The more I think back to my experience with beer in Colorado, the more I’m perplexed by the phenomenon that every beer I tasted was amazing and delicious. I actually dug around online to see if anyone else has experienced this. Surely the breweries around Buffalo are brewing great beer and it’s true to style, but what made Colorado beer more enjoyable?  I farted around online for a few articles to try and prove my hypothesis that beer just performs better on the palate better at high altitudes because of carbonation or whatever, but couldn’t find anything worthy in the small amount of time that I had to mess around. So I’ll have to get back to you on that one!

Anyways, the second half of the Beer portion of my Denver blogs takes us to Boulder CO, which honestly, could have been a trip in it’s own. What an amazing community. While it had the vibe of a skiing community, there was definitely something for everyone tucked in this mountain side village. Avery was our main target, and it absolutely did not disappoint.

Another massive brewery from the driveway – I just love rolling up to these breweries and seeing these massive damn towers of joy production.

I don’t know if it’s sad, or if I should see it as a sign of street cred, but I recognized a Yoder brand smoker from the car on the way in and verified it walking by. They’re just as marvelous in person as they are in pictures.

I really wish I took more pictures of this place, because it was pretty awesome, I missed taking pictures of the large yard out front with logo on the front of the building, the gift shop, the rustic upstairs tasting room, and the use of barrels in every piece of decor – just poor documentation of an amazing brewry – I sold ya short guys..  I’m sorry.

but we got to take a pretty much solo look at their brewery – fun!

Almost looks like it was modeled after Jessie & Walter’s meth lab in Breaking Bad – right? 

See the comparison? Especially with the red railing! lol –

Just for the record, the picture above is the meth lab from breaking bad..  that is NOT avery brewing, just showing you the comparison.

of course, I had a handful of beers there…

Not shown is a coconut porter that I had. I have had coconut porters before and been very disappointed. Either it’s just a porter with no coconut flavor, or something isn’t right – over roasty… I don’t know – but the one I had at Avery was what my mind conjures up when I hear the term ‘coconut porter’ – to the T- dark, roasty, not too syrupy and upon breathing out after the swallow, a mellow toasted coconut flavor creeps into your palate, finishing off your gulp with a sweetly, not overdone rounded taste that says ‘there’s coconut in there and it’s delicious’.

I really regret not getting flights at the mega craft giants in Colorado – I feel like there were so many beers that I wanted to try, but time and tolerance didn’t permit. My reason for steering away from flights is that you don’t really get to get the full experience of the beer you’re trying. The more you sip a beer, the more your taste buds become numb to initial flavors, allowing other flavors and components to shine – especially as the beer warms up in the glass. The nose changes and the flavor profile and texture changes as well. If you’re going to enjoy a beer, the full pint is essential. A good beer should evolve all the way to the last sip, and make you say ‘damn that was a fine beer’.

I also had that amazing meatloaf sandwich at Avery – highly recommended.

From Avery, we went to the Pearl St district (no relation to Buffalo’s Pearl St.) which seemed to be the hip part of Boulder, with shops and shit to do for days. And this guy:

We walked from the top of Pearl, down to Mountain Sun Brew Pub – which is a little restaurant that is outputting killer beer, with an even more killer vibe. We weren’t sure what the protocol was at this place, probably more of a ‘sit down and have a meal’ place, but there was a little tasting bar at the back of the place. Amongst a whirlwind of activity, was a super awesome team of people, moving in an intricate ballet in minimal space, to output food to the seats – and help a small group of visitors experience their beer. We had tied one on at Avery, so our ability to make decisions was slightly effected. The guy that took care of us behind the bar said ‘don’t even look at the list – what kind of beer do you like, I’m going to give you something awesome.” My brother said he was kind of feeling IPAs at the moment, and coming off the coconut porter – I was feeling something dark and roasty.

The guy proceeded to produce samples of beer and give ultra dynamic descriptions of the beers as to what flavors we should expect to smell and taste. The passion in which he described these beers was just amazing and entertaining, and were spot on. After trying 2 options each, we decided on a pint of our favorites. We were only going to have one pint, and our beer guide said ‘only one? on me boys – enjoy!’ I couldn’t believe it – super cool. I dropped him a decent tip and thanked him greatly. Just watching the crew behind the bar weave in and out of eachother was super entertaining. 

We figured we’d let some other people try the beer – so we went and stood as much out of the way as we could –

On our way back to the car, we stopped at Illegal Pete’s for another beer, just because..  saw this funny sticker:

Our way back to Denver was fun – tipsy talking with my brother is always good. We got back to the AirBnb and regrouped before our night out in Denver.

We ended up going to the other brewery that was in walking distance from our place – Little Machine –

What a cool place this was – the ‘neighborhood brewery’ is something we need to bring to Buffalo – Gene McCarthy’s is doing it – we need more!

This place had a great bar – completely circular, which I think is a great design.

According to the menu, they had some award winning stuff – so that was cool!

Again – I should have gotten a flight, but I commit to my beers! I can’t help it – Razz against the machine it was. Nice color – bold raspberry flavor, awesome clarity and smoothness –  a great fruit beer!

I took the opportunity, and my slightly buzzed state to take up some conversation with the locals sitting next to me. I think I told them about my heightened appreciation for beer at higher altitudes. They were cool –

So, that’s the end of this post – Next post will be the remainder of the adventure – the sights, the experience, final thoughts…

Sorry again for not having more documentation..  not sure who I’m apologizing to – probably to myself.. easier to remember through pictures!

Cheers folks!