Unlike most beer festivals, Manitou Springs’ Craft Lagerfest, which returns to Soda Springs Park on Saturday, has one star brew.But 14 breweries, all of which had a hand in its creation, will celebrate the success of Warning Sing Eisbock.The high-alcohol bock, which will make its sixth consecutive appearance at what may be the most talked-about lager-specific festival in the country, is a metaphor for what is right in the brewing industry. That, in turn, may best exemplify what is right with the festival.The brainchild of festival founders Jason Yester (co-owner of the soon-to-open Trinity Brewing) and Mike Hall (Oskar Blues brewer), the first batch was made in a Colorado Springs garage in 2003 while the two listened to the Talking Heads. By the next year, they invited others to get in on the action and threw a big party where the brewers got together and, well, brewed.This year’s batch was the product of a March 1 gathering at CB & Potts of Englewood that ranks as one of the most laid-back product creations in Colorado history. Everyone used to take turns stirring the malt, Yester indicated, but with most of the system automated these days, the biggest portion of the time was spent standing around tasting beer and talking beer.Warning Sign, a silver-medalist at last year’s Great American Beer Festival, has a unique combination of ethereal smoothness with the heavy mouth feel of the intoxicating beer that it is (past batches have gotten as high as 15 percent alcohol by volume). Different host brewers bring different personalities to each batch – CB &Potts brewmaster Bill Eye brought in what was called the best lager yeast in the world this year – but the taste is somewhat consistent.Also a tradition is the cause that all sales of the beer benefit: open spaces. Red Rock Canyon, Section 16 and North Cheyenne Canyon all get some of the proceeds, which is why it is known as the “earthsaving beer.”It’ll be among the roughly 75 beers available at the festival Saturday, which runs from 1 to 6 p.m. and will cost you $25 for a bottomless sampling cup. It can also be found at the creator breweries – including Rock Bottom, Trinity, Phantom Canyon, Bristol and Arctic here in town – but supplies are limited.There may well be better beers at the festival, but I’ll guarantee that there wasn’t one cooked up in a more jovial atmosphere. Taste it yourself, and maybe you’ll find a little of the carefree, sharing spirit that inhabits most brewers and makes their greatest creations works of pure joy as well.-

Contact the writer: esealover@comcast.net

Newly acquired defensive tackle Dewayne Robertson is excited to play in the Broncos’ 4-3 defense. Photo by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS