favorite breweries in Colorado

Hey everyone! My husband and I made a promise that we would spend the year going to as many breweries in Colorado as possible, but haven't decided where to start. What is everyone's favorite Colorado brewery?

Would have to say that it's a tie between Left Hand and Oskar Blues, for me (I like to support the locals!). Avery is good as well.

Start at Phantom Canyon and Trinity, right there in beautiful Colorado Springs.

Sweet! Thanks for the input!

Avery, Left Hand, Oskar Blues, Fort Collins, Funkwerks, Crooked Stave.

Whether or not you're a big fan of New Belgium the tour is worth going through. Tons of free beer, it's the most involved tour I've been on and there's a slide at the end. Win/win/win.

Oskar Blues, hands down. Avery is a close second.

I would definitely start in the Springs and work my way north through Denver, Boulder, Longmont, and Fort Collins. I think each of those could sustain multiple trips.
Denver - Great Divide, Strange Brew, Wynkoop, and many others
Boulder - Avery, Upslope, Asher, Mountain Sun
Longmont - Oskar Blues, Left Hand
Fort Fun - Odell's, New Belgium, Fort Collins Brewery, and Funkwerks/Crooked Stave are all right next to each other.

Many towns in mountains have a local brewery too, so if you travel in the state there is almost always a place or two to stop. You should do some searching if you go anywhere:
http://www.fermentedlychallenged.com/2007/10/colorado-brewers-list.html

http://www.fermentedlychallenged.com/2011/09/list-of-colorado-breweries-in.html

http://www.colorado.com/Breweries.aspx

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_breweries

Odell's, Left Hand (Nitro Milk Stout is the best sweet stout I've had, simply amazing!), Oskar Blues, Great Divide, Breckenridge, Boulder Beer Works, and there are too many to list.

You can even swing down to the southwest region of the state and check out Durango, Ska, and Pagosa Springs Brewing Company. There are a couple more down there, but I forget the names.

My wife and I have been taking tours as often as possible recently as well and here is what we've found:

- Avery: the beer is great (probably my favorite local brewery) but the tour is just "meh".I think this is mainly because of the size. The barrel room is cool to see but I'd plan on just going for the beer.

- Oskar Blues: cool tasting room, great beer, a bit more involved tour then Avery but nothing crazy. You can drive a few blocks down the road after the tour to Liquids and Solids for more beer and BBG The day we took the tour they had some live music in the tasting room which was cool.

- Great Divide: again, great beer, tasting room can get cramped if you're going at a busy time, same old brewery tour.

I've heard great things about New Belgium (set to go early April) but sign up way in advance, they are booked about a month and a half out if you're trying to go on the weekend.
Around the metro area there are a ton of smaller places that you can generally just show up and have a brewer give you a tour which is kind of cool.

Ska, Avery, Trinity, Odells, Amicas, Gore Range Brewery, Aspen Brewing, Carvers, Great Divide, Freshcraft.......

Everything has been pretty much covered, but I think Dry Dock in Aurora should be mentioned as well. Excellent brewery.

are you talking about a tour or just the tasting room? the best tour I have been on was at New Belgium, everywhere else is just like every other tour (Avery is by far the worst).

For a tasting room, why not try one of the smaller brewers that don't distribute as much dry dock in Aurora, strange brewing in denver, or Pike Peak brewing in monument.

Monument has a brewery now? Man I wish they did 10 years ago! I had a girlfriend there and was in town all the time. I'll have to check it out next time I go. I've been meaning to go to O'Malley's in Palmer Lake anyway.

Pretty soon Firestone and Loveland are going to get breweries too (or maybe they already do!)

I do my best to support local smaller breweries.
Copper Kettle is my favorite place to go. Its in Aurora.
www.copperkettledenver.com

Also, Elk Mountain Brewery in Parker is a good place to hit up as well.

www.elkmountainbrewing.

The list of favorite Colorado breweries would be incomplete without the first brewery to use malt from Colorado Malting Company in 'sweet home Alamosa': San Luis Valley Brewing Co, Alamosa, Colorado!
Green Chile beer!!!