Our June 2010 Brewerys of Colorado tour

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Ace
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Our June 2010 Brewerys of Colorado tour

#1 Post by Ace » Sun Jul 11, 2010 5:25 pm

We left (Kim and I) Friday the 18th, and returned Friday the 25th. We hit Liquid Bread both trips. We had a motel room in Denver the entire time, and made day trips from there. We visited 19 different brewery/brewpubs, including a meadery and a winery. In order, starting in Denver, Wynkoop, Rock Bottom and Great Divide. We ate at the Tilted Kilt in Denver on Saturday, not a brewery, but many taps, and people in kilts. We shared a french dip which was most excellent, and I had a laughing lab brown ale, which was also quite excellent. Later that day we visited Twisted Pine brewery in Boulder. Sunday we opened Mountain Sun brewery in Boulder, my second favorite visit during the trip. Next we went to the Walnut St brewery just down the street, not worth mentioning. Back in Denver that night we happened across the Vine Street pub and soon to be brewery, kin to Mountain Sun. Monday's trip took us up to Nederland, and the Wild Mountain Smokehouse and Brewery where we had the best bbq pork. The trip back down the mountain was wet, with huge balls of semifrozen somethings smacking the windshield. I was rewarded in Boulder with my favorite brewery, Avery, the only brewery in Colorado that I visited twice. Tuesday's treat was the Redstone Meadery in Boulder, followed by Boulder beer and a return to Avery. On Wednesday we trekked to Lyons where we lunched at Oskar Blues brewery. Then a drive up to Estes Park where we sampled their brewery and the Snowy Peaks winery. A drive down to Longmont and the Lefthand Brewery and the other Oskar Blues. Thursday we went to Fort Collins and visited the two big breweries there, O'dells, where we toured the facility, and New Belgium, which had an almost carnival like atmosphere. A quick stop for a sample at Cooper Smith Brewery finished our visit to Ft Collins.

Now, about the beer: In general I would order a flight of samples. In Denver, the best beers I had were at Great Divide. They were closed when we walked to find them Saturday afternoon, but I walked down that evening by myself (Kim had blisters on her feet at that point) and had a flight of four free beers, samples of course, but free! I neglected to take my notepad, but I think I had the pale ale, the scotch ale and perhaps a couple of yetis, they have four. The pint I bought was the chocolate yeti, made with cayenne and chocolate nibs.
I asked the bartender about the hops in the pale and was surprised at how closemouthed he was about them, he would only say that they were American and English pellet, and that they used the whirlpool method to keep them out of the wort.

Twisted Pine in Boulder charged $7.00 for a flight of 5, I had the raspberry wheat which tasted exactly like every other one of those that I had tried recently. The scotch ale, which was true to the style, the amber which had a malty nose and was nicely hoppy. Their cream stout had a roasty smell a full mouthfeel and was truly creamy goodness. The Hoppy Boy IPA was just a typical IPA.

I was told that if you wanted lunch at the Mountain Sun Brewery, to be there at 11 am. Luckily, they open at noon on Sundays. We happened to get there at 11:45 and spent the time until they opened browsing the cute little headshop next door. We were seated, and it wasn't long before there was a crowd standing waiting for seats. Immediately after we ordered, the manager, Mike came around to welcome us. I told him that I had ordered a flight, and just after the burger came, he showed up with a few more samples. The flight was $9.50 for 6 pours. I had the FYIPA, the Yonder mtn stout, Drop kick stout, Pearl st porter, Redemption red, and the Old school stout. The samples Mike brought us were a Blackberry wheat, a Jah Mon Ginger, and a Trippel X, which was made with 3 C-name hops and a belgian yeast, I liked it, probably because I didn't taste the yeast. I didn't care for the ginger, and the blackberry was subtle, not much berry taste came through. The Old school stout was Kim's favorite, I don't think I got more than a small taste, it smelled roasty and was nitro served. The red tasted grassy, and was high in alcohol, the porter was made with molasses.
The Drop kick had a darker head and had a real hoppy flavor. The FYIPA was made with 5 malts. This was also our first tour, featuring the smallest brewery we were to see on the tour, although I did not see Wild Mountains space or equipment. Mike handed us over to John the brewer who showed us his small space, I'm guessing 8' by 20-25'. There was barely room to squeeze by the tanks. They had 5 bright tanks in the walkin freezer that they shared with the restaurant. After the tour, Mike had us stand at their 20ish taps and pose for a picture.

Ok, all this writing about beer makes me want one, will break this off here and continue later.

Steve Brown
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Re: Our June 2010 Brewerys of Colorado tour

#2 Post by Steve Brown » Mon Jul 12, 2010 1:11 am

Wow, Derrick; sounds like a good trip! (And I think a perfect adjunct to curing blisters is a few beers.... At least you'd forget about them a little bit.) The people at Mountain Sun sound friendly, and with an early crowd the food must have been good.

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Melonmon
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Re: Our June 2010 Brewerys of Colorado tour

#3 Post by Melonmon » Mon Jul 12, 2010 8:00 pm

I'm envious of your trip. You packed a lot of beer tastin' in a few days. I can't wait to read about the rest of your beer samples. I'm drinking a crappy regional reisling (waaay to sweet) that somebody wanted us to try, but I think I might have to bail and go get a beer...

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Kollman
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Re: Our June 2010 Brewerys of Colorado tour

#4 Post by Kollman » Tue Jul 13, 2010 10:20 am

What a tasty way to see CO, I hope to do some of the same on my way out there the week of the 26th. Be out on the West slope, so see if I can land a few over in that area. Glenwood Canyon Brewery will be the first on my stop once I make to that side.

Ace
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Re: Our June 2010 Brewerys of Colorado tour

#5 Post by Ace » Fri Jul 16, 2010 11:07 am

Links busted
Last edited by Ace on Tue Sep 11, 2012 9:41 am, edited 1 time in total.

Ace
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Posts: 257
Joined: Sun Mar 19, 2006 1:50 pm
Location: Lawrence KS

Re: Our June 2010 Brewerys of Colorado tour

#6 Post by Ace » Fri Jul 16, 2010 2:32 pm

Also broken

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