Ft Collins Trip

New breweries, there are a good amount. I will throw in one for Jessup Farms. Everything is barrel aged even the IPAs and everything I had was solid. Horse and Dragon has been around a few years but always good.

New ones that I have not been to: Snowbank, Rally King, Intersect Brewing, Gilded Goat (Opened last weekend).

 

Snowbank has some solid offerings, including 47.5 stout and Crankenbrew- a coffee pale. Their one-offs and seasonals have always been pretty good, in particular, First Tracks.... which was a NE style DIPA collab with CBC, definitely one of the better collabs I've had and one of the better new beers I tried all of last year!

Nearly every beer H&D makes is good, no duds whatsoever.

Rally King's Surfer Girl IPA is really tasty, as is their Helles.. Looking at their webby and seeing some beers I need to go over and try.

Haven't been to GG or Intersect yet- I got homework this weekend!

 

Maxline is new and makes good beers

 

Odell*

 

OH YEAH- don't sleep on Maxline!!!
Pat's Porter is my jam.

 

@Graviz it would be easy to hit both Maxline and Snowbank since Snowbank is literally around the corner from Odell. Plus, there's bridge work on Lincoln (west of Odell) so you're almost going to have to drive by SB on your way to and from there.

Maxline is in mid-town FYI. Both places appear to open at 2pm.

 

How many breweries are there in greater FoCo now? I think the last time I spent more than a couple hours up there H&D had just opened.

 

Yeah. Like I'm reading brewery names I had no clue aboot. I still have not visited ones that opened years ago.

 

Gilded Goat was number 21.

 

21 - Damn! On my first visit the only ones were Coopersmith's, NB, Odell, CB & Potts and A/B. FCB was just about to open in the old H.C. Berger building, but it was still a work in progress.

 

Some of these breweries, like Three Four and Mclellan's, are mostly tap rooms that serve guest beer while they pump out small batches of house beer from time to time.

 

Gilded Goat is on my list. The guy that started it is on Homebrewtalk so showed the whole building process and what not. Seems like a good guy and going to be a family business. Always like supporting the homebrewers going pro instead of just the people that see $ in beer and make a brewery, nothing against H&R just how I see it.

 

I know I'm gonna mix up some of the details here, but there is a traditional, German-style brewery opening in the spring/early summer a couple blocks south of Equinox on Remington. Its in an old church, so the space will be rather large and likely reminiscent of a beer hall.

From what I heard, the owner/brewer (Ralph) will be making lagers using some sort of traditional/antique German brew house that he got straight from the Motherland.

This will likely be #22, barring another one planning to open before it. Sounds like he has been fine-tuning his recipes on the new (to him) gear so its all proper from the get-go --- an especially good idea in this day and age!

 

I always have mixed feelings about the homebrewers going pro thing. I think it sounds romantic, but I think just as many of them are misguided as the folks looking to make some money on a trend. I think that (luckily) a lot of places have swapped brewmasters in recent years, but for a few years it felt like there were tons of brewers with minimal experience stinking things up. The stories usually involved "My neighbor said my homebrew was good and so here I am!"
There are some massive exceptions, but I'd usually rather support someone that came from (insert random brewery like Potts, Dry Dock, Great Divide, Avery, etc.) than someone who hopped in with both feet on a whim.

 

Huh. Zwei is already killing it, Prost has a foothold up there, and FCB still has some German roots. Grimm's not too far, either. Interesting to see if the market is finally ready to embrace German beer. The fact that Bierstadt actually has some buzz gives me hope.

 

I love German styles too, but I'm wary of their ability to gain a market from the IPA lovers that seem to be dictating what kinds of beer are made.


And I think Zwei is absolutely crushing it- from great German offerings to their 'indigenous' beers. The combo of expert lagers and killer IPAs is hard to beat--- really don't think anyone else touches them.

Should be interesting to see how Ralph's business model works in an already crowded market.