our merch guy showed up, our road manager showed up, a lot of friends in the community and everybody was cutting wood. It was good times.
Of course, musicians with sharp implements…
That was the thing, we had to be careful.
In terms of Hoppy Holidays, how does it work between the beer tastings and the music?
We do a beer festival early on. We have tastings from about 5:00 to about 7:30. During that time Billy and I are going to do some playing. I think our duet set is during that time. The first hour to two hours is mainly to drink with some music, and then we jump into the rest of the music later into the evening.
Are there any particular beers or breweries that you’re particularly psyched to have with you this year?
I have a beer out with the Ska Brewing Company called Modus Mandarina. I made it with them over a year ago and it turned out to be such a hit that they actually canned it. So that’ll be out there.
My new favorite I think is Bootstrap, they’re out of Niwot. It’s a little more in the Belgian style, a little bit more sour. My tastes are changing! I’m a huge IPA head but I’ve been kind of branching out a little bit—going a little funky, as they would say, because the yeast brings out the funk.
Photo by Erik Kabik
For a while, a lot of the creativity in the craft brew realm seemed to be with the IPAs and the double IPAs but lately, at least from my perspective, a lot of that is now taking place with other styles. What are your thoughts?
I agree. That’s where people are getting a bit little malted out. I think the sweetness and the heaviness of some of the IPAs can be a little much at times. There’s the whole session craze, which is more of a summer thing with the lighter malt bodies but hoppy. So I find that people have been trying to make beers that are still hoppy but not as heavy, not as sweet. I think what’s happening is that people are going toward funkier, different types of yeast strains. At some point, it can become bad—“Something has happened to this beer that is not supposed to happen.” It’s one of those things where we’ll see how far people’s taste buds can go but I’m leaning a little more that way.
When you collaborate with a brewery, what is that process like?
It depends on which brewery. With Ska, which is down in Durango, we did a FaceTime and we went back and forth with recipes. Other times when it’s local or when I flew out to Stone, I’m there throughout. With Stone we did multiple tastings. I flew out once and we took all the elderberries and all the different things we wanted to do with them and we tested it out and tasted it and then came back the next time and actually made it.
So it’s kind of a mixture of two different things. When I collaborated with Robert Hunter [On the song “45th of November”], that was more like the collaboration I did with Ska, it was more virtual. We met over the internet and sent files back and forth. I’ve also written some songs recently with Bonnie [Paine] from Elephant Revival, where we get in the same room and collaborate. I think it works both ways and you can get either good products or bad products out of that, you never know.
With a song, you have the results right away. A beer takes more time. Obviously it’s science, but at the end of the day there’s still some mystery to it. Are you ever surprised by a beer?
Recently I made Amacron Hibiscus Hoppy Wheat with Odd13 Brewing and the ingredients made me a little bit nervous. We had passionfruit and hibiscus, and I thought, “I don’t know, it could turn out to be like Kool-Aid or something.” But sometimes you have to wait on the beer—over two weeks it can grow on you and change. I was pleasantly surprised.
Jumping to music, you just announced a new album with String Cheese, Believe. Do you have a solo project in the works as well?
Hopefully I’m going to have an album next year at some point around this time. I’ve been working in the Lab, releasing tracks one by one. I have about six songs with some more go and then hopefully I’ll release it next fall.
With String Cheese, we’d started the pre-order a couple days ago. We’re super psyched about that.
String Cheese has been sharing some songs via the Sound Lab. Will there also be material on Believe that has not yet been heard live or from the Lab?
Yes, there will be some songs that people have not heard. One of my songs on Believe I wrote in a more Ben Fold Five style, kind of a piano-Wurlitzer written, driven kind of rock song. I think it’s quirky in a cool way, but I’ll be really curious about people’s reactions.
Bringing it back to the show on Saturday, if folks are on the fence about coming out for Hoppy Holidays, can you make a brief pitch for them to join you at the Fillmore?
I mean, when do you ever get to see Billy and Kyle duet on stage, so that’s the first thing. Second of all, I think it’s a great thing to do to support Conscious Alliance. Also it’s an opportunity to try some unique beers from breweries around the Colorado area that have been personally chosen by me. And then you get to see a great show at the Fillmore on a Saturday night.
