Colorado, #100 and Then Some

Last month I made a trip to Denver to see The Alternate Routes and Stephen Kellogg, two of my musical favorites, play at the Soiled Dove.  My friend, Adrienne, went along for the ride and Uncle Ron in Fort Collins was kind enough to put us up for the weekend.  I'd mentioned to Ron that I was coming up on my 100th brewery, and while that was not necessarily my goal for the weekend, he made sure it happened.

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Luck was against us our first day out.  We'd made a big list of possible stops, and armed with the list, Adrienne's iPhone and Daphne, my Garmin, we set off for our first stop, Caution Brewing in Aurora.  It is located in an industrial park, and after much hunting about, we finally found it.  Closed.  Not scheduled to open until 2:00.  It was noon.

Me and the crew in the Huckleberry outside Caution.

Next on the list was Black Shirt Brewing.  Closed until 2:00.  Then Our Mutual Friend.  Closed until 2:00.

Adrienne called the next stop, River North, to save us a trip.  OPEN!  This place has a cool feel to it.  Tiny, but with garage-style doors open to the beautiful day and a small patio area.  As the driver, I couldn't indulge as I truly wanted to, but I did try the Hello Darkness Black IPA.  It was good for the style, but I'm starting to think that black IPAs aren't really my thing.  Wish I'd gone with the saison.  (#96)

Adrienne and Uncle Ron at River North Brewery

From River North, it was a short three blocks to The Sandlot at Coors Field, a.k.a. Blue Moon Brewing.  The brewers have a lot of fun with their brews, lots of strange, exotic ingredients.  I tried the Agave Nectar Ale, the Pine in the Neck and Tongue Thai-ed.  The first two weren't bad, but I really liked the Tongue Thai-ed.  Packed with the light, refreshing flavors of lemongrass and basil.  Really different.  Pretty darned good.  (#97)

Adrienne and I were hungry and across the street from The Sandlot is Breckenridge Brewing.  I'd been to the brewery on a past trip, and we could get their beers in Pittsburgh so I was no stranger.  They have good food and nice beer.  It was also Derby Day - the Kentucky Derby, that is - and we ended up at Breckenridge for quite a while to catch the race.  I had some excellent fried calamari with a vanilla porter; I don't recommend the two together, but I was happy all the same.  Adrienne went with a gigantic shrimp po' boy.  Uncle Ron, having been to brewery before as well, had one beer and decided to head back to River North to try some more of their offerings.

After watching Orb win that very muddy race, we went to collect Ron and the Huckleberry and decided to try Our Mutual Friend once again.  This time with more success.  It's a nice place, full of hipsters, with more of a coffee shop atmosphere.  I think I tried the saison, and I think it was alright.  I do remember that Adrienne had the coffee stout.  She loved it.  I didn't.  But I don't like coffee (I know, I'm weird) and this coffee stout really tasted more like coffee than beer.  I wouldn't mind having the chance to spend some time at this place and really give the beers a try sometime.  I really just liked the place. (#98)

 

Our Mutual Friend Malt & Brew

Uncle Ron and me at Black Shirt Brewing Co.

We still had a little time to kill before heading to the concert so we decided to try Black Shirt Brewing again.  Open!  We'd looked the place up online the night before and realized all of their beers have a red theme:  Red Rye, Red Saison, Red IPA.  Uncle Ron and I being from the Husker state and putting the red theme together with blackshirts, we both thought the place must be a secret Husker hideout in the heart of a bad neighborhood in Buffalo country.  Unfortunately we were wrong.  It's just a couple brothers who call themselves the Black Shirt Gang (or something like that) who like the idea of all those red brews.


While the Husker theme didn't pan out, the beers sure did.  I tried the Red Saison and Ron tried the Sour Mash Red Saison.  Both were really, really good.  I liked mine just a teensy bit more than Ron's but only just.  Beautiful beers, served in unusual glasses.  The place has a darker feel to it, the customers and employees adorned in a lot of black, but the vibe in the place is far from dark.  We had a fun chat with the owner after he helped Uncle Ron figure out who sang Right Here, Right Now (Jesus Jones), and another entertaining conversation one regarding how bra sizes work.  And then it was time to go to the show.  (#99)

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The next day we headed for the "hills" at Estes Park.  We were going to go into Rocky Mountain National Park, but most of the roads were still closed by snow so we just opted for visiting the visitor center.  Then we had some lunch at Smokin' Dave's BBQ.  Oh, my heaven, that's some good stuff!  They also happen to carry a beautiful selection of micros.  I went with Avery's IPA; I absolutely had to. 

Smokin' Dave's BBQ

Filled up on good food and beer it was time for the big moment:  brewery #100!!!  Estes Park Brewing ended up being the big one.  It was a bit of a disappointment as far as the overall beer experience went, but it was still punctuated with little things that made it all good, a big one being the Redrum Ale.  For those of you who didn't know, the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park was the inspiration for Stephen King's The Shining, hence the Redrum.  If you still don't know what I'm talking about, I'm very sorry.  Read the book, or better still, watch the movie - the Jack Nicholson version.  Anyway, tastings were free but they were small and they were out of several options.  Just as well since I had more driving to do.

Brewery #100 - Estes Park Brewery

The Stanley Hotel - Estes Park, CO

Me at Oskar Blues in Lyons, CO

We did a bit of shopping in Estes - sidewalk sales galore - and then it was on to Lyons, CO, home of the original Oskar Blues.  For a brewery with such far-reaching distribution, I expected a bigger show, but this location is just barely a step above a biker bar.  I've only driven past their newest location in Longmont which looks pretty darned tricked out.  This location... not so much.  But it had its own special ambiance and I did enjoy it. (#101)

Next was City Star Brewing in Berthoud, CO.  This was a really neat little place with interesting beers and crazy, fun barkeep.  I'm not generally a fan of chili beers, but theirs had a wonderful, smoky taste to it because of the type of chilis they used.  I also tried their IPA (that's what I do), but it wasn't anything special.  I wish I could have tried a few more, but my companions were ready to move on.  Another brewery I'd like to spend a bit more time enjoying someday.  (#102)

City Star Brewing - Berthoud, CO

 

Our final stop on this wondrous brewery tour was the home of my friends, Cori and Jeff.  Jeff is an amazing home brewer.  One sample after another, each one better than anything we'd had the rest of the weekend.  He had a wheat and something on the hoppier side, but his specialty are sours.  Oh, my!!!!  So, so good.  As was his hummus, I must say.  We missed dinner and were grateful of the offering of hummus and chips.  A perfect pairing for all the liquid treats he presented us with.  While not an official brewery I choose to count this as one considering its utter awesomeness.  I asked Jeff what he would call his brewery if he had one, and with no hesitation:  Grand Illusions.  So there you go.  Grand Illusions Brewing by Jeff.  YES!  (#103)

Cheers!  Cori & Jeff and their Grand Illusions