Wedding celebrations are over, one semi cross-country ride ever, I made it to the exhaustively high (pun intended) state of Colorado. Prologue Part 1 will be posted when the photographer uploads his pictures. That way I can give justice pristine views of Hood River and an immaculately planned wedding. But once I arrived in Colorado, I discovered I had little to do other than spend time with family, which is an inherently limiting activity.
So I decided to tour Colorado the most Northwestern way possible; by hitting up by every major brewery.
California, Washington, Oregon and Colorado are in the top four states for the most microbreweries, each with well over 100 microbreweries (over 200 for California, but that’s kinda cheating with their size). I’m lucky enough to be able to call two of those states home. These microbreweries have changed the face of American beers to the world. No longer are we famed for our watery lagers, but many recognize our sophisticated beers as rivals to Europe. And while I may know little about the brewing process, I’m going to take what innate, pretentious knowledge of beer drinking as an Oregonian, and apply it here in Colorado.
Joking aside, I enjoy my beer but I’m hardly an expert. And you don’t have to be an expert to go on these brewery tours. Beer tours are for those who enjoy a particular beer brand, and would like to see where their beer comes from. Little knowledge of the brewing process is required. And most tours are always fun, the quality of tour usually comes down to the guides. A great guide can make the tour a hilarious and informative delight by showering you with fun anecdotes and facts whereas a dull guide can make the tour a tiresome slog, leaving you wondering why you even left the bar in the first place. Of course I’d be lying if the amount of free beer a brewery gives out wasn’t a factor…
Before we continue, for those those planning to visit Colorado, there is a lot to do here. Too much to do. But here’s two big things to look out for, especially if you plan on doing something similar; Rent a car and budget.
Like Washington state, Colorado has received a massive influx of people these last few years. This means a lot more traffic and a lot of different suburbs and nearby cities are booming. Unfortunately for us visitors, that means we need to rent a car to do anything that isn’t immediately in the downtown area. Most breweries are scattered all around, and my lazy ass will have a hard time walking everywhere. This booming economy also means this state gets expensive fast. A beer and a meal won’t make you sell your blood and firstborn like New York or Los Angeles, but it’ll hit the wallet harder than most are used to.
New Belgium Brewery
The fourth largest Craft brewery and eighth largest Craft brewery in the United States. And as far as I’m concerned, home of the famous Fat Tire and the Ranger. Some of the best beers out there and probably the only major craft brewery that can hold a candle to Oregon’s Deschutes brewery.
I’m just going to say it, this brewery site and its tour, is simply amazing. When you walk up to the building, an overpowering and pleasant smell of malts greets you on the grounds. The grounds even feel more like a college campus than a business or even a brewery. People are playing cornhole, lying in the grass and there’s even a taco truck is parked outside. It might have something to do with the company culture. New Belgium is an employee owned business, with an emphasis on being a sustainable brewery and employee happiness, even touting their own Director of Fun. All of this was started by an electrical engineer who quit hit job follow his passion. I may relate to this story. Not really sure why.
As far as the tour itself goes, sign up in advance! Even in the middle of a weekday, the tours are completely full. If you’re a lonely soul like yours truly or there are only two of you, you may be able to sneak in when there’s a cancellation. There’s a tour every half an hour and I was lucky enough to join one immediately.
The tour itself takes you through both of New Belgium’s building. The tour guides love going over the company history and the company’s current employee and environmental initiatives. They only touched on the basics of beer manufacturing, a handful of production facts and even less when it came to the manufacturing line. But it was something I hardly noticed The guide was so peppy with his company anecdotes and his attitude so buoyant that you’re riveted by those alone.
An important note, New Belgium is anything but frugal on their beer samples. You get 4-5 different sampler glasses on the tour, all of which are their quality beers. In one section of the tour, they let you pour your own beer and even said “feel free to grab as much as you want while we’re in this room.” Between their samplers and the pint I purchased earlier, I may have laid in the grass until I was able to drive. I actually went on this tour years ago. I was with my folks and they weren’t drinking, so I had three people’s worth of samplers. My mom had to cancel our fancy dinner reservation that evening cause I had to go home and nap. She wasn’t happy with me for that one.
If you’re on a shoestring budget, or just love beer, this is a great stop. I can’t recommend this brewery enough.
Oskar Blues
I haven’t heard of this place, but its only 15 minutes from my parent’s house. It is one of the smaller breweries so it can’t quite be compared to its larger cousins. It is unique in that its focus is canning their craft beer as opposed to bottling. In the craft beer world, this has been a big no-no for the longest time. Its so looked down upon, that the owner of Lagunitas brewing in California publicly bad mouthed Oskar Blues for their cans. In response, Oskar Blues grabbed all of Lagunitas beer in their restaurant and sent them back. But like any bullied child, Oskar Blues persevered in canning since 2002 and continue to do so, with 70% of their beer ending up in cans.
The brewery itself has a very local, casual feel. This tour is only 30 minutes due to their smaller facility and as opposed to New Belgium, focused their tour on the production line itself. You get to hear all about the manufacturing process and get to walk along the floor as its working. Unfortunately there is no free beer on this trip, though the guide gave me one of their rejected cans. The guide was nice enough, but the smaller facility and less content for the tour makes this tour a bit limiting. The beer itself is pretty good, though I wouldn’t go out of my way for this tour. The brewery and restaurant seem like great spots if you’re a local, seeking a relaxing happy hour break than a one time tourist tour.
Budweiser Brewery
Well I couldn’t resist checking out some of the big name breweries. Thankfully, Budweiser has fortunately acquired a number of smaller microbreweries these past few years. So beer aficionados, won’t be stuck drinking Budweiser the whole time. But if we’re going to the Budweiser factory, we’re there to see two big things: a giant ass factory and the famous Clydesdale horse. And boy did Budweiser not disappoint in those two categories. A quick scroll through their website will tell you if the Clydesdales are at your local factory and when they’re being shown to the public. The factory tour is much more simple. All you just need to show up, no appointment required. However, they did offer a $35 beermaster tour that is by appointment only. A two hour, in-depth tour through all the factory grounds? You can guess what I did.
But how does it compare to the other tours? Quite well despite the cost. It felt like a combination of New Belgium’s historical and company background tour mixed with Oskar Blue’s production line walkthrough. Then again it was the total length of both tours combined. The tour guide, Phil, was extremely fun and like New Belgium, was a linchpin for the tour. You get taken through all parts of the facility, from 100+ degree boiling rooms to their freezing chiller rooms. As you progress, you get to try beer in progress, beer straight from the tank and a complimentary beer at the end. And because its an active factory floor, you have to wear long pants, safety glasses and they even provide you with a headset for the louder areas so you can hear your guide.
They have a pretty flashy finale where you go to the stables, where you get to see the famous Clydesdales. I don’t even care for horses normally, but damn they be majestic. And that concludes the tour, where you leave with pictures, a tasting glass, cap and a beermaster diploma. Fun complimentary gifts I guess? I’ll let you decide if its worth the price of admission from the pictures.
Coors Brewery
I actually visited the Coors Brewery years ago when being shown around by a friend. It’s gigantic and probably a great weekend activity if you live in Golden and want some free beer. I don’t even recall the tour guide being that memorable and I definitely remember their samples are small. I also can’t emphasize this enough, the beer that you can sample, are all Coors brands. And unlike Budwesier, they don’t own that many microbreweries. Their one decent beer, Blue Moon, was mysteriously absent from their taps. I’m sorry Coors, but don’t piss in my glass and tell me it’s beer.
