Fort Collins Brewery

In a previous post, we mentioned the vibrant craft brewing community of Fort Collins, Colorado (dubbed by some as the Napa Valley of microbrewing). Another noteworthy brewery highly that came to us recommended is Fort Collins Brewery. While the thought of craft beer in the town might gravitate toward the better known New Belgium or Odell’s Brewing, the quaint, progressive Front Range town also houses this specimen of artisan brews. Located near the previously mentioned breweries, close to the Cache La Poudre River in an open expanse by where thousands of native prairie dogs call home, Fort Collins Brewery, in August, moved down the street to a new facility allowing for major expansion project.

Originally opened as H.C. Berger Brewery in 1992, the brewery closed in 2002 for nonpayment of back taxes in 2002, then re-opened under its current name in 2003 not far from where the current facility his now located (the old location is being leased by another Belgian-inspired brewhouse named Funk Werks to be opened in the near future).

At the dapper, more modern facility, Fort Collins Brewery produced well-built, clean ales and lagers. Upon the recommendation of our friend Ritch Marvin of Behind The Pint, we headed to the brewery to inspect a noteworthy Z Lager, a smoked hellesbier. Along with this particular offering, we discovered an assortment of complex and flavorful brews that are worthy of the most distinguished palate. Here’s a glance at nearly a dozen Fort Collins Brewery pours that were enjoyed:

Common Ground Coffee Amber: Using locally roasted Jackie’s Java beans, this zinger of a caffeinated brew is lighter bodied than most coffee brews you’ll find on the greater market. A year round favorite at FCB, Common Ground included two varieties of bold java beans and finishes more along the lines of a nutty brown ale.

Retro Red: Labeled as the brewery’s “hoppiest Specialty Ale”, this reddish-brown bodied brew is dry up front and offers a sweet malty finish. This amber puts forth notes of toffee, carmel, and roasted malts with a medium bitterness and some citrus and pine snap.

Wheat Wine: Called the brother of the barleywine, this bold and brazen brew uses 50% wheat malt in the recipe. The result is a soft and subdued sweetness for a 9+%ABV beer. Lots of caramel-like notes in the underpinning and with a sharp alcohol heat emanating from the glass that is coupled with forthright fruity esters.

1900 Amber Lager: Here is an example of Fort Collins Brewery’s ability to diversify between ales and lagers. A near-clear copper body with a toasty and bready/biscuity earthiness. Carbonation levels on the high side of the spectrum lead to a dry finish amidst a subtle tingling grassy bitterness.

Major Tom’s Pomegranite Wheat: Some may be skeptical of fruited wheat beer for a lack of complexity, and while this beer might be over-hyped by the brewery as “the most unique beer ever brewed”, there’s still a lot to it. The pomegranate fruit melded with the sweet creamy wheat malt finished with some sweet-tart-like characteristics but without a lot of fruit flavor.

Kidd Lager: Another admirably constructed lager, this Schwarzbier, named for gunslinger, Billy the Kidd, is brewed with Chocolate Malt and German Tettnang hops to give it more ummph than your typical dark lager. With a tinge of amber, the Kidd features a prominent roastiness off-set by a balanced hop bitterness. Sipping from the tan-beige head there was evidence of caramel, milk chocolate, and nut character in the flavor profile.

Imperial Cascadian Dark Ale: So far, this is the only CDA we’ve encountered from outside of the Pacific Northwest to be aptly named as such. Further, it was the most intriguing CDA, we’d run across in all of Colorado. The fat creamy off-white lacing from a dark brown-black body made this beer a looker, and the flavors were simply delectable. Roasty malts gave way to bold citrus pine whiffs that lead into a sharp prune, date, and raisin notes. The best of both worlds as the marriage of hops and dehusked roasty malts harmonized perfectly. This beer was a highlight of our Colorado travels and in our humble opinion, the brewers at Fort Collins Brewery should be quite proud of this treat.

Z Lager: Here’s the beer we’d been anticipating trying thanks to our friend Ritch’s recommendation. Now, often times when something is recommended or hyped to you, there is often, even if slight, a sense of let down when you actualize the physical specimen. This was not the case at all. Ritch was spot on when recommending this treasure. Unlike many smoke beers, Fort Collins’ Z Lager did not go overboard with the smokiness. Just right in fact. The color was a handsome copper-bronze-amber hue bolstering a fluffy pillowed whitish head. A touch of charred woodiness reminiscent of smoked meats and even a dash of anise or licorice was evident in the beers overall complexity. Folks in the area where this beer is sold should be joyed that Z is a year round offering available in six packs and 12-ounce bottles.

Chocolate Stout: Featuring Chocolate malt and roasted barley, this house favorite is no stand out, but in fact a magnificently balanced American stout. Lots of chocolate notes mesh well with a bitter, dry somewhat chalky (in a good way) finish. Perhaps a little light in body and color for a stout, this beer is still pleasing in its ratio of sweet to dry/bitter.

Rocky Mountain IPA: To be honest, our palates have been inundated with hops so we’ve not been as jazzed about house IPAs of late. However, this resinous orange-amber colored IPA is on par with what most modern day hop heads would expect. A balance of bold bitterness, high attenuation, and floral citrus-pine aromatics make this fitting for the style. Perhaps the malt backbone is a bit lacking to prop up the hop elephant that leaped into the barrel, but all and all, no obvious defects in this clean and calculated brew.Plus we’d take it any day over Rocky Mountain oysters.

While Fort Collins Brewery might live, in some respects, in the shadow of the giant New Belgium Brewery, or even, Odell’s just down the way, many of the beers here hold their own in the bright spot light of this region. FCB gets the Brewpublic stamp of approval and we strongly encourage you to give ’em a whirl next time you’re in this spectacular town.