Iowans coming to Colorado!

Discussion in 'Mountain' started by AlexRClausen, May 14, 2016.

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  1. AlexRClausen

    AlexRClausen Initiate (0) Jan 13, 2014 Iowa

    My girlfriend and I are taking a vacation to Colorado in a couple weeks. Planning on visiting as many breweries as possible, like Odell, New Belgium, Coors (GF wants to) and some other ones that distribute to Iowa. Looking for suggestions on places that maybe locals only know about, also pretty new to visiting breweries not sure if tours and such are free or to sign up whatever. Also any other activities to do while in the state, doesnt have to include beer but would be nice if they did.
    Thanks for the replies and ideas and Cheers!
     
  2. spoony

    spoony Pooh-Bah (2,517) Aug 1, 2012 Colorado
    Pooh-Bah Society

    Most places are free. New Belgium requires reservations, but if you get them, it is worth the trip. As for other suggestions of places to visit, do some searching in this forum and you'll find what you're looking for.
     
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  3. MileHighShooter

    MileHighShooter Initiate (0) Nov 23, 2010 Colorado

    The Coors tour is kind of neat, so its worth going to even if you don't want to drink their beers.

    The bigger breweries usually have times they do free tours. Smaller guys, if someone is available, will usually walk you around. But honestly, going into a place that is not a unique niche brewery, or non distributing/CO only place...they're all pretty much the same. Brew house, fermentation area, bar. Nothing exciting, and the tour is over in 2 minutes. Places like Odell or Great Divide, Avery, etc have a bit more of an interactive tour with guides and set times and you get to see a bit more interesting stuff.
     
  4. comradebeerguy

    comradebeerguy Initiate (0) Oct 24, 2015 Colorado

    Hello fellow Iowan.

    Please do go through the forum, this question gets asked at least once a week. Some advice particular to your post:

    Plan to split time between Denver and Fort Collins, at least if you want to go to Coors. And put Coors pretty low on the priority list. I love me some Banquet and have mad respect for AC Golden, but it is an unguided walking tour and you'll see tanks not as pretty as the ones at Odell and NB. While in Golden you want to hit Cannonball Creek, Golden City Brewery and Barrels and Bottles. In Denver there's this neat little place called Comrade, but if you want to go downtown I recommend you and your GF take time on Larimer Street. There's breweries like Ratio and Our Mutual Friend and cool tap houses like Finn's Manor.

    If you can't get tickets to New Belgium's tour show up early, put your name in and you two should be able to get in within an hour or so. You can then ride over to Odell for their tour, then see some smaller breweries like Horse and Dragon and Zwei.

    Have fun.
     
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  5. Mebuzzard

    Mebuzzard Grand Pooh-Bah (4,216) May 19, 2005 Colorado
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    Welcome to the land of 300+ breweries. Hold on tight and enjoy the ride!

    The Coors (Golden) and Bud (Ft. Collins) tours are an experience. Just the sheer volume and speed are staggering.
    Go to the BeerMapping website to see the spread of breweries, but know that there are usually more not accounted for.
    Hard to give you a "must" list, though.
     
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  6. Domingo

    Domingo Grand Pooh-Bah (4,206) Apr 23, 2005 Colorado
    Pooh-Bah Society

    New Belgium's tour is one of the few worth taking. They walk the line between "small" craft brewery and a much larger one like Coors. It offers a fun mix of logistics and excellent beers (including a bunch of wood aging projects).
    I'd do their tour, the one from Coors, and maybe a tiny operation like Wit's End or Strange. Once you've done those, the rest are all pretty much the same thing.
     
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