Looking for any information that the collective can give us. We are flying to Denver and then driving to Moab UT in Sept. We know the Moab area, and are going to do some hikes in the parks (some trails for the 2nd or more times)
We will go to Fort Collins for a couple nights. Odell and New Belgium are on our list. Anything to add? Is Funkworks/Crooked Stave worth a visit? Recommendations on hotels would be good.
Haven’t been through Colorado to Utah in many years. Recommendations close to I-70 would be good.
Return trip might include Telluride, Durango and on to Alamosa. Only been to Durango on the southern route, and have done the train ride.
I highly recommend stopping off in Longmont between Ft. Collins and Denver, just off I-25 and visit Left Hand and Oskar Blues. If you have time while in Denver, you have to stop by Dry Dock Brewing! Dry Dock is about 20 minutes south of I-70 in Aurora and about 35 minutes from the airport (nothing in Denver is close to the airport!). Dry Dock is my favorite brewery in Colorado, although I may be a little bias since it’s only 7 minutes from my house. That being said, they consistently turn out some of the best brew in the state.
Sounds like a great trip, have a great time and safe travels. Looking forward to your post trip report.
I’m not a huge fan of Funkwerks. If your time is limited definitely go to Equinox first, they produce a much wider range of styles and I think they’re of overall better quality. Crooked Stave is based within Odell’s, at least I think they still are, but I’m not sure if you get actually get their beer through the Odell’s taproom. Pateros Creek is a new one that opened up downtown and they lean towards English-style session beers. Fort Collins Brewing is also in town and they make a few good ones. If you get hungry after a sampler tray at Equinox, you can walk to the next block over and get lunch at Coopersmith’s Pub. They have your typical pub fare and they make usually have around 6-9 beer selections including seasonal/limited release. My favorite of their everyday line-up is probably the Albert Damm Bitter.
Hopefully that helps, instead of making things more complicated…{:>)
Funkwerks would be a good visit although I don’t seem to think they serve any Crooked Stave there.
Equinox in DT Fort Collins is a great location and good beer
Left Hand is worth a trip.
Also to consider:
Liquids and Solids - it’s Oskar Blues restaurant in Longmont. Not only do they have good food and all OB beers but a huge tap list of quality craft beer
I would try to stop in Boulder - I would hit up Avery’s tap room. Not huge fan of thier regular line up but am a big fan of the seasonals plus they typically have a few tap handles of stuff that they don’t bottle
Upslope in Boulder. Small operation right now and only can 4 year around beers but always have 4-5 taps of great beer that is only available in the tap room. Was there a week ago and they had two barell/whiskey aged beers that were great.
I’m not sure why the guy above doesn’t like Avery… They’re my favorite brewery though…
Anyway, I notice that no one gave you any liquor store ideas. Total Beverage is on your way down from Fort Collins: http://totalbeverage.net/
You should be able to find all manner of beers there.
Also, If you come back through the southern part of the state, we have things to talk about…
Pretty much all the Fort Collins breweries are a hit, pateros creek, Odell’s and Fort Collins brewery are my favorite. I would second stopping in Longmont for Left hand and oskar blues. As many breweries that are in Fort Collins i think now there are about 2-3 times that in Denver now. If you have time in Denver strange/renegade/ great divide are great, if feel like driving about 20min to the burbs’s lone tree brewing company is great. Although boulder breweries make some good beer i would stay in foco, Longmont, Denver, and even Colorado springs
If just want to hit some liquor stores Wilbur’s in Fort Collins is great and my favorite for beer in the front range, Longmont is close to Daveco’s (supposedly the largest store either in the state or country)
There are a number of good breweries along the I-70 corridor on your way to Utah, I’ve hit a lot of them over the years. I’m actually writing about our last trip to the Colorado Western Slope on my blog (brew-trek.com) right now, you can also read about our other trips to breweries in Durango, Alamosa, etc.
A couple of places that I think are can’t miss along I-70 are Crazy Mountain in Edwards, and Palisade Brewing just East of Grand Junction.
+1. I had a late lunch there recently and the a10t2 is correct. Nice building as well.
Could be worth a stop.
You guys schedule route times and stops to coincide with brewery stops right?
Getting into the San Luis Valley will take a morning.
On the way in, depending on your lunch schedule, you might try Kannah Creek Brewing in Grand Junction.
Good food and pretty good selection of nicely crafted brews for the west slope.
IMO, the best brewery in that valley.
Have fun, excellent time of year to enjoy the red rocks. Cheers.
Back in 2009, my wife and I aimed to hit every brewery in Colorado (at the time, not including duplicates, there were 104). I’m at 83 and have a little catching up to do with all of the smaller breweries popping up. Not sure how many you plan on hitting in a day (my record is 7 in one day… and yes, the wife was driving), but here are my suggestions for the south route:
If you’re taking 191 south out of Moab through Cortez to Pagosa Springs, be sure to stop at:
Main Street Brewing in Cortez
Ska, Durango Brewing, and Steamworks in the Durango area
Pagosa Brewing and Pagosa Pub Works (haven’t been to PPW) in Pagosa Springs. Pagosa Brewing has a coconut porter that is amazing – almost always “sells out” at GABF…
Three Barrel Brewing in Del Norte – this is possibly my favorite brewery in Colorado and practically no one knows about it. We stopped by on a Thursday afternoon to find the brewery run by John Bricker out of the back of his insurance agency (the cold room literally separated the insurance business from the brewhouse!). Be sure to call ahead – it looks like they may be running a brewpub now, but it’s been a couple of years since I’ve been there. If they’re not open when you’re passing through, you can always stop at Farrago Markets Cafe in Pagosa Springs and get a sandwich and some Three Barrel Beer.
San Luis Valley Brewing – nice brewpub in the middle of downtown Alamosa.
Those are the high points I can speak to in Southern Colorado. If you’re going to go back to Grand Junction and drop in through Telluride, you’ve got:
Kannah Creek and Rockslide in Grand Junction, Palisade Brewing in Palisade (sister city of GJ) – there’s also a decent micro distillery pretty much in the parking lot of Palisade Brewing. Depending upon when you’re going, Palisade has some great peach orchards you should check out. There’s also a number of wineries in Palisade, but don’t expect Napa.
Horsefly Brewing in Montrose
Colorado Boy in Ridgway
Smugglers in Telluride
Ouray Brewing and Ourayle House in Ouray
Silverton Brewing in Silverton
Then on to Durango.
As far as places to stay are concerned, I would highly recommend checking out VRBO. My wife and I are taking a class from Tom at Colorado Boy in October and found a great apartment in downtown Ridgway for a very reasonable rate. Traveling south from Grand Junction to Durango will take a good chunk of the day, especially if your plan is to go through Telluride. Let me know if you have any questions on the other breweries in the Denver area.
Just a minor correction on Crooked Stave: they’re currently an alt-prop (I believe) with Funkwerks in the old Fort Collins Brewery location (Fort Collins built a new brewery a few blocks away and FW/CS moved in). Hop you enjoy the trip – Cheers!
great beer, the menu looked great however, we didn’t have time to eat.
I think it really depends on the route and time schedule the OP wants to take as to what breweries to hit. There are more breweries on the I-25 and I-70 corridors but some pf the small towns have great beer as well. If you happen to stop in the Lake Dillon area Tommyknockers (Idaho Springs) and Dillon Dam Brewery (Dillon) are great wide range of beers (about 12-16 varieties each) and have great food and are close to many hotels and recreational activities.
One more thing… If you decide to take 285 back to Denver from Pagosa, stop at Elevation brewing in Poncha Springs, outside of Salida. They are a new brewery, trying to focus on Barrel aged and sour stuff…
I seem to remember seeing on facebook that crooked stave has actually moved to a Denver Location now, but i’m sure funkwerks still has some on tap.
I really like the idea of traveling to all the breweries in the state, however, with all the new breweries that have opened in the past 2 years it seems like that would be lifelong quest (not necessarily a bad thing)
I have always wanted to travel and the state and visit the breweries and disc golf courses, just got to win the lotto, haha.
Thanks to the dozens of brewfests i think i have tried about 80% of the breweries, but then again every fest has new breweries and i don’t see that changing anytime soon.
