Ft Collins-ish Area Recommendations

[microbusbrewery]

My wife and I are heading to Denver soon to visit some friends. We've been to GABF several times so we have a good handle on Denver, but we've always flown in, stayed downtown, and never ventured too far from downtown. This time we're driving and will be heading out to Ft Collins area and hitting breweries along the way.

My short list consists of New Belgium, Odell, Avery, Oskar Blues, and Left Hand.

Does anyone have any "must visit" recommendations along the way from Denver to Ft Collins? I love sour/wild beers, so any brewery with sours would likely get bonus points. But I also love a stouts, porters, IPAs, barley wines, etc.

To give you an idea of what I like, on a recent trip to Cali we hit a Russian River tap takeover at Slater's 50/50, Noble Ale Works tasting room, and The Bruery tasting room.

 

[ColoHox]

If sours are high on your list, you must visit Crooked Stave. It is in Denver, but you didn't mention it.

My wife and I just went to the La Folie release party at New Belgium on Saturday. The 2015 La Folie and Transatlatic Kreik are now available, and delicious.

Here is a list of the Northern CO breweries. My favorites are Horse and Dragon (former Odell's brewer), Zwei Bruder (former CB potts brewer), Equinox (operated by the LHBS guys), Funkwerks, and Black Bottle. The last place, Black Bottle, is a great place to go for a good selection of both in-house craftbeer and the local fare.

Also, the Mayor of Old Town is certainly worth a stop. 100 rotating taps and up-to-date tap lists. It is quite the beer bar.

 

[BeerFst]

I highly recommend Choice City Deli. they have a pretty large tap set up (20 I would guess) and have rockstar sandwiches. The rubens are my favorite, but you really can't go wrong with anything on that menu.

+1 for Black bottle they have a pretty large tap set also. I wasn't a fan of their food however.

 

[LLBeanJ]

+1 to Mayor of Old Town if you find yourself looking for a bite to eat and want an awesome draft beer selection.

For sour/brett/funky beers, be sure check out Funkwerks.

 

[BeerFst]

FYI, theres a solid 5 or so breweries you can walk between in the Old Town area. Coopersmiths isn't the best brewery in the city (they did have a kriek the last time I was there though), but theres a parking garage across the street that is $1/hour and the first hour is free.

 

[microbusbrewery]

Nice! Thanks everyone for the recommendations, especially for the places with good food. We love good food so the wife will appreciate that.

Yeah, I forgot to mention we'll definitely be hitting Crooked Stave at least once. We went once before but it was right after they moved to The Source, so they were still in a state of construction.

 

[FoCobrewguy]

Funkwerks has the saisons but not too much funk up here. I second odells and horse and dragon. Tap and handle is like they mayor 50 taps or so and normally has some jolly pumpkin and other sours.

 

[MrHopScotch]

Depending on how much time you have, you may stop at Grimm brothers or some of the others in Loveland between Boulder and Fort Collins.

For breweries in FoCo, my must-dos would be NB, Odell, Equinox which is a smaller brewery with a lot of variety right in the heart of old town, (and Horse and Dragon, but it's between old town and I-25, so it's a little farther out of the way). If one of the days you're here has particularly nice weather, try to go to Odell that day. They recently renovated their outdoor patio and it is wonderful on a nice (or even average) day.

And add another vote for the Mayor of Old Town. 100 taps and almost no filler, they usually have a few sours, and a bunch of unique big beers from all over but with an emphasis on local and west coast breweries. Pro tip: if you're around between 3 and 5 on a Friday, they have free stuffed pretzels with purchase of a drink.

To nurse the inevitable hangover, check out the Silver Grill for breakfast. I don't think I've ever had a disappointing meal there.

There are so many good breweries in Denver that Fort Collins can easily get overshadowed. It's awesome that you're making a point to get there, as it's a really great town with a booming beer scene.

Cheers!

 

[philosofool]

Funkwerks. GABF Gold Medal Saison, and much deserved.