Heading out to the WS this weekend to meet my parents for some visiting, fruit buying (hopefully a lot going into homebrew) and since I am going to be arriving several hours before them....some beer drinking? Anyone have some tips on the area? I see there are 3-4 breweries/pubs in the area, just wanted to reach out to the BA's for any must-have's vs don't bothers.
A post after mine own heart. One question...where in the hell are you going to be? The western slope (second love in my life) is a very big place.
Grand Junction - Kannah Creek BP, 1960 N. 12th St. Palisade - Palisade B.C., 200 Peach Ave. (more like an alley), north of the railroad tracks. Peach Street Distillery is about 50 yards east in the same parking lot. Fruita - Copper Club (233 E. Aspen Ave.) under construction & Suds Brothers (127 E. Aspen Ave.) might or might not be open. If you go to Fruita give us an update on these two breweries.
Pagosa Brewing Company isn't anywhere near there but if you see some in stores buy it. One of the most underrated breweries in the state.
Took the fam out there for a weekend back in June. Cool areas. I wrote a blog and posted a bunch of pics on my blog. Link is below. http://brewtallyinsane.com/2012/06/19/road-trippin-on-i-70-grand-junction-and-palisade-co/ Have fun on your trip. The peaches are delish right now!
Paonia is only about an hour from GJ and I'd say that the best beer I got on the entire western half of the state came from Rovolution in Paonia. In fact, one of the best meals I had over there was just up the street at the Flying Fork, too. Just take HWY50 to Delta, 92 to Hotchkiss (home to a ton of hop farms), and finally 133 to Paonia. You can probably get some Olathe sweet corn this time of year, too. That's not too far from Montrose, which is home to another good brewery, Horsefly.
Definitely go to Paonia if you can. Revolution Brewing is great, and there are some other cool spots around there. Get a sausage at Revolution if they have them going - the meat is mutton from a farm up the mesa, and it is crazy good. Visiting the farm that makes them is fun, too, and you can buy meat right off the farmer. Other things around Paonia: Jackrabbit Hill Winery & Hop Farm - Amazing, unique wine varietals, making great spirits, too, and the hops from their farm were used in the incredible Fertile Soil from Crooked Stave last year. Great folks. Azura Winery & Art Gallery Stone Cottage Cellars Alfred Eames Winery - Call ahead and see if you can meet the man, they don't do public tours. Probably the best wine being made in the state right now. Palisade: Palisade Brewing Company - New ownership, getting better at things every year. Peach Street Distillers - Every town should have a place like this. Moscow mule, do it. Plum Creek Winery Mesa Park Winery Maison La Belle Vie Winery Z's Orchards GJ: College Liquors (shh, don't tell anyone). I should write a guidebook.
Of course, you might want to consider the 120 mile round trip from Grand Junction to Paonia and back, half the distance on 4 lane US 50 and half on 2 lane state highways! And, if you spend an hour in Paonia you're talking 3 hours total to visit 1 brewery that doesn't open until 4 pm and is closed Mondays. In that same 3 hours you could hit Palisade in Palisade (~12 miles round trip from GJ), Kannah Creek and Rockslide in Grand Junction, and visit Fruita (~12 miles round trip from GJ) to see what's going on there. Cheers & Colorado Plateau beers, Roger
Roosters!!!! Not beer but some of the best wings I've ever had. Unlimited wings and sides for $13. Long live Mesa State!!!
I ended up checking out Peach Tree, but wasn't really digging the bar vibe at the moment. I had a tired whiny dog outside with my brother, already had several drinks at Colorado Cellars and really....just didn't enjoy the atmosphere. I'm sure if I was there with friends hanging out, one thing, but trying to get some stuff done, not make hungry people wait longer for dinner, get my dog in the nice cool hotel room.... Also hated the place next door, another winery. The wine was pretty....bland. Tried 6, they all tasted the same. WAY too much time in the barrel, they were all extremely oak-y and acid bombs. Plus the old cougar making passes at the married 20 somethings about taking her shirt off and checking out their pecs, was uncomfortable with your conservative catholic mother LOL Hit up College, thanks guys!!!! If anything, it was a nice relief from the heat, but the selection was pretty dang good! Ended up with some Alaskan smoked porter, a vintage I was missing. Couple of other tempting finds, but nothing I couldn't live without. Really enjoyed Colorado Cellars, but I already have tasted their wares and really just wanted to get some of the stuff they don't sell in Denver all that often. Got some Alpenglo, Elderberry wine, and their port. Also picked up some of the wine infused fudge....if you guys go through Palisade and haven't tried it before, just go buy some. Its great. Had dinner and a few beers at Kannah Street Brewery, impressive!! At first I got a bit of a Rock Bottom type impression, but the beer was solid. The beers were common, safe choices...but solid. I am getting at biting my lip and trying my best not to come off as a pretentious beer-douche at places like that, so when the waitress was trying to help me decide (I was just looking at the menu, she assumed I didn't know anything about beer). My bro had the pale, which was pretty standard tasting, my mom had the blonde (SRM was dark) that tasted nice. My dad had the porter which really blew my mind, no astringency, great lacing, not overly bitter or roasty. Well done. After my IPA I noticed they had a firkin with brown ale, this was the cream of the crop. Food was a bit better then ok, but I'll go back for the beer next time I'm in town!
Just got back from a trip out west. Some notes: College Liquors is dead. Not worth even heading in from Palisade if you're there. Bound to happen at some point. Revolution seems to have taken a step back overall, but the Vienna Lager was good. Carbondale Beer Works is going the other direction. Nothing outstanding, but definitely doing some good work. Palisade Brewing has a couple solid options, and it's clear they've gotten a few recipes dialed in. Had a session IPA that's pretty good, even of it's a 6% "session." Anniversary farmhouse was really good and made me wonder why in the hell they don't do more pilot one-offs at the tap room. It would be really sweet if someone opened up a farmhouse brewery that tries a little spontaneous fermentation somewhere out there as a destination and a complement to the awesome food and wine culture, maybe with a little hotel on site. The beer scene is nascent, but it's time for a really special place to open up. Who knows, if someone doesn't do it sometime soon, maybe it'll be me. Hotchkiss doesn't have a brewery. Now all I need to do is hire Jean Van Roy. ...alright, maybe I can just pry away one of the Upright guys.
Likewise - just got back from that area. Headed over McClure and into Paonia - checked out Revolution and was a little disappointed by the selections, nothing egregious but didn't knock my socks off as I'd hoped. Favorite was probably the cherry soda... Grabbed a Stone 16th in Montrose at Corks(?) - end of town towards Telluride/Ouray/Ridgeway. Good selection but nothing really out there. Colorado Boy opened at 4, we were there at 1... didn't stick around but had a decent burger and craft beer (Shift, Red Hoptober, Telluride Rye Pale) at 520 Burger. Would recommend if you're coming through Delta - its worth a stop at CB's (midway through on Main St). Great craft beer selection for the area (12? taps - blend of locals and front range with a few standards like CO native) and really good food.
Too bad you missed Colorado Boy, nice place. Did you hit either or both of the Montrose breweries? Cheers, Roger, ex-Cortez P.S. Ridgway has no "e".
That's too bad about Revolution and (especially) College Liquors. Granted it has been 3 years, but Revolution used to be on par with the best small breweries around. When my wife was over there we'd have a few beers there and walk over to the Flying Fork, which is a pretty amazing restaurant for a tiny town like Paonia. What happened with College Liquors? I'm guessing the walk-in cooler just isn't stocked well now? I know a few of their employees used to be beer guys.
@Domingo, Flying Fork is still there and still awesome from what I can tell. College Liquors I think just got overrun. Not a ton of older dates on the things where it matters (but all the old IPA you can drink - anyone for a Ballast Point Wheat from what I assume must be the last time they distributed out here can find it there). There is still good stuff, but it's just not worth the drive. Here's what I picked up: 3x2008 JP Noel de Calabaza (personal favorite, still plenty of this left) 2xVintage Peche Mortel (don't know how old, took the last two) 1x2002 JW Lees Harvest (last one, had a line of 2007 there) 2xVintage Grand Lake Super Chicken (last two, not sure if they were barrel aged, so I took them) 1x2011 Bruery Autumn Maple (last one, curious) Everything there is also priced accurately to higher than maybe you'd like to pay. Not that this is a bad thing, it's just that there are no "deals." Last time I was there (2010), there was vintage Ten Fidy, 2007 barrel-aged stuff from Left Hand, Avery demons going back to as early as 2005 I think. All gone.
I almost grabbed one of those Autum Maple's, but passed figuring I'll just get one when they come out before long.
You'll be able to get plenty, I just thought last year's was boozy to begin with and needed some time. Now I get to try one a year later and know more about its development.
We've been to Colorado Boy - and should have known about the opening time but spaced it along with the extra "e" Everything I could find on 2 Rascals indicated they just brewed their first batch (Scottish) and were targeting a late Sept opening so we didn't bother. Didn't stop by Horsefly as we were trying to balance a little beer with more focus on visiting in a limited time.
