Ft. Collins and Northern Colorado
Estes Park
Estes Park Brewery
A neat place that is a little off the beaten path in
Estes Park. Unfortunately, the beers are rather non-descript. They have a wide
range of beers (from 2 different wheats to a stout) all are average or below.
They seem to be more interested in selling T-shirts than brewing high quality
beer. The Raspberry and Blueberry Wheats were nice, but most were unadventurous
and/or bland, although they had a very nice barleywine the last time I was up.
Nice labels though (FWIW). Stop in if you are in town, the tasters are free, but
don't make a special trip, unless the barleywine is on. (last visited
3/98)
Ft. Collins
C.B. and Potts/Bighorn Brewing - Campus West area
A group of 9 of their
own beers with most of the lower end stuff the same as the one in Suburban
Denver. Of the 9, only two stood out in my mind, the Porter and the Bock (called
Penalty Bock, good name). The Porter was not just a baby stout, but had a nice
chocolatey flavor on top of a pretty good base beer. The bock was a nice smooth
well balanced version of a paler colored bock. It did not have the character of
some of the darker bocks that I have had, but as a pale bock stood up quite
well. Unfortunately, the lighter beers in their lineup were just like the one in
the Denver Tech Center, undistiguishable and bland and only the Porter is a
regular. If you go, have a Porter or a seasonal, otherwise don't bother. (last
visited 5/97)
Visited again recently and found the same large variety (11 beers)
and high quality brews as before. I am not a fan of Chile beers, but theirs
(Sigda's Green Chile Beer) is a very nice one. The Punjabi Pale Ale was not as
hoppy as I had expected, but still a fine beer. Last visit provided me with a
great Mild. If you are in Ft. Collins this is a good place to visit, good beer,
good variety, and good quality all the way around. (last visited 7/00)
Linden Brewing Company - Old Town
I just happened to be in Ft. Collins
shortly after this place opened, so I got to have a quick first look at this
place. The place is in the Old Town area which is a pretty hopping area. They
have the all too typical brewing equipment behind the bar look. They also host
live music quite a bit, mostly on the blues end of the spectrum, so I guess the
blue lights behind the brewing equipment is not too surprising. Oh... the
beers!! Well, they had 5 brews of their own and two contract brews (pushed by a
company that has a significant ownership in the brewpub). Their own brews were a
Blonde, Pale Ale, "English Ale", Brown, and an Irish Stout. Nothing out of the
ordinary, but all were clean and pretty decent. Basically they all were good,
safe interpretations of style with no outstanding characteristics that I can
think of. (last visited 2/00)
Greeley
Union Colony
I thought that this place was not that good until I noticed
that what they said was a pale ale was a Kolsch and what they said was a dark
ale was an Alt. Marketing....uggghhh. Happily, they don't do this anymore, they
just make decent beer. A bit inconsistent, but that is because their brewing
system is ... well, a pain. Not inconsistent in a bad sense, mind you, but they
make good beer in an inconsistent manner. Case in point, I had 3 different
versions of their Kolsch at one point and all were good, but all were definitely
different. Their beers are OK, but not worth a special trip. (last visited 5/01)
Smiling Moose
Looks like another joint trying to capitalize on the craft
brewing craze. They are a chain that has three other outlets (I believe that
this one is the only one currently with a brewpub). Actually their base beers
are fairly decent, but fruit is the word of the day here. They had 4 different
beers with fruit of some kind in them, Cherry, Apricot, Raspberry (of course, no
place would be complete without a raspberry wheat, you know), and Blackberry, I
believe. 3 were in wheats the other in a pale ale. The place is not worth a
special visit, but for a cookie-cutter joint was pretty decent. (last visited
8/98)
Sterling
Silver Dollar Brewery and Steakhouse
The vast Great Plains of
Northeastern Colorado now have a brewpub. Sterling is in farm country on the
Eastern Plains half way to Nebraska from Denver. The Silver Dollar is a family
owned place that is basically a local steak joint in a diner kind of environment
with a bar and a dance area adjoining it that decided to put in a brewing system
and brew for their bar and restaurant. Although the beers are much like I used
to create from malt extract kits when I was first brewing, they are palatable
and unoffensive. The food there is inexpensive and well done and the waitress
was a kick (only 27 years there, not 28 or 30, but 27!). Refreshing small town
atmosphere, even if the beers weren't anything to write home about. (last
visited 6/00)
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by Mitch Mather, Broomfield, CO copyright 1996-2002
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