The Great American Ale Trail - Christian DeBenedetti [74]
In 2010, award-winning Colorado home brewer Gordon Schuck and his beer-obsessed accountant friend Brad Lincoln opened this small, all-organic brewery in Fort Collins after meeting at Chicago’s Siebel Institute to make saison beers, also known as farmhouse ales, starting with a tiny system and quickly ramping up production. Try the Funkwerks Saison (6.8% ABV), a tawny, grassy sipper with a clean, dry finish.
THE YAK & YETI
7803 Ralston Rd. • Arvada, CO 80002 • (303) 426-1976 • theyakandyeti.com
Nepalese chef Dol Bhattarai specializes in “mountain food for mountain people,” and the house beers are made to go with his amply spiced cuisine. Try the Chai Stout, which tastes of cardamom, cocoa, and ginger.
THE TWISTED PINE
3201 Walnut St. • Boulder, CO 80301 • (303) 786-9270 • twistedpinebrewing.com
While only distributed in four states, Twisted Pine, established in 1995, casts a tall shadow thanks to a series of big wins at the Great American Beer Festival and a slew of well-regarded beers and experiments including Ghost Face Killah, a pepper beer made with Bhut Jolokia, a pepper that is also known as “Ghost Chili” and is six times hotter than a habañero. An excellent representative brew is the fifteenth anniversary Hoppy Knight India Black Ale (7% ABV), a fulsome, piney sipper.
FRESHCRAFT
1530 Blake St., Ste. A • Denver, CO 80202 • (303) 758-9608 • freshcraft.com
Iowa born and bred brothers Jason and Lucas Forgy present a super eclectic menu (from tacos to barbecue to French) and a vast beer selection with twenty rotating taps and over a hundred bottles; go during the “Beer Session” happy hours (3 to 7 p.m. daily) for discounts on sandwiches and 5.5% ABV-and-below draft beer pairings.
DRYDOCK BREWING CO.
15120 E. Hampden Ave. • Aurora, CO 80014 • (303) 400-5606 • drydockbrewing.com
Established in 2005 and connected to the Brew Hut, a home brew shop, Dry Dock anchors an otherwise flavorless suburban strip mall. The nautically themed Dry Dock has hauled up a treasure chest of top brewing awards and widespread praise. A boost from Obama stimulus money (allowing an expansion, which was later followed by another), helped to propel it to national prominence in a short time, even ranking as “Small Brewing Company of the Year” at the 2009 GABF. For kicks, they’ve been known on occasion to serve beer from tapenhanced hollow watermelons and a 208-pound pumpkin. Good brews include U-Boat Hefeweizen, a sessionable 4.3% ABV traditional German-style wheat beer with a spicy, aromatic nose and overtones of vanilla, and Alexander Nevesky Russian Imperial Stout, a 9.5% ABV feast of huge roasted chocolate and coffee flavors.
COLORADO BOY PUB & BREWERY
602 Clinton St. • Ridgway, CO 81432 • (970) 626-5333 • coloradoboy.com
Brewing industry veteran Tom Hennessy’s 25-seat brewpub in a converted 1915 drugstore in tiny Ridgway—the northern entrance of the San Juan Skyway Drive—is cozy but updated with pastel orange and green walls, craftsman light fixtures, an antique bar, and art on the wall.
The inspiration for it all came from travels abroad. “My wife and I were hiking in Scotland,” he recalls, “and I fell in love with the small breweries up there. This is my sixth brewery and smallest by far. Probably my most fun one also.” In terms of styles, he’s determined to run against the big malt/big hop Colorado current: “I want to go the opposite way most others are going. My passion is to brew session beers true to style. Our pub is about conversation, not how much hops are in the beer.”
GRIMM BROTHERS BREWHOUSE
547 N. Denver Ave. • Loveland, CO 80538 • (970) 593-2636 • grimmbrosbrewhouse.com
Grimm Brothers, one of the latest additions to Colorado’s incredible craft beer scene, draws on Teutonic aesthetics and the wicked fun of Grimm’s fairy tales.
Little Red Cap is a fine version of altbier (a German style of ale conditioned at cooler temperatures, made famous in Düsseldorf). Snowdrop American Pale Wheat Ale is a brew style predating the Reinheitsgebot,