Heading to Boulder Co

I'm going to be heading to Boulder this weekend to visit some family and I'm wondering what are some must visit brew pubs. I will only have a few hours to go around on my own so I need some must visit breweries you guys would recommend.

I do know that I'm going through Fort Collins so I will be making a stop at New Belgium for sure.

Any input would be appreciated!

Avery and mountain sun are IMO the best in boulder

Left hand and Oskar blues would also be good choices and are both close to each other.

I would skip new Belgium in favor of Odell's and if it was between Fort Collins and left hand/Oskar blues I would skip Fort Collins.

Definitely Avery, one of my favorite brewers. You can see by their location and setup that they've grown into it over time. Pretty cool. Take the free tour too, and see if the guide will take you back to see their barrels that are aging. My guide gave me a free pint at the end, super nice people there.

A buddy of mine works at Upslope Brewery in Boulder. Not sure how their beer is, haven't been able to visit yet.

Left Hand, Avery and Oskar Blues were my favorites in Boulder. Lots of really small places too like Bootstrap and Asher. Was not a fan of Boulder Beer mainly due to their crappy service in the taproom.

As indicated, Avery is a great place. They have an awesome selection in their tap room. I like Left Hand too.

take the short drive down to Golden and visit Golden City Brewery, the second largest brewery in golden. Last call is 630 so get down there in the afternoon. Their IPA is superb!

Awesome! Sounds like I'm going Avery and Left Hand for sure!

Boulder Beer Co is my favorite watering hole when I visit once a year. Mojo IPA on Nitro... wonderful! Their food is pretty good to boot.

Walnut Brewery is pretty good. I love their Indian Peaks Pale that's a great Cascades aroma pale. Happy hour food is well priced.

BJ's Brewery use to be on Pearl St Mall, but moved west on I think Pearl and 28th. I've not been there much, but did visit in Aug and had their Jeremiah Red was a good one.

Enjoy! one of the highlights of my year when I get to go there for a work week.

Avery is definitely the best one to hit in Boulder, but you should also hit Southern Sun (or Mountain Sun). Can't get any of their beers in any stores.

Also, if you're going to Fort Collins, you should hit O'Dells, Funkwerks, and Equinox.

Avery is the place in Boulder. Left Hand and Oskar Blues are both in Longmont. Left Hand's tap room is always open but I seem to think Oskar Blues is only open some days or closes really early. I dunno, I never get in there.

In Fort Collins, New Belgium is a great tour. Very long and lots of free beer but you need to sign up on the website as soon as you can. It books fast (may already be booked). Funkwerks is stellar if you like saison. They are always really nice and often the tap room is serviced by one of the brewers. I like both Odell's and Fort Collins Brewery. If you're going to one, you might as well go to the other since they are a minute apart. Not a huge fan of Equinox myself but I really liked their oatmeal stout.

Chris7687 said:

A buddy of mine works at Upslope Brewery in Boulder. Not sure how their beer is, haven't been able to visit yet.

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+1 for the little guys. Upslope was a great experience when I stopped there last year. Good beer, friendly people, single room taproom and production space makes a great view.

Avery & Left Hand are obviously great choices too.

Also, check out the Celestial Seasonings tea factory in Longmont, not beer but really cool

Spend some time looking through Fermentedly Challenged to find out what is going on in CO when you be here.

Dave has links to all the breweries, tap rooms and anything to do with beer in CO.

Enjoy your time in CO

If you are going to Fort Collins, and you have never been to New Belgium, I don't think you can pass up the opportunity to visit. Very cool tour, great tasting room and you can get a fresh 18oz pour of La Folie for $4.

You need to check out Mountain Sun. I think it's one of the best brewpubs I've ever been to. They have another location in Boulder called Southern Sun. Same brews.

So where did you go?

moti_mo said:

So where did you go?

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Some things came up so I wasn't able to get to everywhere.

We ended up going to Walnut brewery, had their sampler which had some really surprisingly tasty brews. Their Red ale was a good surprise

Next we hit up mountain sun since it was close by. Really cool atmosphere. There beers were good, but tasted a little like they had hot fermentation.

Next was Avery which was definitely worth the hype. Awesome beers, really cool barrel cellar, and really friendly staff. We finally found a beer that my fiancé enjoyed. It was a Belgian ale with passion fruit. They had their presidential pale ale which I guess they brew only for the elections.

I was disappointed that they didn't do growlers but it was still cool.

FYI, best liquor store I have been to was Hazels. It's a newer place and some people won't like it because it has a big business feel but their selection was amazing.

Nice, that's a good selection. I went to Walnut once in a while when I lived in Boulder, but haven't been there in a long time.

The Avery "Lilikoi" passion fruit belgian is a great beer. Incredibly refreshing in the summer after a long mountain bike ride! Hope you got try one of their legit sours, they have an amazing barrel program. Andy, the director of their barrel program, is a really great resource and awesome person all around.

I haven't been to Hazel's yet, but I've heard its great. I'll have to check it out next time I'm up there.