Odell Brewing - RiNo Brewhouse & Taproom

Wife and I stopped here on a recent trip up to The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park and really enjoyed ourselves. Very solid beer selection, but wish they had some "rarities". Loved the "buy other patrons a sample" feature. Great vibe and a lot of fun, even though we couldn't stay long.

This is a satellite location in Denver’s trendy RiNo district. Yet for the most part it somehow manages to avoid the club/party-like atmosphere feeling so prevalent elsewhere in the area. Fantastic service, with a great mix of ‘90s hip hop—KRS-One, Wu-Tang, Talib Kweli. Don’t miss out on the arepa truck out front, either.

Visited at 9:30 on a Friday night.

Vibe is relaxed with a casual atmosphere, with dark amber lighting, however all the tables were taken and it was a bit noisy. The upstairs bar was largely vacant but it was a smaller bar, and would get crowded with only a few people. It was rainy outside so the patios weren't in use.

Beer quality was very good, as expected from O'Dell. The spur was innovative, and the pilsner was dead onto style and wasn't afraid to show its noble hops.

Service was a bit sparse with only one bartender serving the 2nd floor, and she seemed quite stressed out. Multiple times she dissapeared to a backroom to take care of something and left the upstairs without a bartender. Could be short staffed. Bartender was friendly and maintained a calm demeanor.

Selection was a bit disappointing with all but two of the beers being location exclusive brews and all but the pilsner, oktoberfest, and a coffee porter were fruited or IPAs. The menu was mostly sours and IPAs. Lots of options if you like sours and IPAs.

This location is actually smaller than it looks inside, but there's an outdoor area to the side as well as the famous rooftop patio, so you've got several seating options. They've got a ton of beers that are exclusive to this taproom, as well as a few of their standards in the main area, but you won't find the usual stuff that you can buy elsewhere on the taps here. That's okay, since it means you can try some new experiments and see what might be coming next.

 

Located in Fort Collins, Odell Brewing recently opened this taproom/brewery in the RINO Arts District, a trending neighborhood with several other breweries nearby. It is a small and humble venue: there is a small bar with communal tables and a few tables off to the side. Odell offers about 20 drafts of their excelelnt beers, especially a well-made IPA. They have friendly service, are family friendly, but serve no food. (However, Shake Shack is next door.) A worthy stop when in Denver

 

 

I went to the Fort Collins location, but couldn't get in, due to a festival. Bummed out and defeated, I didn't know this little spot was located in the coolest part of Denver. Small, but cozy with great service and plenty of good stuff on tap. I'm glad i was at least able to hit this spot up.

 

 

its cool these guys came down to denver, it seems long overdue. they are in a cool part of town, their space is new and clean and humble, and a very different vibe from the bustling enormity of their main space up north. small and new brewery in the back, rooftop area, and a really modest bar room area, seating for maybe 20 or 30 people downstairs, real mellow, a relaxed side patio area with a fireplace and cool art, and a split beer list that has a little better than half the selections coming from there, with no plans to package them or send them around, so you have to roll in to try. the other half are odell classics and some new ones from the original fort collins location, i think a smart way to do it, it creates a new beer incentive to visit this spot, and the beers were great, especially a cashmere ipa, but they had a peach milkshake that was nice too, as well as a couple of fruited sours, seems like they are doing it all, and are focused on some experimentation. service was killer, the girls were friendly, knew their stuff, and insisted on pouring a lot of samples for me to try. i really did like all the beer, and think odell fits in nicely down there. a fun and relaxed brewery space that feels ahead of the curve right away. a good place to stop in and check out, it has the same sort of chill class that we are all used to from odell in their brewery and their beers. welcome to town!

edit: checked back in here years later and they are still killing it, the place feels more theirs now, more lived in, the neighborhood has changed a lot in that time and has clearly embraced them, the outside space is wonderful and intimate, and the beer list is now almost entirely beer they make here, lots of innovation and collabs and such, i loved an arnold palmer inspired beer, an experimental pale with hops from kentucky of all places, and a yuzu pepper sour, among many others, great vibes, real talented brewer, and i have to increase the quality score here a bit. really impressive operation and a worthy extension of the odell brand. well worth a visit!

 

Nice little spot in the city with an ok selection of beers. Looks to be a spot for the locals to get a bite and have a beer more so than a brewery.

 

Odell putting their footprint in Denver with a new location offering a pilot brewhouse, where they brew a bunch of small batch experimental offerings. By experimental, not necessarily exotic and zany, but it seems more a way to test out different ideas and recipes and fine tune things? I thought that would have lead to a nicer variety of beer styles but when I was there it was all IPA's and a couple kettle sours. They do always have their flagships on tap as well though. It's Odell, so obviously you have access to some great beer. Quality is great. I didn't drink any pilot brews there so can't comment on the quality of test batches they are producing, but happy to give them the benefit of the doubt based on it being Odell and have taste tested too many to count pilot offerings up in Fort Collins. I stuck with their flagship Lager, which was my first time with it and really enjoyed. Service was fine, happy to have some traditional bar service, and not a production type line service that is in place at Fort Collins. Aesthetics were pleasing; comfy and woody. If the music was more my speed, vibe would certainly have been closer to 4.5, if not higher. Overall, I enjoyed my visit. If coming to Colorado and you want to make the most of the Odell experience, I would personally prefer hitting the Fort Collins location up over this one. But if I was in Denver, this would certainly be a constant in my rotation.