Breweries from my Recent Colorado visit, ranked
1. Casey Brewing and Blending, Glenwood Springs. World class sours, an awesome DIPA collaboration with WEldwerks, a very good imperial stout, funny and dynamic tour guide. One of my favorite brewery visits ever, in spite of my cranky 12 year old begging to leave.
2. Wiley Roots, Greeley. I was a little skeptical about a frozen slushy beer, but wow, really good. Yummy fruited sours. Pastry stout was very good. Didn't try their hoppy offerings. Nice vibe playing the indie rock hits.
3. Knotted Root, Nederland. For a brewery open less than three weeks, these guys are on fire. I liked their beers as much as Weldwerks’ beers, and i liked the vibe much better. Nice folks working there too. My wife really liked the Dead stuff they were playing. And though I'm not a big Dead fan, you could do a lot worse.
4. Bierstadt Lagerhaus, Denver. If every pils were as good as their slow pour pils, i'd drink three or four pilsners a year instead of none. Food was tasty too.
5. Weldwerks, Greeley. The hype was high on these guys. And though their beer was very good, it was a little bit disappointing. NEIPA's and fruity sours very good but not as good as the stuff I get here in VA from Aslin or the Veil, or from the occasional Other Half trip or drop. The best beer of theirs i drank at Casey. Vibe was sort of lame with mainstream-y music and not particularly attentive service.
6. Crooked Stave, Denver. Some of their funky stuff is amazing, some of it tastes a little off. Not really a fan of the vibe or location, though the service was good and friendly. (Second time here.)
7. Epic, Denver. Quadrupel Barrel Baptist and one of their Oak and Orchard beers were particularly tasty. Everything was good. Bartendress was very friendly. (Second Time here.)
8. Great Divide Barrel House, Denver. Only had a couple of beers, both good. Crashing the trivia night was fun. Location too out of the way. (First time at this location...like this place better than the original, but too much of a hike away from anything)
9. Outer Range, Frisco. I suppose if i never had a NEIPA or pastry stout before, I'd have been blown away, but as i have a steady diet of great versions of those beers here in VA, I found them pretty "meh."
Edit: Totally forgot, we went for lunch in Denver to a place called Liberati. There they brew beers also using grapes, creating some tasty wine-beer hybrids. I'm going to put them at #4 and bump the others down.
