How my lists are constructed

I have made up a few lists for your enjoyment. These are intended to be a guide for those who might be in Colorado and want to make the most of doing some brewpub hopping, or for those of you that already live here that find the task of visiting all of Colorado's brewpubs rather daunting. Hopefully, I can help. Please remember that these are IMHO and are also subject to change.  I have brought back the "Please Miss This" list, because there are a couple of places with major process problems and they need to be noted. To be placed on that list a brewpub has to serve a "bad beer", meaning soured or otherwise undrinkable, among other possible process problems. The "Least Favorites" list will still stay around though, but these pubs will be a cut above the "Please Miss This" pubs.

My favorites (in order of preference):

These are my absolute favorite places in Colorado and in most cases are some of the highest quality brewpubs I have been to anywhere. In my opinion, these are places to go out of your way to visit if you are a beer lover. I know I try to visit them as often as I can, but unfortunately, not all of them are nearby.... I do my best....

Phantom Canyon - Colorado Springs

All beers are exceptional and the food is great! The kicker is the single malt selection, here's to Talisker and the Phantom Canyon Peated Porter!!! .... and they have a pool room and a wood fired pizza oven upstairs. If you only visit one brewpub in Colorado, make this the one and be sure and stay for dinner.

Glenwood Canyon Brewing Company - Glenwood Springs

Absolutely wonderful beers and a couple of innovative ones to boot. There is not one on their menu I couldn't recommend having a pint of. Now I have to find excuses to go back.... The food while good isn't as good Phantom Canyon (great) and will keep it at number two in my book.

Mountain Sun Pub and Brewery - Boulder

Great beer, food and guest beers and the unpredictability of all of those that you might find in Boulder. Their sister pub Southern Sun in South Boulder is just as good, but visit this one as part of a Boulder brewpub crawl.

Wynkoop Brewing Company - Denver

The original and old standby. It showed the rest of them in Colorado (and still does) how to be a brewpub. Was the world's largest brewpub one year (based on volume). Food and beer is exceptional.

Coopersmith's - Ft. Collins

I suppose anyone who can make a palatable chile beer would get my vote for a place to visit, because they most certainly could make a quality brew. That most certainly is the case here, and their other brews are well done also.

Not Quite Favorites (in order of preference):

These are places that are very high quality places to quaff a brew and while not awesome, they are places that I love to go for a brew or two. Usually these places are great quality places that are just a small step down from the ones in the "My favorites" list. All are definitely worthy of a visit, even if you have to go a little out of your way.

Backcountry Brewery - Frisco

Always a great selection of fine brews, along with one or two out of the ordinary beers to test your palate. Their IPA is probably their best, but none of their beers come without recommendation. Hmmm, I wonder what a barleywine by these guys would taste like? Probably wonderful.

Redfish - Boulder

Their Belgian beers are nice and last year they made a super "sour" beer.  Now have a saison that is nice as well.  Can be a bit pricey, but food is good as well and Brian is just a great guy.

Kaltenberg Castle - Vail

Owned by the Prince of Bavaria, they make some of the best German style beers West of the Alps. Even though they only have 3 or 4 brews on draft at any time, they are always authentically German, as is the food.

Bull and Bush - Glendale (Denver)

A very wide selection of beers and not a bum in the lot. The British pub style place has decent food and has a nice blend of American corner bar and British pub. Stop in if you have the chance.

Oskar Blues - Lyons

The original brewer has now left, but his original partner now owns the Redfish and has brought their brewer over to help out. Like I said above..... Brian is just a great guy. The beers aren't too bad either. A great stop on the way to Rocky Mountain National Park.

Honorable Mention

Honestly, I am making a special exception here. I have a hard time listing as a recommendation for folks to visit a place that is so hard to get in to since it is closed so often, but it truly deserves to be visited, so I have a special mention here for the Sandlot as Honorable Mention.

Rounder's at the Sandlot - Coors Field - Denver

Great beers all around and good food at a reasonable price to boot. We won't mention the view of Coors Field from bar. Go only if you have a ticket for a game or if the Rockies are out of town.  Their flaky hours (11am-2pm) are the only thing that stops this place from being in the very top tier.  If you find that it is open, stop in!

Only if you have spare time (from of most to least avoidable)

If you would like to go to a brewpub that has brews that you have tasted in many other brewpubs and have all the same styles and have little to no imagination or and the staff has little knowledge of the beer that they are brewing, stop at these places. These are places that are nothing special. If you have a normal brewpub near you, you have probably tasted their beers at most of these places as well. Mostly brewpubs for the masses. They all make clean brews with no blaring defects (process-wise), but they are the same beers you have probably tasted elsewhere.

Least Favorites (from of most to least avoidable)

These pubs are the worst of the worst, ones that cry "STAY AWAY" to the beer lover in me. For the most part I would rather be drinking a Coke at most of these brewpubs. This doesn't mean that they are bad places, it DOES however mean that these are bad places for GoodBeer(tm), so from the beer snob point of view, skip these.

Please Miss This (from of most to least avoidable)

These pubs are worse than my least favorites, because they not only not interesting, but serve bad (contaminated or other massive process problem) beer.  As for these I say "fughetabodit" as in have a Coke if you are forced at gunpoint to go, otherwise avoid them at all costs.

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by Mitch Mather, Broomfield, CO copyright 1996-2002

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