Beer Odyssey 2006
One week ago my college buddy Darren & I embarked on our second Beer Odyssey (the one last year having been such a very great success). This time our target was central and western Colorado (last year's epic having covered the northern end of my fair state). We set out on I-70 with but a single goal in mind: to enjoy great beer and beautiful scenery; we were to get both in spades, although I should note that as the driver for this expedition I enjoyed mere sips of beer whilst watching Darren drink. But I live here, and thus can always return, whilst he must travel from Texas.
Our first stop was the Dillon Dam Brewery, where I'd an excellent hamburger and he'd a passable bratwurst. I purchased a glass, a pack of cards, a guide to Rocky Mountain drinking holes, a growler of pilsener and a six pack of their lager. Thereafter we headed to Hanging Lake (just east of Glenwood Springs) where we saw one of the natural wonders of the world: a lake which collapsed from a cliff face, leaving a pair of cataracts and a beautiful crystal clear lake on the side of the cliff. The shores are composed of travertine in its primitive state. I can highly recommend it to anyone who's travelling in the area---it's roughly a three-hour hike, but worth every minute.
We journeyed on to Palisade, where we visited both the Palisade Brewery and Peach Street Distillers. The former had some excellent ales on tap; I left with a growler of their Dually Imperial Pale Ale, a deceptively smooth beer with a massively high alcohol content, and another growler of their peach ale. The latter had an exceedingly friendly staff; had I not been driving I would have dearly loved to settle down and throw back a few drinks with them. As it was I purchased a bottle of their Goat Vodka to bring home---a truly wonderful vodka, sweet with just a slight hint of maize (it's made from the semi-famous Olathe Sweet Corn).
We then continued on to Grand Junction and booked ourselves some rooms, then headed out to dinner at the Alehouse (a tied house of the Breckenridge Brewery) where I'd a steak and Darren'd a burger (and we shared some great pub chips); then we were on to the Kannah Creek Brewing Compant, a brewpub/pizzeria. I wasn't terribly impressed, to tell the truth: they struck me as more of a non-drinker's brewpub. Still, friendly staff. We walked to our rooms from the pub, and were soon fast asleep.
On Friday we arose and stopped briefly in Palisade to visit the Meadery of the Rockies, whereat I got a bottle of their Chocolate Cherry Velvet, a mead-port) as well as a six pack of perry (pear cider). We then headed back to Glenwood Springs, where we stopped off at the Glenwood Canyon Brew Pub, which I will wager money is owned by a Greek. Excellent food, wonderful beers. I believe that I brought back a growler of the raspberry wheat, IIRC. Darren had a gyro and I'd a very good fish & chips. Then we headed to Glenwood Caverns, a somewhat new attraction in the area. The caves are very cool, and the Alpine Coaster is loads of fun. We set back on the road just as he weather began to turn. We stopped off at the Gore Range Brewery, a nice little brewpub nestled in Edwards (an otherwise nondescript town); we'd an order of chips & salsa and I left with a growler of their red ale. As the weather turned decidedly nasty we stopped off in Frisco at the Backcountry Brewery for a dinner of pizzas---very good, and well-worth a repeat visit. This was the first brewery whereat I failed to buy a growler, not because their beers were subpar but because I can buy them here in town and the car was getting very cramped.
Then commenced one of the very worst drives of my life. There were several times when I thought our numbers were up; the worst was when a passing pickup's rain-shedding tyres obscured our windscreen so badly that I couldn't see for about a second and a half. On a downhill stretch. A curvy downhill stretch. At night. My life flashed before my eyes, I swear. But we got home in the end and our beer odyssey was done.
The following day we would visit a local C.B. & Pott's, catch Pirates of the Caribbean, stop off at Edward's (whereat I bought a fine pipe whereby I shall remember this trip always) and finally brew a batch of beer. Then on Sunday we went to church, had dinner at my folks' house and ended up visiting the finest beer bar in the country, the Falling Rock Tap House. After all this beer-chasing (and due to my own homebrewing efforts) my condo housed roughly 24 gallons of beer---that's over ¾ of a beer barrel! Along with all this beer (and the vodka) I also purchased much glassware---mostly pints, with a few shot glassed thrown in for good measure.
All in all it was an most wonderful trip. I'll be posting pictures soon.
