Fort Collins is known for bicycling… and beer. One of my favorite pastimes is riding my bicycle around town and trying different brews. My cousin Laura and her husband Alfredo have been joining me on an annual excursion. This year we did our ride on April 30. The notes below contain my ratings from Untappd.
We started our adventure around one in the afternoon. Riding with Dorinna and Nate, our first stop was Gib’s Bagels so that the beer drinking would start with a full stomach. From there, a nice ride along the Spring Creek and Poudre River trails took us to our first drinking destination of the day.
Funkwerks
I have a bad habit of dismissing Funkwerks as “the place with sours.” It’s actually much more than that. Well, no, not really, but the sours are really good, and it’s worth coming more often. The brewery was packed when we arrived thanks to a noisy bachelor party crowd, but once they left the experience improved.
- Saison (Saison ale) 5
- Tropic King (Imperial Saison ale) 3.5
- White (Belgian-style wheat ale with spices) 3
- Raspberry Provincial (sour ale with raspberries) 4
Horse & Dragon
Only a short ride away was Horse & Dragon. The beer is top tier, but the grounds themselves don’t measure up to some of the other places in town. They try their best to spruce it up, but it’s hard to hide the fact that we drank on a picnic table in a parking lot in an industrial park.
- Picnic Rock 4.25
- Colorado Breeze Juicy Pale Ale 4
- Flagstone American Red Ale 3
Odell
What more can you say about Odell’s? The beer is good, the grounds are nice… and crowded. There’s definitely an assembly-line feel here as you queue up with the other crowds to get your beers.
- Lagerado 3
- Tree Shaker Tangerine 2
Equinox
Equinox remains one of my favorite spots in town, both for the ambience of the beer garden and the bitterness of Space Ghost, my favorite beer in town.
- Space Ghost IPA 5
- Another IPA ?
Four breweries with very little bicycling in between meant it was time to take a break. After Equinox we walked a few blocks to Ginger and Baker to meet Dorinna and Nate for dinner (sans alcohol). While waiting for a table, I found this dish towel in the shop.
Purchased!
Stodgy
This was my first time to Stodgy, and it won’t be my last. Set inside what looks like an old house, the place was mellow and laid-back, with comfy chairs in abundance. The only detraction was the rap music which felt out of place in the farmhouse.
- New Zealand Pilsner 4
- English Porter 3
- IPA ?
Our original plan was to end the evening at Black Bottle. But after five stops for beer, and two stops for food, we were all pretty stuffed and tired. Laura suggested getting another round here and then skipping the last brewery, but we nixed the second set of beers and just went home.
Our mistake, if you want to call it that, was drinking too much at our first stop. In the future, if we want to hit more places, we have to limit ourselves to a few tasters at each place and not go for the full flights. If you’re wondering “were you hammered?” the answer was a solid “no.” Putting all of the tasters together added up to equivalent of five pints. That’s a lot for one sitting, but the entire ride lasted 8.5 hours. Spreading it out over that amount of time left us with full stomaches and relatively clear heads.
Now… where do we go next time?
22.1 miles of bicycling (Strava link)
Das Haus von Ruh 