Return From Colorado

Yep, you read the post title correctly. My family and I just recently returned from visiting some good friends in Colorado. What a great trip! Getting a chance to see old friends and the opportunity to catch up with them was awesome. Another nice thing (for me) was this - our trip to this particular area meant an added bonus: breweries.

Our friends live in Loveland, which means there are many beer-making establishments within an hour drive time of their place. Last time we went to visit them, we hit the Fort Collins trifecta: The Fort Collins Brewery, New Belgium, and Odell. It was a great experience that stuck in my head and fed my desire to see more of the area's breweries during our next visit. For this trip, I picked Left Hand and Oskar Blues in Longmont and Avery in Boulder.

Saturday was designated "brewery day." Because we had all our kids, only the husbands would go. (Don't worry, the wives had their fun on Sunday.) We came up with a plan to check out Left Hand first, drive to Boulder for Avery, and stop at Oskar Blues on our return to Loveland. Our thoughts were that this course would nicely spread out our drive time and allow us to catch 2 of the actual brewery tours (the Left Hand and Avery tours started at the same time, so I had to choose Avery). This plan changed throughout the course of the day...

Our visit to Left Hand was very pleasant. We arrived right as they were opening the tasting room and were greeted by some energetic, friendly hosts. The bar and tabletops were made of cold rough stone, but the place definitely felt warm and inviting. We each chose to purchase their $4 taster deal, which allowed us to pick 4 of their beers to sample in small snifter glasses. I went with 400 Pound Monkey, cask Black Jack Porter, Fade to Black Volume 2, and their Imperial Stout. All the brews were tasty, and we sipped them as we chatted. My favorite of the 4 was the Fade to Black Volume 2, which is a smoked Baltic Porter. After finishing our samples, we left for the next stop on our journey.

Ah, Avery. I've known for a while now that this brewery would be one I had to visit if and when I made it back to Colorado. We arrived a half-hour before the scheduled tour time of 2pm, so we put our names on the tour sign-up sheet and each ordered a beer while we waited. I started off with a Jerry's Roggenbier and was quite pleased.

When it came time for our tour to begin, we each grabbed a traveler and headed outside to meet our guide. Phil Vaughn, our Avery expert, took us through the tour and gave us some insight into the operations of the brewery. The tour didn't cover much physical ground, but my favorite place in the brewery was the barrel-aging room. This is where brewing science gets left behind and beer art comes into play. I also must say that I've never had a brewery tour guide as knowledgeable as Phil. He knew all the details, even the ones a beer geek like me is interested in.

After the tour was complete, we checked the time and thought we should maybe consider leaving for Oskar Blues. There was one more beer that I had to try, though. It's draught only, and can only be found in a couple other Colorado bars besides the brewery's tap room. I ordered a taster of the beer called Rumpkin and sat down for a spectacular taste experience. Rumpkin is a dry-spiced pumpkin ale aged in Gosling's rum barrels for 6 months. The sign above the bar says it is a whopping 13.9% ABV. The server tells me that it is brewed with pumpkin flesh, all-spice, and ginger. After the first sip, I can't believe how good it is! I never thought pumpkin pie and rum flavors could blend so well. This beer is heavenly; that's the only simple way to describe it. Caramel, spice, pumpkin, and rum are all delicious and friendly companions in this brew. Thanksgiving and Christmas would benefit greatly from this beer! Have you figured out that I'm a fan?

As I finish my Rumpkin, we decide to leave for Oskar Blues. We were already cutting it close for their tour start time, and we didn't want to miss it. However, we did miss it - because of Phil, the greatest tour guide in history. Right as we were about to stand up and leave Avery, Phil placed a couple glasses in front of us and told us we had to try it. He said it doesn't actually "exist" and it wasn't on the tap board. It was a passion fruit beer and it was excellent. Before we finished that, he gave us a blend of The Reverend and Samael's which he called a Moloch. Awesome. Then, he gave us a Monster Screw, which is the most hardcore black and tan ever. It is Mephistopheles layered on top of Samael's. Crazy good, and very dangerous! With all this unbelievable beer flying at us, we decided to just skip the next brewery. Sorry Oskar Blues, and thank you Phil and Avery!

We left Avery very happy with our experience. I was content and thought we were headed back to my friend's house, but it turned out that we weren't finished yet. My friend surprised me with a bonus stop. We visited a brand new brewery in Loveland called Grimm Brothers that specializes in old-style German beers. As of right now, they only sell growlers out of the brewery and kegs to some local watering holes.

Our plan was to purchase a growler and take it back to the house for dinner. That all changed when Aaron Heaton, the Vice-President of the brewery, overheard me talking to the server behind the bar. He immediately came over and started pouring us samples of every beer they had on tap. He told us about each style as we sipped, and was more than happy to allow us to walk through the brewery behind the tap room. He even gave us a sample of a hopped-up German-style twist on an IPA that they are still experimenting with. The beer and the whole Grimm Brothers experience were great. Thanks to Aaron!

We bought our growler of The Fearless Youth and went to pick up a pizza at Papa Murphy's. We finished the day with a beer and pizza dinner with our friends. That was a great day! Definitely a fun trip to Colorado!