(Ale) Trailblazing Across The Country: Part 4 - Along The Two-Eight-Seven

Previous Ale Trail Blogposts
Part 1 - Beer Tourism and The Ale Trail (with a focus on the Columbus Ale Trail)
Part 2 - Brewery/Ale Trail Comparisons with similarly-sized metro areas to Columbus
Part 3 - A Compendium of the Nation's Ale Trails

From a United States craft beer perspective, there are a select few cities that make the craft beer seeker's palate water just from the mere mention...Portland, Oregon...San Diego, California...Asheville, North Carolina...and so forth. For these cities, extra ancillary promotions like an ale trail concept are pretty much not needed; for all intents and purposes, the attraction and strength of these craft beer scenes speak for themselves.

For this post, I had originally considered taking a brief look at how all these cities promote their craft breweries and how it fits in the overall picture.  Upon closer inspection, it turned out one of these meccas, recently named as one of the top craft beer destinations in the country by a prominent online travel site, provided a contrasting approach to the ale trail equation: one part of the named metro has an ale trail, while the other part does not.

Crafty Colorado (Pt. 3): Funkwerks and Equinox Brewing (Fort Collins, CO)

"We had joy, we had fun, we had saisons in the sun..."

As horribly punny as that line is, it sets us up perfectly for detailing the next stop in our daylong Colorado craft beer tour.

Funkwerks: Officially incorporated in 2009, the folks at Funkwerks seem to have a wry view on life and themselves. Hints of this are found all over, from their unique twist on the "About" section on their main website (where they make their various beer and business accomplishments and failures at various failures at various non-beer competitions almost indistinguishable from one another) to the taproom chalkboard, which not only lists the  "beertender" of the day, but also contains a quote or similar (the brewery's social media pages hashtag a regular #wednesdaywordsofwisdom.") Finally, the beer menu is filled with little shots of wit, using identifiers such as "Doesn't pair well with Ryu" (their Blanka Double Wit) and "0% of proceeds will go to NLRF, the National Leprechaun Reintroduction Foundation" (Funkwerks' Belgian Stout) with more standard beer descriptors.

However, there is nothing wry or to be laughed at with their selection of beer. Similar to Lancaster, Ohio-based Rockmill, Funkwerks has carved out a reputation of brewing some of the best of the Belgian and Saison beer styles in the country.

The brewery's taproom is a fairly cozy and quietly stylish affair, marked by wood paneling and floors, a little sheet metal, and a small bar area framed by their trademark shade of green you can find on their logo. Along with other tables and chairs, the interior can probably handle up to 20-25 people comfortably. Funkwerks doesn't have any regular food operations, but does offer a cheese and crackers plate if you need a little food while sipping their brews.

Funkwerks' cozy yet stylish taproom, which included a barrel
aging room towards the back of the facility

Funkwerks offers half and full glasses of their beers as well as two series of flights in their Funkwerks Flight ($9 for 5 samplers of their regular beers) and their Specialty Flight (5 of their more limited releases) for $2 more. We had thought about grabbing a flight each, but decided to play it safe by ordering the latter flight first; this turned out to be a good thing, as we received some very nicely-sized pours of some of what turned out to be their higher ABV offerings. They were all quite unique and excellent, with different taste profiles that made picking a best-of somewhat difficult. If we had to pick just one, we would probably to their Quad, with plenty of darker-fruit notes (plums and raisins) and a bit of chocolate before its nice crisp finish.

The Specialty Flight was indeed quite special

Thanks to our brother-in-law, we got to compare that with Funkwerks' Quad they had aged in bourbon barrels, which was delicious in its right with its hints of bourbon and vanilla. Since we were taking home some of their regular Tropic King, an imperial saison, we had to grab a pint of their Tropic King aged in peach whiskey barrels before we left. It was quite easy to see why Draft Magazine named this one of their Top 25 Beers of 2014 - this was definitely one of the more uniquely refreshing beers we have ever tried, something like a very fruity wine spritzer but with much, much more going on. I could imagine this being a perfect pour on a hot summer day, reclining on a shady patio while watching the sun go down.

Funkwerks

1900 E. Lincoln Ave
Fort Collins, CO 80524
(970) 482-3865
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Equinox Brewing: In many ways, the last stop on any food or beverage tour is bound to suffer; as participants are often a little burned out by the end of the day. Equinox Brewing, which started operations in 2010 and is located somewhat off the main strip in downtown Fort Collins, actually provided a perfect atmosphere to ease down from our fairly epic beer touring day.

Equinox sports a very informal atmosphere, with distractions for the visitor such as a shuffleboard game, a little cutout board where you could make you and a friend into foxes riding a tandem bicycle, and a Biergarten patio that allows a view inside their brewing operations. The dimly lit interior of Equinox we found this night lent itself to what we exactly wanted to do before heading back home - grab a pint, find a table, and slowly wind down the evening with a little casual conversation. I spied several groups and couples that seemed to be taking that same approach as well.

With downtown Fort Collins within walking distance, plenty of lunch and dinner options are within easy walking distance; however, Equinox does have a small food menu with some mostly chip and dip style snack items.

Equinox's space is pretty informal, with geek-appealing beer names,
distractions if you need them, and space to seclude and settle
down with your group or date during the evening hours

The beers have a bit of a science and/or science-fiction factor attached their names (which appealed to our more geeky natures quite well); in some ways, the concept attached to beer was a factor as much as the beer style itself. My spouse couldn't resist getting a pint of the Space Ghost IPA, while all the stars I had seen in the night sky over Colorado made the Orion Irish Red my choice. Aftter the more complex taste profiles that Funkwerks' Belgian-style beers gave us, these more straightforward brews from Equinox were a perfect wind down.

Equinox Brewing
133 Remington St,
Fort Collins, CO 80524
(970) 484-1368
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Crafty Colorado (Part 2): Big Beaver Brewing (Loveland)/Odell Brewing (Fort Collins)

Colorado has more craft breweries than you can
shake a giant rodent at, or so it seems

To paraphrase a familiar children's book, Colorado has all breweries great and small. This proved true with the first two breweries we visited after leaving Falling Rock Tap House in downtown Denver.

Big Beaver Brewing - our initial intent this day was to cruise around Fort Collins, roughly one hour north of Denver on I-25. This plan was derailed a bit by a freeway accident, but this is where our chauffeur/my brother-in-law's knowledge of the area came in handy.

"Don't worry, you can't swing an empty growler around without hitting a brewery or two around here," he said as we got off the freeway in Loveland and ended up at Big Beaver Brewing, located in what looks at first glance to be a small office complex that is very easy to drive by if you're not paying attention.

Two things immediately came clear as I entered the space and surveyed the interior of this brewery. Firstly, this brewery seemed to be busting at the seams, with more general "stuff "(tables and chairs, beer-related equipment, an informal bar area, etc.) than you would think would fit in this compact and in spots cobbled-together space. This thought also applied to the number of beers available: for what seemed to be a relatively new and modestly-equipped brewery, Big Beaver sported 16 options on their beer menu this day.

We learned later that this brewery has been a rousing success since its opening in October of 2010, undergoing several expansions of their facilities to the point where they have maxed out their current space and capacity. In addition, we learned that the brewery has operated with a sustainability mantra since its opening, focusing strictly on growler sales of their beer.

Secondly...or should that be doubly?...the beer names are pretty much all double-entendres for certain human anatomical parts; even their logo has a certain suggestiveness that is hard not to notice.

Big Beaver has integrated their suggestively-named (and tasty)
offerings into a fun atmosphere where the locals flock.

As I figured out, these names aren't meant to be offensive (though I am sure some would find them such) but rather reflective of the generally fun atmosphere that has been built over the brewery's existence. Big Beaver just seems like a nice place to hangout for awhile. The bar staff greeted everyone with big smiles, and gave us newcomers good explanations as to what was on tap. A calendar on the wall detailed brewery-related promotions attached to each day of the week. Even the smell of bratwurst (Big Beaver serves bratwurst boiled in their Wonder Wiener Wheat Beer and offers two versions of house-made mustard along with the typical condiments for interested patrons) is in itself a welcoming sensation. Perhaps the banner we spotted overhead sums up the general aura here well: "There are no strangers here, only friends who have never met."

As for the beer, we found our choices pretty drinkable and easy for, well, hanging out for an hour or so. Perhaps the standout for all three of us was their Pucker Up Sour Brown, an ale with a winning tart plum profile through its use of lactobacillus and brettanomyces. My Whiskey Dick Stout had subtle bourbon and oaky hints, while my brother-in-law's Amber Was Her Stage Name reminded me of a cream ale in texture, with alternating hints of bitter and sweet.

Big Beaver Brewing Co.
2707 W Eisenhower Blvd
Loveland, CO 80537
(970) 818-6064
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Odell Brewing's facility in Fort Collins reflects its status as
a top-fifty craft brewer in the United States

Odell Brewing: from cobbled-together and cozy, the next brewery we stopped by was just the opposite: sleekly-designed and expansive.

Out of the breweries on this day of touring, Fort Collins-based Odell Brewing was the must-visit, especially for my spouse. Odell's St. Lupulin ranks in my spouse's top five beers she has ever tasted; the fact that they do not distribute out to Ohio also contributed to this visit. Being in road trip mode allowed us to bring back a collection of their brewed goods, and we were hoping we'd be able to find a few releases you couldn't find in the local bottle shops.

Odell's current facility is something of a just result of the brewery's longevity and success, being the second microbrewery to open in the state of Colorado, as much as their willingness to expand beyond their base brews and push the boundaries over its 25 years of existence. Their Fort Collins production facility is large, with 45,000 square-feet dedicated to production plus a spacious tap room. In terms of size, it reminded us of New Glarus Brewing's facility in Wisconsin. Other smaller touches, such as the Odell-logo bike racks in front, help further their brand as well as their philosophy toward environmental sustainability, an especially prominent credo for this area of the country in general.

While Odell's interior is fairly contemporary and sleek, the
overall atmosphere is fairly laid back.

While size-wise the facility was on the scope of New Glarus, the taproom inside was its own entity, with plenty of seating both within and on the patio outdoors. While we did not order any food at the brewery, Odell Brewery does offer snacks for its taproom visitors as more substantial sustenance in the form of regularly scheduled food trucks.

But of course, the main focus here is the beer. As we discovered, Odell offers three select flight trays consisting of their Classics (including 90 Shilling, Levity and 5 Barrel), Locals (with three of Odell's IPA brews such as Myrcenary and Runoff Red) and their Pilot tray, brewed on their special pilot system. With all these brews generally available only at the taproom, this flight was a must share between the two of us.

Out of the five beers in the flight, the definite winner for us was the Fifty Niner Golden Brett, a fruit-laced (hints of pineapple and pear) beer with hints of oak and vanilla and that familiar funk only brett can lend. The Fernet Aged Porter (porter aged in Leopold Bros. Distillery fernet barrels) and their Legal Rye Rye IPA (nice interplay with the spicy rye and fruity notes) were also quite enjoyable as well.

We both decided we needed a little bit of a palate cleanser from the more unique flavor palettes from the Pilot Tray; a pint of Lugene Chocolate Milk Stout, brewed with milk sugars and actual milk chocolate, proved to be a smooth, creamy finish to our beer sampling adventures at Odell.

Of course, we couldn't leave without a few bottles to take back with us to Ohio, and the folks at Odell were only happy to help us out with that endeavor.

Odell Brewing Co.
800 East Lincoln Ave
Fort Collins, CO 80524
(970) 498-9070 -or- (888) 887-2797
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