Wynkoop Brewing Company

My 2nd stop on my Denver Brewery tour was at Wynkoop Brewing Company. A nice looking place on the corner near Coors Field and the river. Walker right in and was able to get a seat at the bar. Pretty good crowd that started to fill in even more after we sat down. The brewery and restaurant is 3 stories with tables and games up stairs and a local theater downstairs. Having had a nice dark beer at Great Divide, I wanted to lighten it up a bit. Ended up seeing that they had their London Calling IPA on cask, excellent. Pour nice, a bit hazy with just a hint of lace on top. Very nice and smooth, very subhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.giftle hop note to end and a tad sweet in the middle. One of the better true English Style IPAs I have ever had. Even better with it being at cellar thttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifemp and on cask. Not too much carbonation forcing the hops through. Well balanced and I wish I could find this style around here in Atlanta. My buddy had the Russian Imperial Stout (again with the dark beers Ken, wth?) It was good but I was too lost in my perfect pint of cask IPA. I'll give the London Calling IPA on Cask a solid 4 out of 5 pints.

Only issue we had at Wynkoop was not discovered until a few days later. On the way out I decided to get a growler of something to lighten the mood up over thhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gife growler of Great Divide Smoked Baltic Porter that was already in the car. Got a sample of the Wixa Weiss, a very nice unfiltered wheat beer. Good for cleansing away a hard day of skiing. Ordered the growler, picked it up and headed on to the rest of our journey. When we opened the growler the next evening and poured the first beer we knew something was off, it poured clear. Hmm, tasted it and yep, not the Wixa Weiss. It was ok (whatever it was) but something was a bit off. Only thing I can figure it was is either the Two Guns Pilsner or the Light Rail Ale. Regardless, don't know what is was and we were disappointed not to have the Wixa.

The overall feel of the place was great, a good looking joint and the food smelled great, but alas we had miles to go until we ate.

Wykoop Brewing Company Taproom 3.5 pints out of 5 (looses a point for giving me the wrong beer in my growler!)

Next stop, Strange Brewing Company...

Happy Drinking!!

Great Divide Brewing Tap Room

1st stop on the my magical mystery Denver beer and ski tour was the Great Divide Brewing Tap Room near downtown Denver. Pretty east place to find, lots of on street parking around. We got there about 3pm on a Friday and the place was already pretty packed out. Nice tap room, good looking bar in the front with a few tables and a view of the brewery in the back. Beer was ridiculously cheap. I got the Smoked Baltic Porter and my buddy got the Espresso Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout. I think they were both $3?!?! Both beers were awesome. Smoked Baltic Porter may be my new favorite type of beer. First one I had was Left Hand Brewing's Fade to Black #2 last year. The Great Divide take on the style is amazing. Dark, smooth, just a bit smokey, a tahttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifd spicy at the end. Wow, pure love in a glass. Have to start messing around with lager yeast now so I can clone one of these. We skipped the brewery tour since we had several other stops. We did great a growler of the Smoked Baltic Porter to go, fills were about $8 and the growler was around $5. A great little place and was the perfect kick off to the rest of our day.

Great Divide Tap Room Rating: 5 pints out of 5
Great Divide Smoked Baltic Porter: 4.5 pints out of 5

Happy Drinking!!

Home at last!

Got back to Atlanta safe and sound. So jealous of the folks in Colorado and the Denver area especially. 20+ great craft breweries within an hours drive plus several great local distilleries. Wow. A great trip and tons to write about.

Last breweries we hit in Fort Collins:

Odells
Fort Collins Brewery
Equinox Brewing
Coopersmiths Brewpub

Wish we had gotten the time to hit up New Belgium and Funkwerks but the timing just didn't work out.

Reviews of all to come little by little over the next few weeks.

Happy Drinking!!

Heading home...

So my trip to Vail to go skiing is coming to an end. I should have a good write up of some of the beers that I have gotten to taste while out here in the coming weeks. Breweries that I have gone to so far are:

Great Divide
Wynkoop Brewing
Strange Brewing Company
Renegade Brewing Company
Stranahans Colorado Whiskey
Breckenridge Brewery and BBQ

Also plan on hitting Odels and New Belgian tomorrow before my flight.

Tons of great beers at all these breweries plus a few seeds have been planted on styles I need to try to brew. I'll try to get up a few reviews a week until I can get through all of them!

Happy Drinking!!

Red Brick HopLanta Review

Saw this at the store and figured I would give it a shot. Poured a nice orangey color, a good and light head. Smelled like an IPA. Good and smooth for a IPA, a little woodsy. Not as floral as most west coast IPAs. Similar to Dogfish Head 60 Minute. In fact I actually like this one better than 60 min. HopLanta just has a bit more pop to it than 60 minute. All in all a decent IPA, may not become a mainstay in the fridge but a nice change up for every now and again. I'll give it a 3 pints out of 5.

Happy Drinking!!