Never Summer Brewing

 

this place is really mellow and cool. we stopped in after a leisurely dip in the hot sulfur springs a little further west. this really is the only show in town here, no other breweries around until you get back to winter park, so they have the (seemingly very small) market cornered. its a neat place that you could easily drive right past without seeing. when you walk in its a homebrew shop with bins of grain and instruments of measure and posters of yeast strains and hop charts and stuff, classic small timey homebrew shop, which it actually sounds like he is getting away from, with the bar in the back past a few high tops and old broken in couches. things like local honey and jellies are for sale. there might be five seats at the little bar, with five or six beers on tap, and a view through to the little one barrel brew setup and plastic fermenters. low overheard i would think for sure. the gentleman, i forget his name, is super kind, does all the brewing and everything, offered us pretzels and good conversation as we sipped his beers. they were hit or miss across a range of styles, with an outstanding english mild leading the pack, but a well done belgian wit right behind it. the double ipa did not impress me, and the rye pale is downright flawed, so there was a bit of everything on the small chalkboard menu here. the vibe is right though, impossibly mellow, quintessentially colorado, and the exact opposite of the pretentious brewers and serves and new school taprooms of denver. i loved the low key vibe of it, and hope they do well. we need more of these little mountain breweries keeping it all alive and well in the hills. we had a blast here, and i wont drive by without stopping in the future...