Brew Tour 2005 Completed
I just got home from the 2005 Austin College Memorial Invitational Beer Tour. Which is to say, I just spent three days with my buddy Darren and two of his buddies from work, Trevor & Justin. On Monday, we saw The Motet, The Wallflowers & Blues Traveler at the 4th of July show (a show about which more in another posting). On Tuesday we left Denver in the morning and drove up to the Pumphouse Brewery & Restaurant for an excellent lunch, then continued on to Ft. Collins to visit the Left Hand/Tabernash Brewery for a tasting, then on to New Belgium for the final tasting of the day. We then grabbed some sandwiches and supplies and headed deep into the Cache la Poudre to camp for the evening. As the resident Eagle Scout, I built the fire (rather well, I think) as well as picked out the evening’s beers (Deschutes Brewery’s Mirror Pond and Twilight Ales) and cigars (Punch Royal Coronation).
It was an absolutely beautiful night, without a cloud or moon in the sky. We saw several shooting stars and satellites as well as the Milky Way (difficult to see nowadays), and had some great fire-fuelled conversation. Didn’t get to bed until about 0130! I should note that I used the same tent that I’ve been camping in for more than half my life, one my folks bought me when I was 10, 11 or 12. It may be in rotten shape, but it still does the trick.
Today we broke camp, then—smelling like well-smoked herring from our campfire—headed back into Ft. Collins for breakfast at McDonald’s (a nice one!) and the went on to tour the Odell Brewing Co., then on to the Trail Ridge Winery, and finally to the Estes Park Brewery for lunch. We then walked about downtown Estes Park for awhile and then journeyed down into Boulder to see Pearl Street and have dinner at the Mountain Sun Pub & Brewery with Trevor’s sister, who is at CU. Finally, we headed back to Denver.
Along the way I picked up:
- 2 bottles Left Hand Imperial Stout
- 2 bottles Left Hand Black Jack Porter
- 1 bottle Left Hand Haystack Wheat
- 1 bottle Tabernash Dunkel Weiss
- 1 Tabernash pint glass
- 1 Left Hand bumper sticker
- a handful of Tabernash temporary tattoos
- 2 bottles New Belgium La Folie
- 2 New Belgium schooner glasses
- 1 stick New Belgium Sunshine Wheat lip balm
- a handful of New Belgium bumper stickers
- 1 Odell 90 Shilling cycling jersey
- 1 Odell Bobby (Kölsch) pint glass
- 1 Odell Levity (amber ale) pint glass
- 1 Odell Isolation Ale poster
- 1 Odell 5 Barrel Pale Ale sticker
- 1 bottle Trail Ridge Cabernet Franc
- 1 bottle Trail Ridge Lemberger
- 2 bottles Estes Park Renegade (India pale ale)
- 1 bottle Estes Park Gold (amber ale)
- 1 bottle Estes Park Samson Stout
- 1 bottle Longs Peak Raspberry Wheat
- 1 bottle Estes Park Barleywine
- 1 Estes Park Brewery pint glass
Why, yes the merchandiser’s eyes did light up when they saw us coming. Why do you ask?
It was a wonderful three days—my only regret is that I must go to work tomorrow.
