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2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR: Left Hand Brewing Company, Longmont Colorado (June 26, Brewery Stop #6)

2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR: Left Hand Brewing Company, Longmont Colorado (June 26, Brewery Stop #6)The sixth brewery on our cross country beer discovery tour (click here to read about the whole trip) was Left Hand Brewing Company in Longmont CO, June 26th. We drove up from Denver after sleeping in a bit that morning (having had a rough day of drinking prior) and enjoying a great breakfast at a local joint next to our hotel downtown. Longmont CO is a great historic town north of Denver about 1/2 an hour by freeway with a great little downtown and easily traversed layout and the brewery is located SW of the main downtown corridor. We were excited to make it to Left Hand as all of us had consumed some of their more widely distributed beers and wanted to try it at the source. We definately were not dissappointed when we got there. The brewery building and production facility share the same parking lot, with a large outdoor patio on the street facing side of the taproom. The inside of the taproom has some swag, memoriabilia, and a number of tables and large bar you can sit at. We plopped down on …

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2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR: Prost Brewing Company, Denver Colorado (June 25, Brewery Stop #5)

2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR: Prost Brewing Company, Denver Colorado (June 25, Brewery Stop #5)The fifth brewery along our cross country beer discovery tour (click here to read about the whole trip) was Prost Brewing Company in Denver CO on June 25th. After having a great dinner at a nearby restaurant on the west side of downtown with Gary’s cousin Sheila, we walked a few blocks over to Prost Brewing. The evening was a bit showery, and we were welcomed with a double rainbow as we were finishing dinner. I guess mother nature was giving us the thumbs up! This brewery is on an industrial block, with a pretty large parking lot (gravel) out front. There is a patio (partially covered) and inside there’s a number of tables to sit at with a full length bar. They have a door you can peek through to see their production are (as showin the pictures to the right) next to the bar. The bar area has a cooler with bottles to go, and growler fills available. They have some interesting swag available as well, we ended up with some stickers, a masskrug, and a hat for Gary’s collection. As this was a weekday …

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2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR: Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project, Denver Colorado (June 25, Brewery Stop #4)

2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR: Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project, Denver Colorado (June 25, Brewery Stop #4)The fourth brewery we stopped at on our cross country beer discovery tour (click here to read about the whole trip) was Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project in Denver CO on June 25th. After hitting New Belgium north of Denver, we drove south into town and checked in at our hotel to unload some stuff. We were looking forward to trying this brewery as we had recently tried some of their beers at our local favorite bar, the Hop and Vine. The H&V poured a number of Crooked Stave beers during a sour fest and it was great to try them in person. This brewery is located in a recently renovated industrial complex with a LOT of different businesses inside the main building to include a specialty meat market, three or four restaurants, a liquor store, two or three other bars, and a common seating area. Once inside the main building (parking lot is gravel, so if it’s rainy, it might be muddy), head to the far back left corner and you’ll find Crooked Stave. They do have a number of bar seats and tables …

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2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR: New Belgium Brewing Co., Fort Collins Colorado (June 25, Brewery Stop #3)

2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR: New Belgium Brewing Co., Fort Collins Colorado (June 25, Brewery Stop #3)The third stop on our beer discovery tour (click here to read about the whole trip) landed us at New Belgium in Fort Collins Colorado. This well known establishment is just a few minutes from Odell Brewing. This is one of the best known micro-breweries in the US with Fat Tire Amber Ale being their largest distributed beer. The company is ’employee-owned’ so it’s definitely got a ‘sort-of-corporate-while-not-trying-to-be’ vibe going on with all the low-key stuff on their walls and ‘community’ atmosphere. The main building gets lots of visitors, so parking can be an issue. Just inside, they have a BUNCH of swag for sale and a bar area to get samples, pints, growler fills, and bottles to go. Once inside, we decided to grab a small table once one came open and ordered a few samples at the bar. They do offer everything they distribute in bottles and cans via tap there on site, as well as a few experimental and one-offs that are not distributed. We decided to try the one’s we had not had before with the local only beers. We did …

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2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR: Odell Brewing Co., Fort Collins Colorado (June 25, Brewery Stop #2)

2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR: Odell Brewing Co., Fort Collins Colorado (June 25, Brewery Stop #2) The second day of our journey to the east coast on our beer discovery tour (click here to read about the whole trip) in late June we made our way from northern Utah into southern Wyoming and then into Colorado to Fort Collins, just north of Denver. The first brewery stop for the day was Odell Brewing Company. We got there just as they opened for the day, and discovered they had a food cart truck and live music over the lunch hour on their patio (see pictures below). The facility is quite large with lots of seating inside and outside with lots of interesting artwork and things to keep you distracted. The brewing production areas can be viewed if you go on one of their free brewery tours which you have to sign up at the bar. The surprise for us was that we didn’t think that they would have so many beers on draft on site (18 the day we were there). We knew that they had a lot of varieties that they distribute across the west coast, but it was quite a …

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2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR: Highlands Hollow Brewhouse, Boise ID (June 24, Brewery Stop #1)

2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR: HIGHLANDS HOLLOW BREWHOUSE, BOISE IDAHO (JUNE 24, BREEWERY STOP #1) The first day of our journey to the east coast in late June on the beer discovery tour (click here to read about the whole trip), we stopped in Boise ID for lunch at the Highlands Hollow Brewhouse. This old-school brewery is located on the north edge of town, just past downtown off of N. Harrison Blvd where it turns into Bogus Basin. While there are a number of breweries in the area that we could have gone for lunch, I wanted to revisit this great establishment as it had been over a year since I was last there and I was curious what their brewer had produced since then. The vibe is certainly on the ‘down to Earth’ and everyone is treated with attention and respect. This is a ‘family’ restaurant that serves beer, there is a small bar you can sit at, but for the most part, it’s a big room with lots of friendly people. We arrived just at the start of the day-time lunch rush. Actually, it’s not much of a rush, but more of a trickle of visitors and locals. The …

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