Anymore, any sort of vacation I go on turns into a beer finding/brewery visiting/drinking adventure. This past weekend is no exception and the weekend trip to Denver took a one day detour into Fort Collins. The post is going to run kind of long because I need to cover 4 breweries and a lot of beers (25 to be exact).
New Belgium
First stop in the morning was New Belgium. A note to anyone that wants to go there, you need a reservation for a tour and they seem to fill up well in advance (I checked the day before and they were booked 1 ½ weeks out, 8 or so tours a day). Even without a tour, the tasting room is cool and three beer samples costs a grand total of zero dollars. The tasting room has the feel you would expect from New Belgium, there is bike stuff everywhere including all of the chairs/stools which are made from old bike wheels. Beer-wise, I am documented as not being a Fat Tire fan, but New Belgium makes some tasty stuff. The only beer that was new to me was their Dark Heather Saison, the others I tried are more common, Trippel, Mothership Wit and Blue Paddle. Here are some shots of the tasting room and the New Belgium Airstream in the parking lot.
Tasting Room
Chairs Made from Old Bike Wheels
New Belgium Airstream
Odell’s
Stop number two was at Odell’s, probably not a house-hold name since they don’t distribute into Idaho, but they are pushing 21 years old and know how to make a good beer. Both Odell’s and Fort Collins Brewery are great examples of how well the craft industry is doing as Odells just went through a big addition/remodel and FCB is about to open what looks like an awesome new facility down the street from Odell’s. Got on a tour at this stop and even though there isn’t much difference between most breweries, I still like to go on tours to pick up new ideas or justify the ways that I am doing things.
The beers were good, although I thought that their big beers and one-offs were a noticeable step down from their year-round line (which I really enjoyed). A great place to check out in Fort Collins, hopefully some of their beers make it this way.
Equinox
The newest brewery to Fort Collins, Equinox opened about a month ago downtown Fort Collins. This stop was both the quickest and most valuable stop of the day. Not only did I get to meet up with and talk to some guys I went to Siebel with (see next section), I got a change to talk with the owner/brewer and had a great talk about getting the TTB license. They had a great range of beers, all different enough that there was something to appeal to everyone.
Funkwerks
I didn’t actually get to check out Funkwerks, as they are not an operational brewery yet, but wanted to give them a shout-out anyway. Two guys (Gordon and Brad) I went to Siebel with are in the process of starting an Organic Saison Brewery in Fort Collins. I met them at Equinox, had some beers and talked about our respective projects. Great to see those guys again and can't wait to start drinking my way through all the bottles of beer they gave me.
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