Horsefly Brewery

 

 

This place does not practice proper cleaning or sanitation in the brewery! The brewmaster has admitted on multiple occasions that they sanitize their vessels LESS than monthly, and you can taste it in their product. All of the locals that I'm acquainted with stick to the guest taps or mixed drinks. That sweet, musty taste in their beer? Yeah, that's bacteria. Don't believe me? Ask for a tour of the brewing operation.

 

The staff is always friendly, and timlely. Their menu is huge; excellent bar/brew pub style food items. The Tabano Red Beer Cheese is amazing. Great selection of brews on tap. Live music on weekends, football polls, buy a beer forward for friends, and growler refill punch cards. Yes, Ive filled an entire growler punch card because this place is so good! Go see for yourself.

V-The Horsefly is pretty big space located on Main Street in Montrose. The patio takes up most of the lot, which was nice when I visited in mid-September. The interior is not small, but it feels kind of tight with lots of tables and stuff hanging on the walls. There are bars inside and out, along with a good number of tables, big and small. The place was busy, but not crowded on a Tuesday at dinner time. It seemed to be filled with locals having dinner and a pint. Enjoyable, if a bit dated.

Q-I tried two beers and the first, a pale ale, was merely OK. The second, a pecan porter, was crazy sweet, but it hit the spot for dessert.

Ser-The staff was really friendly and helpful. Food and beers arrived promptly. Glassware was shaker pints, and the half-pint that I ordered was just a half-filled shaker pint glass, which is odd.

Sel-Horsefly didn't have any guest beers. Instead, they offer a standard selection of six or seven varieties of blonde, pale, IIPA, stout, and porter. I think there was a wheat too. The selection feels a bit dated when compared to other breweries that do BA this and sour that, but I don't mind too much. At least they covered the main styles.

F-The menu is big and filled with typical bar grub. I had a turkey sandwich and salad. My sandwich was pretty tasty, but the salad was merely OK; soggy lettuce and bottled dressing.

O-I like the good service and friendly small-town vibe, but the Horsefly feels a bit dated. The beers and the food were not bad, just behind the times a bit.

Good local color and more then decent food have a hard time offsetting iffy quality control. I used to go often, but recently, they have had a problem with some sort of infection, either from lack of line cleaning or a general lack of sanitation in the brewing department. I assume it's line cleaning issues, since the brewers would HAVE to notice when doing quality tasting of batches, wouldn't they ?

This has been a problem for about 6 months - I hope they get it under control since I have been a supporter of the operation since they first opened.

RIght downtown in Montrose, a little western colorado town largely forgotten and ignored by those on the front range. very cool spot, its got an old timey feel to it, lots of wood features inside, some outside seating, lots of old mountaineering and frontiersman knickknacks hanging on the walls, and lots of beer paraphernalia. the brewhouse is in the back, humble system, and maybe seven or so beers on tap. most were basic styles done better than average, but the coconut porter was a standout. they were really busy too, probably one of the go to spots in this town, and the food coming out of the kitchen looked fabulous, although i did not have time to eat. had a very cozy authentic vibe to it, and all of the beer was passable at worst. everyone took the time to chat with me even though they were busy, warm and welcoming here, and generous with the samples. there isnt much out here in this part of the state, but dont make the mistake of thinking its a beer wasteland. this place is a must stop just for the experience if you are driving out to telluride or something. i really enjoyed my time here, they have a unique thing going.

 

 

I visited Horsefly Brewery in Montrose on my way to Telluride during the summer of 2011. The brew pub is easy enough to find in this decently sized Western Slope town. The bar area was fairly large (approx. 20 seats) and the inside of the pub was quite large. Wife and I opted to sit outside as it was a nice summer afternoon and there were two seating areas to choose from - one out front and one to the side of the building. The side patio was huge and it looked like there was plenty of room to accommodate some live music.

Service was good and the bartender was quite knowledgeable about all the beers being offered.

We didn't eat here, but the food on the menu looked quite tasty. The beer offerings here were average (five beers on-tap at the time of my visit) and the variety was across the board, which I liked. They were tapped out of the IPA and Stout, but I tried all of the others (which have since been added to BA). The quality of the beers was a little above average, but I'd definitely go back again.

Definitely a nice place to consider stopping if you are in the area or en route to Telluride or The Four Corners.

I visited Horsefly a few months ago when I was visiting a friend in CO. We decided to hit up a brewery so we went to Beerfly and found Horsefly. We got there pretty early but after a short time the place was packed. This place is great, we sat down right at the bar and ordered a beer and some food (both of which were phenomenal).

We ended up talking with the owner (Phil), he just started it (probably a year or so ago now), his family works there with him and they were all very friendly. We tried a bunch of their beers and they were all excellent. Although they didn't have too many styles, they made up for it with quality.

We stayed there for a while and Phil was so nice that he gave us free beer just for coming out. I will make it a point to get to Horsefly the next time I go to CO. I understand they just relocated to a bigger space and I wish them nothing but the best. Great people and great beer, visit this place if you're ever in Montrose.