Day 5 Colorado Beer Trip

Monday, May 25th, 2009 Our last day in Colorado… Had a great breakfast at Dixons. Totally made up for the breakfast the previous day. I had the huevos rancheros and Carolyn had an amazing avocado benedict. After breakfast we made it our mission to get to The Falling Rock Tap House right at 11am when they opened. There was a Rockies game (two blocks away) at 1pm and we thought it might get busy early. This has been rated by a number of publications as one of the best beer bars in the country. Being only a few blocks from our hotel we knew this would certainly be one of our stops. We were greeted with: “It’ll just be a couple minutes folks, we’re still setting up” No worries. We sat at the bar at the far end. We were greeted by a friendly talkative gentleman who was in his element while talking beer. Shortly after we sat down it started to rain heavily. Perhaps there would be no game. We didn’t have tickets yet but we were planning on going. We visited with this gentleman for a while. We had talked about all the places we'd been on our trip and he seemed to have a story about each of those places. He even shared some personal stories of his own. Like the time he went out and spent some time with the people at Russian River. While there he stayed at the home of owners/brewer Vinnie and Natalie Cilurzo. How cool would that be?! Or how about the time he spent an afternoon bottling cage-tops at New Belgium with Kim Jordan. This guy had a story for everything and it was very entertaining to listen to him.

We later found out this was Chris Black, the founder and owner of The Falling Rock. A great article about him can be found HERE. We tried some fantastic beers here. The elusive and much sought after Pliny the Elder from Russian River was on tap so I started with that. A rich, sweet, caramaly, malty, hoppy creation that was fantastic. Carolyn started with another Russian River creation, Damnation. I of course had to try this Belgian Golden Ale and thought it was delish. Bear Republic had a blend of their Hop Rod Rye with their Racer 5 and fermented with a Westmalle strain of yeast. It was called Crazy Ivan and resembled a Belgian Pale Ale more than anything. Pretty good actually, as if I expected it not to be. It was also here that I had for the first time the New Belgium Biere de Mars. I really had a hard time defining this beer but I really really liked it. A nice dry nutty start yet fruity finish to it. I heard they had this on tap at Three Squares a few weeks ago, would have loved to get up there and tried it. Anyone reading this know if it’s available anywhere else in the Twin Cities? I enjoyed the heck out of the Tommyknocker Oaked Butt Head Bock. Never gave much attention to this brewery, perhaps I should start. But the real treat for me at this visit was the Deschutes Black Butte Porter. Wow was this amazing. I just love chocolatey black porters and this had just a touch of sweetness, I was in porter heaven. In addition to a great conversation with Mr Black, Carolyn and I made another new friend. Jose had just moved from Chicago. Literally he had just dropped his rental car off at the agency and his first stop was Falling Rock. He had visited Denver in November and fell in love with the town and so he decided to call it home. I can’t remember for how many years but Jose was the resident beer geek and bar manager at Sheffield’s in Chicago. As the rain came down and the game was delayed we just sat and talked beer. We talked about the Minnesota scene, the Chicago scene and the Denver scene and everything in between. We had a dang good time. That reminds me, I still owe him a shipment of beer. I hope to build a trading relationship with Jose as well as a friendship. Salud my friend!

Day 4 Colorado Beer Trip

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Sunday, May 24th, 2009 Here it is June 22nd and I’m still writing about May! I will try to finish this trip up so I can write about more current events. We arose famished, however The Oxford has no complimentary breakfast and downtown Denver is a ghost town. I guess this is normal for a Sunday morning. We find a coffee shop across the street with a good looking breakfast menu. Of course on Sunday there is a different more limited menu. We had to settle for a couple of rock hard dry breakfast paninis and an average cup o joe. We began the touristy day with not a beer bar, nor a brewery, nor a beer pouring coffee shop but Red Rocks Amphitheatre. This place is like a shrine to live music. Most people have heard of this concert venue in the foothills. We both enjoyed the architecture, history and landscape very much. We even took a 1.4 mile hike. It’s true what they say… the altitude really makes a difference. Probably didn’t help that the previous three days really dehydrated us. After Red Rocks we made it to Golden, Colorado.

Yep, you guessed it, the home of brewing behemoth Coors Brewing Company (Now MillerCoors). Carolyn and I toured Miller in Milwaukee in 2006 and while the beers leave something to be desired, I am always impressed with the sheer size of the facilities and the process. As a homebrewer I am familiar with the brewing process. It’s quite fascinating comparing and contrasting the similarities between producing 2.5 gallon batches and 20 million beer barrels. Many of you have been on brewery tours before and know that a lot of places still utilize the copper kettles. At Coors there are more than fifty of them, all in one large room and it’s almost hard to fathom. It’s easy to visualize Summit and Leinie’s where there are just two. I almost wondered if there were mirrors or some other creative illusion trickery. I was quite impressed. I also enjoyed watching the packaging room in progress. It’s amazing how many 30 packs of Coors Light can be packaged in sixty seconds. About half way through our self guided tour we were offered a fresh beer sample of either Coors Banquet Beer or Coors Light. The gimmick here is that the beer is supposed to be a day or two old. “Fresher than you’ll find anywhere else” they claim. Like the Silver Bullet tastes any different after a month or two. Whatever. I wasn’t going to just walk by so I grabbed a Banquet Beer and continued on the tour. I gotta tell you, nothing makes Coors Banquet Beer sound so good as when it’s being advertised by Sam Elliot. “Coors… The Banquet Beer” Can you hear it? At the end of the tour we were offered three more samples. We could chose from any of the Coors line of products, Coors, Blue Moon, Killian’s, etc. These were by far the biggest sampling glasses of any brewery tour I’ve ever taken; probably 8 or 10oz each. I regrettably went for the Blue Moon Honey Moon first. I’d never had it before and I foolishly expected a wheat beer. It turned out to be a bland tasteless mess. I choked it down and went back for a Killian’s Red. Again, major disappointment. I always remembered this beer to be more flavorful. It seemed more like a light lager with a little color. Not cool. The lines for the samples were quite long so we opted for the gift shop instead of our last sample. I think this was the first time I’ve ever done that on a tour. Turn down free beer? Blasphemy. Now I must say, even though I didn’t necessarily enjoy their products, I still think they are doing a good job. It really is hard to make a beer with that little color and that little flavor and do it consistently over long periods of time. For the style of beer they produce, they do a very good job. This guy just doesn’t find them quite to be all that inviting.

After the Coors tour we returned to Denver. I had heard good things about a brewpub in Boulder, the Mountain Sun. They have a second brewpub in Boulder called the Southern Sun and recently (about a year ago) opened another brewpub in Denver called the Vine Street Pub. I don’t think they make their own beer on premise yet but you can get their famous Boulder options on tap here. We showed up at 3:15 only to find out that the place doesn’t open until 4pm. You have go to be kidding me! What kind of pub isn’t open on the weekend for lunch? It was raining and we were getting wet so we returned to the car to assess the situation. I don’t think it makes good business sense to open at 4pm seven days a week. I did hear later in the trip that it’s not uncommon for people to start hanging out a half hour to an hour before opening. Wouldn’t you want to let these people in and take their money? Oh well, I am biased and bitter. We decided we didn’t want to sit in the car and wait for 45 minutes so we returned to the hotel. I needed to get the bad taste out of my mouth (literally from Coors and metaphorically from Vine Street). I finished the last of the Odell Red while we started discussing dinner plans. Being a fan of our local Rock Bottom I suggested we go to the one in Denver. I usually avoid chains while on holiday but since this was the original Rock Bottom Brewery we decided to make an exception. The atmosphere is a lot like ours in Minneapolis. I’ve been to Rock Bottoms in Des Moines and Chicago and they seem to have their own unique touches but the Denver one is a lot like ours. Long bar, dark wood, vessels behind glass above the bar. What I liked about this one is that the brew house was visible in a small room on the other side of the bar. In fact, our booth was situated against the windows looking into the brew kettles. I returned to form and ordered the sampler which consisted of six beers. I hate to say it but I felt like all these beers tasted pretty much the same. I’m not sure if my mouth was experiencing palate fatigue or if they use some kind of house yeast in all the beers or what. I was truly unimpressed. I felt they were all similar versions of each other, only the color varied. Now of course there were more differences than just color but nothing really stood out or excited me all that much. Upon completion of the sampler, I followed it up with a pint of the Falcon Pale Ale. I should have been more aggressive at asking about any special or seasonal brews but I was too preoccupied with the Twins game that just happened to be on National TV. We certainly had our share of good food here, however. The chips and guac were great as were the potstickers and I finished the evening off with the half rack of ribs. Mouthwatering, fall off the bone good! We were both so full we could barely move. On the way out we talked briefly to the host about the novelty of being “the first”. It could just be folklore, but we were told where the name came from. The building that houses this restaurant used to be called the Prudential Building and the symbol for Prudential is, of course, the Rock of Gibraltar. Situated in the bottom of the building, the name became Rock Bottom. Personally, I like to think of drinking beer as the place I go to when I’ve hit Rock Bottom but whatever. Not a great day for beer, but as they say… a bad day of beer drinking is better than a good day working. No truer words were spoken.

Day 3 Colorado Beer Trip (continued)

Saturday, May 23rd, 2009 Ring, ring, ring… No one ever answered the phone at Great Divide Brewing Company in the weeks leading up to our trip so I had no way of knowing if the tap room would be open on Memorial Day. Had I known ahead of time that they were indeed open we would have gone to Boulder from Longmont to hit Avery, Mountain Sun and/or Boulder Beer. But alas, we shall save that for another trip. After three days of driving we finally arrive at our final destination, the Mile High City. Before even stopping at the hotel we find our way to Great Divide. This unassuming two story brick building in the heart of downtown appeared closed from the outside but was bustling with people once we got in. We cornered up to the bar and were given a list of available taps. We picked a few we wanted to try and the bar man returned with some attractive mini-snifters. We sipped for a while on the Belgica, Yeti, Hercules, Titan, Wild Raspberry, Saison, St Bridget’s and Hades. We were three days too early to taste the Chocolate Oak Aged Yeti which was too bad, but best not dwell on what we didn’t drink. I liked the Belgica and Hades, but Carolyn really found them yummy. She’s a big fan of Belgian beers. Very well done in my opinion. This was my first taste of the Yeti and I thoroughly enjoyed its roasty yumminess. The Wild Raspberry Ale was very good. Very nice aroma of natural raspberries, like you were smelling a handful of them. Not sweet like raspberry puree but tart like fresh picked raspberries. The beauty of this one was the flavor as it was not overly raspberry. I like fruit beers but only if the majority of the fruit is recognized in the aroma. I don’t like a sweet fruity taste. Berry Weisse would be an extreme example, but even Sam Adams Cherry Wheat is too much for me. Their IPA (Titan) and DIPA (Herc) were amazing but I was most impressed with this Wild Raspberry. Another beer I enjoyed was the St Bridget’s Porter. Lot’s of chocolatey smoothness, mmmmm. I even learned something new from this beer; St Bridget was a Patron Saint of Ireland and is said (among her many other acts of benevolence) to have turned bathwater into beer to nourish lepers and visiting clerics. We must remember in those days the water was not always potable, but beer was always safe. I’ll raise my glass to this legendary lady of the Emerald Isle, Sláinte! Luckily we arrived just in time for the 4pm tour. It was a good tour given by one of the brewers so it was very informational. It wasn’t one of those tours where you're taken into a big room, given the grain-to-growler spiel and you're done. You actually get guided from room to room with an entertaining narrative of the brewing process. We finished the tour, finished our beers and off we went.

We checked into our hotel and took a load off. It was good to finally slow down and relax and it was nice to know we wouldn’t be packing up again in the morning and driving somewhere else. This would be our home for the next three nights. We stayed at The Oxford Hotel and we really enjoyed the place. Everyone was super friendly and very helpful. When we checked in they asked us why we were travelling and we enthusiastically shared that we were on a beer tour of Colorado. About an hour later there is a knock on the door. It’s room service… except we didn’t order room service. Turns out the front desk sent up three bottles of Odell Red Ale. What a classy move! And we got a great rate on the room, too. We would definitely recommend this place if your plans ever bring you to Denver.

So anyway, this isn’t HOTEL THIS, it’s BEER THIS, so let’s get back to the beer. My buddy Joe, with whom I was neighbors during my post college days in Sioux Falls, was going to pick us for dinner. He is originally from Denver and moved back to the area about eight years ago. I told him Care and I were thinking of heading to the Bull and Bush for dinner and he was really excited we picked that place. Just southeast of downtown sits this little English brewpub which happens to be very near to where Joe grew up. Regrettably, I only had two beers here, the Allgood Ale and the Man Beer IPA. I didn’t want to fill up on a bunch of samples and I didn’t really want to think anymore so I just enjoyed a couple of pints and a great conversation with an old friend. The Man Beer was quite good. This American style IPA was certainly American in the hop aroma and flavor however, I thought he malt base was more English. Appropriate I suppose since we were sitting in an English Pub. I’m not criticizing, just thinking out loud, I could care less about stylistic accuracy. I certainly did enjoy it. I could have had another but thought I should try something else. I went with the Amber Allgood Ale and I wish I would have gone with a Brown or Stout. What was I thinking? This was an English Pub. The Allgood wasn’t bad, just not very exciting. Ambers aren’t really ever exciting, but it seemed like the flavors were muted a bit. At any rate the visit was still enjoyable. The food was excellent and the mood was electric as the Nuggets-Lakers playoff game had just begun. By the end of the meal the day’s activities had caught up with us. We were tired. We headed back to our hotel as happy as a clam and moving at about the same speed.

Day 3 Colorado Beer Trip

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Saturday, May 23rd, 2009 Our day begins as we rise on our terms. I can’t remember the last time I slept in, and it feels good. We get down to the free breakfast lounge just as they’re closing up at 9am. We got plenty to eat as they were very accommodating despite our tardiness. We finished up, brushed our teeth, checked out and hit the road. First stop was a coffee shop on the other side of town, Catalyst Coffee. Now, the only reason we’re heading to this place is because I heard of the awesome tap list. You’re scratching your head thinking, tap list, at a coffee shop? It’s true, the other half of this place is a tap room. Tap Room @ Catalyst as it’s know, offers local artwork, live music, fine wines and a generous selection of world class beers. The taps at Catalyst feature a nice selection of local Fort Collins beers such as New Belgium and Odell as well as some top notch regional and national beers. I remember seeing Stone, Russian River, Dogfish Head and BearRepublic while we were there. I had heard that they had the evasive Racer X on tap but I wasn’t holding out faith that I would get any. Sure enough, upon arriving at 9:30 we saw the Tap Room hours posted on the door… open at 4pm. Oh well, we went in and ordered some coffee and found some comfy seats to lounge in. I saw some computers over on one side and thought I would check Facebook, BeerAdvocate, etc, while I had some time to kill. Someone from the adjacent room greeted me warmly and I turned and realized I was looking into the taproom. We exchanged pleasantries and I told her I was disappointed that I couldn’t try some Racer X. She looked at me straight faced and said, “Oh you can get beer here anytime, just order if from the barista”. Are you freakin kidding me??? A double IPA at ten in the morning? Why not! It looked like the three ladies in the tap room were setting up for a musical show, but they also seemed genuinely interested in talking beer with us. I didn’t want to intrude but they didn’t seem like they wanted us to leave either. I felt very fortunate to be sitting in the Tap Room (six hours before opening) enjoying one of the country’s best double IPAs talking beer with whom I found out later were the new owners. After a great conversation, a great beer and a great cup of coffee we were off to our next brewery tour. Thanks to Dru and Cynthia and everyone for a wonderful, memorable trip to The Tap Room @ Catalyst! I highly recommend checking it out if you're ever in the area.

After Catalyst and before heading south we had to check out one of the most popular breweries in the US right now… New Belgium Brewing Company. I must have confused a phone call to Coors with one to New Belgium because I didn’t think you needed a reservation for their tour. I was so wrong. By the time we got there at straight up 11am the next available tour was 1:30. We needed to be on the road by 12:30 so we had to settle for some samples in the tap room. Free beer is never a bad second prize. We were instructed to find a seat and a “waiter” would come by with a menu. We chose which four we wanted to try and he returned quickly with them. I was really disappointed to have missed the tour but we got to spend more time in the tap room. They really cram you in and we were forced to meet our neighbors, a couple from Denver, fortunately they were pretty cool. The four of us conversed and consumed and had a nice time. My favorites were the Abbey Ale (wonderful bouquet in the nose) and the Biere de Mars was uniquely delicious. I wish it were more readily available around here. This was the one place I forgot to take notes so I am lacking in the descriptions. Before we knew it, it was 12:30 and we needed to get on the road. Next stop Longmont, Colorado.

We exited the freeway at the Longmont exit and made a pit stop at Mickey D’s. It was going to be a long day and we wanted to pile on a good base for cheap. Plus, someone really had to pee! Two QPCs later and we snaked our way into the city. Longmont is home to both Lefthand Brewing and Oskar Blues. Unfortunately we wouldn't have time for Lefthand. I surveyed Beer Advocates before the trip as to which Oskar Blues location to visit and there really wasn’t an overwhelming consensus between Lyons (the original brewpub) and Longmont (production facility). We chose Longmont simply because it was right on the way to Denver. Built literally right inside the brewing facility is the tasting room which they call The Tasty Weasel. Having just opened in February we were pretty excited. We arrived around 2pm and it was pretty much empty. It was nice because we had the place to ourselves and had the complete attention of the bartender. She was very helpful answering questions. We found out where the names Ten Fidy and Gordon came from. There were some other folks out in the brewing area which we found out later were from Nordeast Minneapolis. Gotta give a shoutout to Jameson and his wife and their newborn (what’s her name?). Everything here was mighty tasty. Many of these beers we can get across the border in Hudson, but it was great to get them on draft and straight from the brewery. We enjoyed Dale’s of course and his friend Gordon. Mama’s Little Yella Pils, Ten Fidy, Old Chub and Barrel Aged Ten Fidy. Which one was my favorite? If you guessed the Barrel Aged Ten Fidy you’d be right on (and you’d probably been reading my other blogs). I’m told they also use Stranahan’s Whiskey barrels and they make some dang fine beers. As a fan of the hops, Gordon was of course amazing and I have always been a big fan of their Scottish Ale Old Chub. Yum and double yum.

During our visit we were encouraged at anytime to go wander around the brewing area which we did. They have a basketball hoop and a batting cage set up for break time. They ride bikes around the brewery to get from one end to the other; it’s a really fun scene in there. And the guys working were really friendly. I asked one guy if he liked where he worked and he said “Yah, it’s a brewery, what’s not to like?” he continued “of course it is still hard work. The novelty does wear off, but it’s still a great place to work.” I replied, “Hey, people come to watch you work, that’s gotta be cool. No one comes to my office to watch me work”. He nodded in agreement as he threw another palate of empty cans on the bottling… er, well, canning line. A couple of other young gentlemen were working the rear end of the line, taking the full six-packs from the ring machine and stacking them onto palates. There was a guardrail at the end so the six-packs didn’t fall off the back. They offered, “Sometimes this guard slips out and we lose a couple. It’s unfortunate because whatever falls on the ground we have to take home. Oops”. I’m sure they’d used that line a hundred times before but I got a kick out of it. It just goes to show how much these guys really enjoy their job. Because they can…

Day 2 Colorado Beer Trip

Friday, May 22nd, 2009 We get on the road relatively early. The coffee at the hotel was pretty crappy (seriously, I wasn't thinking about the coffee's proximity to the toilet when I wrote this - I just laughed at my own unintended joke ha ha). So, about as quickly as we got on the freeway we get off. Guided by the towering golden arches we followed our eyes to better coffee. We got our coffee (black, no McLattes for us) and off we went. Anyone who’s made this trip knows there ain’t much to look at in Nebraska. Eventually we made it into Wyoming and then Cheyenne where we took a left and headed to Fort Collins. We were pleasantly reminded that we gained an hour somewhere near North Platte so we arrived earlier than expected. We checked into our hotel, freshened up and headed to brewery number one, Odell!

Being from Minnesota we’re not accustomed to breweries selling beer like bars. We didn’t get there in time for the tour but were able to walk right up, order some beers, sit down, drink, repeat. We got two different samplers, one was house beers and the other was some specialty brews. There were so many that were so good, they really know what they’re doing at this place. The Cascadian Dark Ale had a nice American hop aroma and complex flavors including toasted and roasted malts. The Rocky Mountain Goat Red Ale was very hoppy, had a creamy head and nice amber reddish color. The hops were the star of this show. The Cutthroat Porter was also very good with the right combination of dark and delicious malts providing some great melanoidin flavors. Like I expected, I enjoyed the Odell IPA I had heard so much raving about. In this day and age it seems IPAs have to be “Imperialized” or “doubled” to be exciting. It’s nice to have a straight up IPA knock one out of the park. Very bitter and full of flavor, I had to pick up a sixer of this to take home.

One of the more comical moments of the afternoon occurred when we tasted the Cherry Stout. I picked it up and gave it a little sniff. I couldn’t swirl it to wake up the aromas because it was filled all the way to the top. I said “I’m not getting any cherry in the nose”. Carolyn took it from me and proceeded to inhale, but only after she had submerged her nose in the overfilled glass. She came up for air in a bit of a panic… “I breathed it in, I breathed it in!” Not knowing what to do, I told her to blow her nose which I assumed meant a napkin and maybe a trip to the ladies room. Well, during her hastened non-thinking state she just turned and blew between us. Inky liquid splattered everywhere; her leg, my leg, the vinyl booth seat. That seemed to do the trick alright. I couldn't resist, I had to say "Looks like you got some cherry in the nose". All we could do was laugh. It was probably to most idiotic scene ever made and it all happened so fast. I didn’t dare look around to see who was watching us. After we got cleaned up and the samplers were finished I tried the Buffalo Bourbon Stout. This was fantastic. I’ve recently been getting into the whiskey barrel aged beers lately. I like them more subtle than over the top and this was just that. A great rocky head and its opaque jet black color complimented this big bodied malty monster perfectly. At 10% and a lot of day ahead of us, I was both glad and sad that I only ordered a half pint. We wandered the grounds for a little while, taking in the fresh Front Range air and really enjoyed ourselves.

Literally right down the street was another local brewery, Fort Collins Brewing Company. We didn’t spend a whole lot of time here, Carolyn cut herself off since she was driving and she was getting bored drinking just water. The (Billy the) Kidd Lager was nice. It was a Schwarzbier but had more fruity esters than I expected. This dark beer was spot on in color and drank nicely. The other two beers I enjoyed here were also dark. The first, their Double Chocolate Stout, was an Imperial Stout. Nice roasted and chocolate malt undertones as well as a subtle sweetness. Exceptional compromise between the hop and chocolate in the aroma, very nice. And finally, the Barrel Licked Bock. Yum another barrel aged beer. This is their Doppelbock aged 12 months in Whiskey barrels from Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey in Denver. This beer packs a punch of superb maltiness and terrific whiskey flavors and aromas. My mouth is watering for it again. Their “single” Chocolate Stout and Rauchbier were also pleasant on the palate. But, after seven hours in the car we were wiped out so we headed back to the hotel to catch a few Z’s before supper.

After a well deserved (IMO) late afternoon nap we awoke a little famished. So it didn’t take us long to get ready and head out to CooperSmith’s. This place was a neat little venue in the bustling downtown area. It was the end of the school year for Colorado State so the town was busy with students and parents alike. It was a nice vibe. CooperSmith’s is unique in that it’s separated into two areas with a sidewalk and patio between. The Pubside and the Poolside. Both serve food and fresh brews, but the Pubside was more restaurant-like and the Poolside was more bar/pool hall. We ate in the restaurant and sampled some nice beers. I liked the Not Brown Ale (“not” a typo), very dark, sweet and malty. It reminded me of Bell’s Best Brown. I also enjoyed the Horsetooth Stout which was opaque, thick and oatmeal smooth. I also enjoyed the Sitzman’s Steam although this one was made with Cascade hops (one of my favorite), instead of the typical woody Northern Brewer variety. It was a nice twist. Very mellow and easy drinking. The food stood out as well. I ordered the Mesa Verde Burger which consisted of a large green chili, roasted and peeled, placed atop the meat. On top of that was a generous topping of pepperjack cheese and chipotle bbq sauce. Mmmmm, mmmm, is your mouth watering yet? I definitely will be trying to replicate this at home. I don’t think I’ve ever been so full in my life. Downtown is a really neat busy area full of energy. We took a stroll for about a block or two before retiring for the evening.

Colorado Beer Trip – Great Hotel

Okay, no beer highlights here, just wanted to comment on our first night’s hotel. The Downtown Omaha EconoLodge is in a great location and was a great price. I’m thinking this was more of an extended stay hotel than anything else. It seemed like some people had gotten pretty comfortable there. But on that note, we too were comfortable. I love me a King-sized bed and it was comfy. I am wondering however, if they got their furniture from the Imperial Palace in Las Vegas. Now let’s get this straight, this EconoLodge (and none others that I know of) does not have an Asian theme, but I am pretty sure that this is the exact same bed and chest of drawers that we had in our room during my bachelor party in Vegas.

I was also very surprised and pleased that before we arrived, they somehow seemed to secure my Grandpa’s recliner and place it in our room before we got there. I thought that was a nice personal touch. Finally, It was very convenient to have the coffee maker within arms reach of the toilet. This was especially helpful when we woke up late and needed to get on the road. It was nice to be able to kill two birds with one stone, so to speak. This place also included free breakfast which is always a plus. We were able to fill up on frosted flakes, yogurt, various juices and a banana all while listing to two old guys passing a cell phone back and forth trying to direct a third to their current location. Pretty hilarious, especially when you're dealing with two cities in two States separated by a river.



Only seven hours to Fort Collins, on the road again…

Day 1 Colorado Beer Trip (continued)

Thursday, May 21st, 2009 After the drive from Minneapolis to Des Moines, the Omaha leg of the trip seemed like a breeze. A short two hours after leaving El Bait Shop and we were already approaching the Council Bluffs/Omaha area. Before the sun went down I wanted to check out the Old Market. I had spent quite a few afternoons in the Old Market when a buddy of mine was at Creighton Dental School. I used to go down every summer for the College World Series and I was always impressed with the Old Market. This part of downtown is Omaha’s trendy hot spot. Old warehouses tastefully refinished into gift shops, retailers, bars and restaurants. Of these old buildings, one of them is a renovated firehouse, and creates some pretty tasty beers. The Upstream Brewing Co, from firehouse to brewhouse. The atmosphere is comfortable, very clean and straight lines, almost like you’re in a chain restaurant but with the charming wait staff of an independent. We bellied up to the bar and were treated the way first timers should be treated. Very friendly bartenders, offering to help in anyway possible but not intrusive, hasty or forceful. I knew what I wanted… the sampler, duh. We were brought two tall glasses of water without even asking. I like a place that does that. Too many times water seems like an inconvenience than a service.

No fancy rack for their sampler, just a laminated placemat with descriptions of the beer to be placed on it. Thirteen mini Pilsner glasses to be exact. “Oh how cute”, Carolyn exclaimed! I won’t go into detail on all of them but rather just the more memorable ones. The Dundee Export Scotch Ale was very pleasant. Plenty of malt and a nice easy drinking smoky finish; hints of sweet caramel set this one apart. It was also fun to taste the Blackstone Stout along side the cask version of the same beer. Both were nice and roasty with big body but the cask version was more complex. I was picking up a hint of oak and maybe some bourbon. It definitely seemed barrel aged to me, but the bartended assured me it was not. The only differences are serving temperature, the cask version isn't on nitro and the cask version was dry hopped. I enjoyed them both but more so the cask version. Another couple of beers really stood out. The Oatmeal Cookie Beer and the Blue Mystic Saison. The cookie beer was toasty, creamy, malty, biscuity and all around delicious. The Saison was brewed with ginger which added a nice refreshing twist. This saison was very citrusy already and the ginger added that piney something extra. It's not overpowering, I may not have even noticed it if I wasn't looking for it. It was very subtle but very welcome. After finally finishing them all plus lots of water we headed out. The guy next to us at the bar ordered a flourless chocolate cake and we almost pulled the trigger. Bartender said it would go nicely with a Stout/Raspberry Ale fusion. I bet it would.

We quickly checked into our hotel, dumped our bags and headed for the Crescent Moon Ale House. Omaha is pretty much a beer desert. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy visiting Omaha. There are many fun places to go have a beer, but if it’s a fine selection of craft beer you're looking for, your options are slim. There is one place, however, dubbed “Beer Corner USA” that should satisfy all of your desires. The corner of 36th and Farnam streets plays host to a wealth of beer imbibing opportunities. Under the confines of one roof you will find a Tap House with a wonderful selection, a German Bar with all your favorite German imports, a Belgian Beer Bar and a liquor store with a name all too inviting, Beertopia. What more could you ask for? We could have spent a lot of time and a lot of money on this little corner. It’s probably a good thing the seven hour drive looming the next morning was in the front of my mind or we would have. It was ten o’clock on Thursday night and the place was packed! While researching this trip I had read an article online about bartender Chris Bettini at the Crescent Moon. This guy has a mad passion for beer. We were lucky enough to have him taking care of us during our visit. I told him I was looking for Lucky Bucket, a brewery that I heard two stories about earlier in the day. I woke that morning having never heard of Lucky Bucky and by 10 PM, I had heard two people in two different States talking about it. In Des Moines, Mike from Court Ave had mentioned that Zac Triemert, former brewer at Upstream, ventured off to start his own brewery, Lucky Bucket. He said that I should seek it out while in Omaha. Then, while sitting in Upstream I overheard a bar manager talking about “our side project” Lucky Bucket. I obviously don’t have the whole story but I was intrigued nonetheless.

Crescent Moon had Lucky Bucket’s Pre-Prohibition lager on tap so I gave it a whirl. It was good, no wow factor, but very drinkable. I thought it was a rich creamy fruity lager, if there ever was such a thing. Of course I had tasted 25 beers already that day so my palate was pretty fatigued. I certainly had no problem finishing it. I would love to have another shot at this one. Later I tried the Ska Nefarious Ten Pin Imperial Porter. I had heard about this one and was eager to try it. I knew we weren’t going to make it to Durango while in Colorado so I didn’t find any problem drinking it here. Mmmmmm, this was superb. Thick as tar but drank like silk. A lot of smooth creaminess behind this big bold roasty fella. I even got some alcoholic heat. At 8% it isn’t huge, but it ain’t no slouch either. I had to stop after this one. We had some crazy folks take a picture of us in front of the mural on the wall. This picture (not pictured) looked fine when we took it, but when we got home it was all blurry. Funny how clear everything is when viewed through beer goggles. Ha ha… and off we went into the Nefarious Nebraska night.