Westbound & Down Brewing Company

 

Saturday, plenty of seats. Staff was friendly, tried the cauliflower app (delicious) with a Black Cherry Italian Soda and a Westbound IPA (also delicious).

 

Must visit spot. Easy off highway 70, between Denver and the ski mountains/resorts.

Legit in every way, atmosphere, service, food and, of course, excellent Beer. Drafts, tall cans to go, Hazy NEIPA, stouts, you name it....all top notch.

Large place with multiple rooms, including outdoor area in the front and back.

Great place to stop in for a visit, a meal, or for beer pours and/or cans to go.

 

Came down the hill while vacationing in Fraser on 6-17-20. Located conveniently right off I-70 in Idaho Springs.

Vibe was modern Covid, paranoia and all about keeping things safe. I get it and respect it. Being on vacation this week in Colorado and eating out daily has been an interesting and not fun experience. Some places are taking the Covid thing super serious, Westbound for example, and some not as much. Westbound is literally logging all dine in guests name as to protect themselves from a future shutdown. Other than that the dining area is spacious and comfortable and very spread out, tanks are visible and cool to look at, the retail side is okay as well.

Quality of the beers were good. Da Boss enjoyed her Italian Pils and i thought the Colorado PA was very nice and dank. I was a little disappointed in the Tripel given the brewery has access to the Westmalle yeast. But i have to say i cannot recall an American brewer replicating the style in the quality fashion of the Belgian brewers.

Service was very good and timely for a busy mid-afternoon lunch crowd. Both servers were friendly and were happy to provide tasters.

Selection of the beers was pretty good, not a huge list but maybe a dozen or so house beers were available.

Food was very good. I enjoyed the bison burger which was very fresh and juicy. Da Boss had the Buffalo Chicken sandwich that i sampled and found tasty.

Overall i am glad to have visited this brewpub, appreciate the suggestions to check it out!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Favorite new brewery in CO.

A really nice taproom, in a beautiful part of Colorado. They seem to be going for a more upscale feel. I had just been whitewater rafting, and felt totally out of place in my slightly wet hoodie and baseball cap. The food here is out of control good. It's so good, that I can't really remember how good my beer was. It was second fiddle to the tasty food, which isn't a good thing for me. I hope they nail down what they are going for and get that beer up to the quality of the food.

 

interesting place here, brand new in town, but seems almost totally out of place for where it is in the center of an old historic mining town. the place it totally sterile, looks and smells like an ikea store, white walls, minimalist decor, square bar, really nothing visually appealing about it, except for some large storefront windows and one of the cleanest and newest and nicest looking brew houses i have seen. welcoming enough i guess though. it took awhile to get served on a moderately busy sunday afternoon, and while they were friendly enough, they were also incredibly brief and not overeager to chat about the place. they had maybe ten beers flowing, of which the scotch ale was hands down the best. really a stunning brew, one of the best i have had lately in this style. the others though were less impressive, a soapy hefe, a watered down brown, and a pretty solid belgian triple actually, clean and dry for the style. i expected a much more adventurous beer list, and this seemed pretty safe. maybe because they are still new and getting it dialed in, but i was looking for a little more innovation. the price points were offensive. 24 bucks for three beers! they have got this all wrong, and are obviously catering to the vail tourist crowd, but still, this is absurd pricing for beers that arent anything special yet. i hope they set that right. the food looked quite good coming out of the kitchen, but we did not stay to eat. i expect it to get better with time, but i may not make it back with these prices. the scotch might force me back in though, that beer was killer...

edit: this place has improved a lot over time, especially now with some of the bottled saison and wild types, they have really upped their game, i am raising some scores to reflect their improvement!

Very modern space with a lot of seating. Personally I don't really dig the sterile feel of a white linoleum bar but some people might like it. Very laid back when I was there but I could see it getting loud in that space when busy. Tried all 4 of their current offerings. The Colorado Pale Ale (IPA) was a very tasty, citrus forward IPA and I also enjoyed the Seven Sisters Stout, a light yet pleasantly roasty "session stout."The Denver Day Trip Ale was more of a session pale, not bad. The Belgian pale ale was just ok, nothing I'd order again. My friend ordered the buffalo chili and really enjoyed it. Staff was very friendly and the bartender, a homebrewer in his own right, was very knowledgeable about the beer making process. Overall, a nice place to stop on the way back from the mountains but not exactly a "can't miss" spot.