Rock Cut Brewing Company

I visited this brewery while staying in Estes Park for some Rocky Mountain hiking. Easy walk from the down town strip , the brewery sits in a small commercial area with ample parking. There are some tables outside the brewery for outdoor imbibing and on this day a few folks were sitting there enjoying pints.
Walking into the brewery there are some table / chair combos to my right and a U -shaped bar in front of me. About 10 taps of all house made beers. Brewing equipment is visible just past the bar, also near where the entrance door to the outside patio is located.
Brewery also does crowlers of anything on tap and has several different special release bottles for sale in a small cooler.
tap list includes an english porter, amber lager, rye pilsner, a hazy IPA, West coast IPA, an imperial Stout, an ESB, a grape sour, and a sour featuring chamomile and kumquat. Pretty good diversity of beer choices, may have been a hard seltzer option too.
I went with the English porter and took home the rye pilsner and some of the vintage special release bottles. the English Porter was more on the roasted malt side than any sort of sweet chocolate notes. I enjoyed this beer quite a bit.
About 8 people in the bar area , most seemed local and there were 2 or 3 staff in house. All were friendly and this seemed like it is probably a local spot for the town to hang out. No cooked food in house ,and didnt see a truck this day. There were some chips, popcorn and other snack options available for purchase. You can bring in your own food anytime as well.
Id very gladly re-visit if I ever find my self in Estes Park again. This seems like the homerun spot if you are in Town and a craft beer lover. Will post some beer reviews soon.

 

Just about a block away from all the main shopping in Estes Park. It backs up to the creek and is near the bike trail. They had a Mexican food truck there in the middle of the afternoon on a Tuesday. Nice selection with some really rare styles, like a Gruit. Everything I tried was good. Friendly service and a good mix of regulars just hanging out.

Rock Cut has the feel of a small-town community brewpub, where the regulars know one another and the visitors become regulars by the time they leave. I happened to visit during bingo night, which I highly recommend! Great vibes, good beers, fun times.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rock Cut is a new'ish (2015) brewery tucked into Estes Park, a town that actually has a pretty lively beer scene to be so small.
Located almost directly across the street from the dated (but not inherently bad) Estes Park Brewing, Rock Cut offers a wide variety of styles all done well. On our visit, they had a mildly smoked brown, a porter, a "normal" American IPA, a hazy-style IPA, a sac saison, a pils, and even an altbier. For such a wide range of offerings, I don't really have anything negative to say about anything. In fact, some of the more subtle styles showcased a deft hand. They had both normal pours and samples available.
The atmosphere is pretty standard for a smaller brewery. Lots of wood. Plenty of tables, an L-shaped bar, and a patio for warmer weather.
Growlers and crowlers were both available.
They had a food truck when we stopped in. Plus (like most places) you can always bring outside food. Estes has no shortage of food options, so that's a non-issue.
The staff knew their stuff and seemed genuinely happy when someone appreciated the sometimes overlooked alt and smoked brown.
I don't really have anything bad to say about the place. If you're in Estes (or coming out of the northern end of RMNP), you should definitely stop in. There are several other good beer stops you can walk to from there as well.

 

 

 

Should be called WoodCut with all of the various wood works in the place ;)
Smallish place with a squared horseshoe bar. Glad they have sound dampers on the ceiling, otherwise it would be an echo hell. Solid beers throughout and 4oz-ers available. That's a big thing for me. Good variety, too. A bit off the beaten path in Estes, but not all that far to walk to.

 

Small new brewery at the base of a mountain in Estes Park. They've only been open 7 months and they're turning out some very nice classic styles. I was really glad to see an ESB on their menu, as I think that more breweries should do one. The taproom is very clean and new, and the staff were happy and friendly. Go visit!

Atmosphere - small place in a strip mall; nice u shaped bar with some small tables for extra seating and some long Biergarten style high top tables. Very quiet when I was in, but the place is only 7 weeks old, so maybe once word spreads.
Quality - tried two of their offerings, which I was excited for since they were a black IPA and Russian Imperial Stout, but they turned out to only be okay to decent.
Service - was able to chat a lot with the beer tender since the place was dead. Friendly enough and knowledgable.
Selection - had 8 on tap, I believe; a wheat, an esb, a black IPA, an RIS, an amber, an altbier and a couple more that I just don't recall.
Value - way too pricey for a new place in a small town in an odd location. I hope they figure it out, because Estes Park is a great place to visit.

Visited here about 2 weeks after they were open. They had about 5 beers on tap including an IPA, Porter, ESB, Hef, and another. All were very well made and good examples of their styles with the brewery's own character showing through (they definitely made them their own). Open 2 weeks and having 5 very solid beers is impressive. One of the owners came and talked with us for a while about the brewery, starting up, and beer in general. He was genuinely interested in hearing feedback, and I got the impression they really wanted to make outstanding beers and constantly improve their process. Overall, a great place, great atmosphere, and a must see when you are in Estes Park. I'm really excited to see what the future holds for them - I'm expecting some great things.