Kaltenberg Castle Royal Bavarian Brewhouse

What a great place to get a brew after skiing. Don't come in here looking for 50 taps and 100 bottles, you won't find it. They usually have 3-4 house brews on tap and thats it. But they are GOOD. Brewed in house according to family recipies from the home brewery in Germany, their beers are authentic and delicious. It is located in the old gondola house at the Lionshead base at vail. You would never know it used to house a gondola as it looks like an old world german brewhouse. They usually have a pilsner, a dunkles and a seasonal. When I was there it was their witbier and it was spectacular. All beers are served in proper glassware by an attentive staff. The food is traditional German and quite good. In what I would describe as a sub par beer scene in Vail, this place shines.

The brewhouse is a large replica of two of the rooms at Kaltenberg Castle in Germany. One room is the spacious Beer Hall which sported a large ornate wooden bar with porcelain taps. Towering ceilings made the room feel very large. Two large copper kettles adorned one corner of the room. The other room was called the Hunting room, which sported tables and nice hunting painting on the walls. But since it was a nice day we sat outside on the patio overlooking the gondala ride and numerous mountain bikers. The server introduced herself an gave a brief history of the castle in Germany and how the rooms were designed in Vail. There were only three offerings - Pils, Dunkel, and Weissbier. The Pils and Dunkel were good and did not try the Weissbier. We had the sausage sampler, gulash, and a huge brewery pretzel for lunch. All were very good. Great atmosphere and attentive service. The waitress was very knowledgable about the beer and the history of Kaltenberg.