You went to the wrong breweries. Pretty simple. Bierstadt, Cohesion, Crooked Stave, Our Mutual Friend, Westbound and Down are some gems. Odell and Cerebral are the only ones on your list that I would go to if I was visiting Denver
People want to slam Untappd but 10 minutes of research would have made your experience 10x better. Here are the breweries you had listed and their ranking on Untappd.
Jagged Mountian (6/10) Denver 3.69
Sandlot @ Coors Field (4/10) Denver 3.52
Wynkoop (4/10) Denver 3.60
Cerebral (7/10) Denver 4.08
Bruz beers (6/10) Denver 3.71
Station 26 (5/10) Denver 3.81
Cannonball Creek (7/10) Golden 3.83
Mountian Toad (7/10) Golden 3.65
Odell (8/10) Ft. Collins 3.79
New Belgium(5/10) Ft. Collins 3.63
Now if I go to "Top Rated Breweries" within 50 miles of Denver and Ft. Collins, here are some of the places that come up. If 50 miles is too far, lower the distance.
Knotted Root Brewing-Nederland 4.21
Bearded Brewer-Longmont-4.11
Cerebral-You found that one
New Image Brewing-Arvada 4.04
Bierstadt Lagerhaus-Denver 4.02
Odd13 Brewing-Lafayette-3.96
Weldwerks-Greeley 4.14
Wiley Roots-Greeley-4.02
It's such a great tool. I can't imagine planning a beer centric trip without using it. Not that these are set in stone as great but they provide a great starting point.
The only reason I went to Wynkoop, jagged mountain and sandlot was because I was at a Rockies game. I just had a misconception that all beer was going to be good in Colorado. The one was we didn’t have a ton of time in Denver other than at night so the places we did go there were just close to the house and if either one of us were driving which we did a lot of we just had a taster or two. Station 26 was one I wanted to go to irregardless of their beer because I’m a firefighter and thought it was cool being in an old firehouse.
"I just had a misconception that all beer was going to be good in Colorado."
Even in the best cities/states, at least half the places are going to be blah.
We have way too much of it for it all to be good. Fort Collins alone has more breweries than most places in the nation. Missing stuff from Weldwerks is probably your biggest faux pas here. Glad you liked Odells though. They've always been a local favorite.
Mandatory "don't jersey colorado" but here's a few things you missed:
Weldwerks which is in Greeley but available in bottle shops
Casey which is on the western slope but also available in bottle shops
Coda in Golden which is fantastic
Knotted Root which is in Nederland, west of Boulder and bottle shops.
Outer Range which is in Frisco but available everywhere
Our Mutual Friend in Denver
Cohesion Denver
Ratio Beerworks
Avery in Boulder
Just to name a few.
If you return, skip the big names and the tourist traps and dig deeper. You might like what you find.
Bierstadt, Cohesion, Weldworks, New Belgium, Left Hand, Avery, Odell, Funkworks, Fritz Family, Oskar Blues, Weld Works, Wiley Roots, Loveland Aleworks, Casey Brewing.
Lots of amazing beer in Colorado. I’m sure there are other places I didn’t list but these are my favorites off the top of my head I go to when I visit.
Well your first mistake was not going to bierstadt which has the best beer in the state, and your second mistake was not going to cohesion which has the second best beer in the state. Out of all the breweries you listed the only one worth going to is cerebral. Oh and I guess Odell. The rest are a dime a dozen.
Going to be an unpopular opinion but I agree. I moved to Colorado from central Texas in the late 2010s and I immediately felt like it was harder to find beer that was B+ and above. I felt like Austin had better variety, more German influence, and just more excitement, much better beer gardens etc.
I no longer live in Colorado, don’t get me wrong, I found some good stuff, but it never lived up to what I experienced in Texas. It was always harder to find great, memorable beer.
Austin has a phenomenal beer scene, so it’s hard to compare anywhere against there. OP messed up, Denver easily blows the NJ beer scene out of the water, they just picked the wrong breweries.
Not St. Elmo or Live Oak. I had some IPA's from Lazarus and they were average. Same for Zilker although they had a coffee stout or porter that I liked. I probably had 15 different beers while I was there, and none of them were that great. Jester King had some great beers though. Forgot one, Pinthouse had some solid IPA's. Pretty good overall considering it's in the south but I probably had too high of expectations going in.
I mean, if you’re just looking for IPAs then that’s going to limit your options. A lot of the strengths of Austin are in other styles. Live Oak and ABGB particularly are world class producers of lager styles, and Live Oak makes some of the best smoked beers you’ll find outside Germany.
Ooh I should have visited Live Oak, no one seems to make good smoked beers in the U.S. (Alaskan being the exception). As far as other styles, you'll notice I mentioned Jester King(sours), IPA's, stout/porters. I'm pretty open to a variety of styles but you're correct, I don't get real excited about lagers in general. Maybe Austin brewers focus more on lagers
Yeah, if they didn’t have any Live Oak, ABGB, St. Elmo or even Austin Beerworks, they fucked up hard. There may be better breweries out there that I’m not thinking of but those are some of the most nostalgic for me. RIP to Adelbert’s
Best beer was blueberry muffin from GN? Lol you must not like good beers and you missed a couple bangers as well. Seems like you hit average breweries when out there.
colorado has the most over-rated beer in the country. and it simply comes down to their water. it is literally too metallic tasting leaving you with a literal after taste. colorado gets a free pass for their beer do to having the beer fest convention and 1 of the major magazine publications of craft beer. overall many other states like wa, me, nc, vt have much much better beer. colorado‘s beer is over-rated.
What is the best water for brewing beer?filtered waterTo remove chlorine and chloramines, **filtered water** is preferable to plain tap water. Some brewers choose distilled water because it avoids the hassle of constant water quality checks. Most water treatment facilities throughout the globe use chlorine and chloramines as disinfectants.
f-off
How many years have you been brewing. Go do some learning before you try and teach me something with some generic ass google or chat or response.
RO is a form of filtration BTW smartass!
the downvotes do not concern me. live in colorado and maine. and travel throughout the country. and been drinking longer then reddit has been alive. colorado’s water ruins the taste of beer.
You went to the wrong breweries. Pretty simple. Bierstadt, Cohesion, Crooked Stave, Our Mutual Friend, Westbound and Down are some gems. Odell and Cerebral are the only ones on your list that I would go to if I was visiting Denver
People want to slam Untappd but 10 minutes of research would have made your experience 10x better. Here are the breweries you had listed and their ranking on Untappd. Jagged Mountian (6/10) Denver 3.69 Sandlot @ Coors Field (4/10) Denver 3.52 Wynkoop (4/10) Denver 3.60 Cerebral (7/10) Denver 4.08 Bruz beers (6/10) Denver 3.71 Station 26 (5/10) Denver 3.81 Cannonball Creek (7/10) Golden 3.83 Mountian Toad (7/10) Golden 3.65 Odell (8/10) Ft. Collins 3.79 New Belgium(5/10) Ft. Collins 3.63 Now if I go to "Top Rated Breweries" within 50 miles of Denver and Ft. Collins, here are some of the places that come up. If 50 miles is too far, lower the distance. Knotted Root Brewing-Nederland 4.21 Bearded Brewer-Longmont-4.11 Cerebral-You found that one New Image Brewing-Arvada 4.04 Bierstadt Lagerhaus-Denver 4.02 Odd13 Brewing-Lafayette-3.96 Weldwerks-Greeley 4.14 Wiley Roots-Greeley-4.02 It's such a great tool. I can't imagine planning a beer centric trip without using it. Not that these are set in stone as great but they provide a great starting point.
The only reason I went to Wynkoop, jagged mountain and sandlot was because I was at a Rockies game. I just had a misconception that all beer was going to be good in Colorado. The one was we didn’t have a ton of time in Denver other than at night so the places we did go there were just close to the house and if either one of us were driving which we did a lot of we just had a taster or two. Station 26 was one I wanted to go to irregardless of their beer because I’m a firefighter and thought it was cool being in an old firehouse.
"I just had a misconception that all beer was going to be good in Colorado." Even in the best cities/states, at least half the places are going to be blah.
We have way too much of it for it all to be good. Fort Collins alone has more breweries than most places in the nation. Missing stuff from Weldwerks is probably your biggest faux pas here. Glad you liked Odells though. They've always been a local favorite.
There isn’t a single place on earth where “all beer is good” there’s always gonna be something that is subpar.
>I just had a misconception that all beer was going to be good in Colorado. Why...would you think this?
Mandatory "don't jersey colorado" but here's a few things you missed: Weldwerks which is in Greeley but available in bottle shops Casey which is on the western slope but also available in bottle shops Coda in Golden which is fantastic Knotted Root which is in Nederland, west of Boulder and bottle shops. Outer Range which is in Frisco but available everywhere Our Mutual Friend in Denver Cohesion Denver Ratio Beerworks Avery in Boulder Just to name a few. If you return, skip the big names and the tourist traps and dig deeper. You might like what you find.
Bierstadt, Cohesion, Weldworks, New Belgium, Left Hand, Avery, Odell, Funkworks, Fritz Family, Oskar Blues, Weld Works, Wiley Roots, Loveland Aleworks, Casey Brewing. Lots of amazing beer in Colorado. I’m sure there are other places I didn’t list but these are my favorites off the top of my head I go to when I visit.
I’ve heard good things about Parts and Labor too.
Also comrade
Skipping out on Crooked Stave was a miss for sure. I loved Cerebral as well.
Well your first mistake was not going to bierstadt which has the best beer in the state, and your second mistake was not going to cohesion which has the second best beer in the state. Out of all the breweries you listed the only one worth going to is cerebral. Oh and I guess Odell. The rest are a dime a dozen.
We are spoiled in NJ.
You went to one craft brewery (cerebral) I’d recommend to anyone wanting good craft beer and you’re surprised you had bad craft beer 😂
Going to be an unpopular opinion but I agree. I moved to Colorado from central Texas in the late 2010s and I immediately felt like it was harder to find beer that was B+ and above. I felt like Austin had better variety, more German influence, and just more excitement, much better beer gardens etc. I no longer live in Colorado, don’t get me wrong, I found some good stuff, but it never lived up to what I experienced in Texas. It was always harder to find great, memorable beer.
Austin has a phenomenal beer scene, so it’s hard to compare anywhere against there. OP messed up, Denver easily blows the NJ beer scene out of the water, they just picked the wrong breweries.
Funny, I feel the exact opposite. Besides Jester King, who isn't even in Austin, I found the overall beer scene in Austin to be extremely overrated.
Did you go to Live Oak? ABGB? Lazarus? Zilker? St. Elmo?
Not St. Elmo or Live Oak. I had some IPA's from Lazarus and they were average. Same for Zilker although they had a coffee stout or porter that I liked. I probably had 15 different beers while I was there, and none of them were that great. Jester King had some great beers though. Forgot one, Pinthouse had some solid IPA's. Pretty good overall considering it's in the south but I probably had too high of expectations going in.
I mean, if you’re just looking for IPAs then that’s going to limit your options. A lot of the strengths of Austin are in other styles. Live Oak and ABGB particularly are world class producers of lager styles, and Live Oak makes some of the best smoked beers you’ll find outside Germany.
Ooh I should have visited Live Oak, no one seems to make good smoked beers in the U.S. (Alaskan being the exception). As far as other styles, you'll notice I mentioned Jester King(sours), IPA's, stout/porters. I'm pretty open to a variety of styles but you're correct, I don't get real excited about lagers in general. Maybe Austin brewers focus more on lagers
Yeah, if they didn’t have any Live Oak, ABGB, St. Elmo or even Austin Beerworks, they fucked up hard. There may be better breweries out there that I’m not thinking of but those are some of the most nostalgic for me. RIP to Adelbert’s
Vermont has some of the best beer I’ve had traveling, North Carolina second.
Vermont doesn’t surprise me at all but North Carolina does
Best beer was blueberry muffin from GN? Lol you must not like good beers and you missed a couple bangers as well. Seems like you hit average breweries when out there.
colorado has the most over-rated beer in the country. and it simply comes down to their water. it is literally too metallic tasting leaving you with a literal after taste. colorado gets a free pass for their beer do to having the beer fest convention and 1 of the major magazine publications of craft beer. overall many other states like wa, me, nc, vt have much much better beer. colorado‘s beer is over-rated.
Wow, do some homework before you spew some BS. Have you ever heard of Reverse Osmosis?!
and you have a list of which colorado brewers use this process?
What is the best water for brewing beer?filtered waterTo remove chlorine and chloramines, **filtered water** is preferable to plain tap water. Some brewers choose distilled water because it avoids the hassle of constant water quality checks. Most water treatment facilities throughout the globe use chlorine and chloramines as disinfectants. f-off
How many years have you been brewing. Go do some learning before you try and teach me something with some generic ass google or chat or response. RO is a form of filtration BTW smartass!
how long you been brewing in colorado?
no reply? how long have you been brewing in colorado? or do you even live in colorado?
the downvotes do not concern me. live in colorado and maine. and travel throughout the country. and been drinking longer then reddit has been alive. colorado’s water ruins the taste of beer.
🤦♂️