Sunday 29th of August 2010 07:34:02 PM

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This person needs 3 or more reviews on the site for their scores to start counting.

They recently moved to a new, much larger, location further west on Lincoln. So far west, in fact, that they are within an Elway's stone throw from Odell's brewery. They are so close to Odell's, I could hear their house music for the Odell's parking lot. I love that one doesn't even need a bike to get access to 5 decent Fort Collins breweries (probably 7 in short time). Their grand opening was quite a joy; including an open house and a number of newly released beers, including a delicious Imperial Cascadian Dark Ale (big black IPA...yummm). They have a pretty impressive new facility that I'm looking forward to, even more, when they start selling food.

They have quite a bit of fermentation capacity, compared to their brew system (6+ 50bbl fermenters, to a 20 bbl mash/boil). This probably allows for more creative brewing options.

It was fairly crowed for an opening celebration (obviously, and rightfully), but they seemed to have a large bar area and a decent outside seating option. Nonetheless, the staff was very friendly and knowlegable for the first day.

Saturday 16th of May 2009 08:51:38 PM

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went there with a friend who is a regular. he said they've raised prices twice in the past 2 years. the beer was all over the place. the ipa and chocolate stout were good (i don't normally enjoy stout), the wheat was okay and everything else tasted like smoke. very smokey lagers, not my thing. 3 of the 6 regular beers were smokey. if you like that cool, if not then get the ipa, wheat, or stout. the service was good, as was the atmosphere. it reminds me of golden city brewery if you've ever been there-small indoor facility and a larger patio area. i liked it more than the larger breweries next door- odells and new belgium.

Sunday 22nd of February 2009 05:32:17 PM

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The beer is not very good. The recipes are from the previous brewery and used to be made with a lot more care.
The lagers taste good if you miss the DMS (corn, burnt vegetal taste).

The only brewery in Fort Collins without a tap in its own town. The beer is bad, the owners treat the employees poorly and it shows. There is not much dedication to their craft.

A definite must miss!

They will be opening a new brewery with new equipment so here's to hoping that it gets better.

Tuesday 6th of January 2009 01:15:59 PM

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Ft Collins Brewing Company
Ft Collins, Colorado
November 12-18, 2008

Ft. Collins Brewing Company is easy to miss in the winter evening light, but worth the effort of a U-turn and phone calls to get talked in. As it turned out I visited for 3 nights and became a 'regular' for a short time.

It was a small family friendly place that closes at 6pm, and has a gregarious atmosphere. This is a brewery Tap/Tasting room and uses patrons as the brewery’s evaluators of the experimental beers they brew. They have more beers than taps so the beers available will vary with time. The best selling beers in the tap room are Rocky Mountain IPA and Major Tom’s Pomegranate wheat. The 8 beer list was much more than the normal 5 beer line up.

Currently they brew 7800 bbls a year but plan to move to new facilities with 40-50,000 capacity. The Tap Club Beer Program is interesting and an integrated part of the operation. See the attached pictures for more information. The tap club judges styles and had events for new beer, read as, guinea pigs for new beers.

Ft Collins Brewing is part of the Ft Collins Beermania Triangle with Odell and New Belgium as the other apexes, well maybe not a triangle because all are accessible from Lincoln Aveune. CooperSmiths is also near Lincoln.

Their best selling beer at the tap room is the Rock Mountain IPA. I think it is more of an APA. It had good balance of malt and hops with a long lasting after taste of hop bitterness and flavor. IBU were a robust 80. I understand why it is the best seller.

Interesting to me the second best selling beer is the Major Tom's Pomegranate Wheat. I think it is more a session beer than a wheat. It lacks any of the German wheat characteristics and has an IBU of about 35. I can not fault this beer.

Reading between the beers, it seems to me that the tap room has a diverse clientele, from those that like flavorful beers to those that enjoy a unique lighter beer far from the normal blonde and Coors knock off.

I tasted the other beers, from a smoked Raushbier to Stout, but will not detail them here. None of the beers had faults, but some, for me those nights, did not have the flavors I associate with the style.

Part of the fun of Tap/Tasting Rooms are the people one meets and the conversations. A trio of students come in and order a beer. They begin to tease and tell stories about parties. The woman takes her hair down and explains she is studying to be a dental hygienist. One of the men of the trio says he is living on $400 a month and this is his event for the week. Something happens with a beer and Barkeeper says, "Don't leave beer, there are sober children in India". One of the beers is referred to as 'Liquid Long Johns". A solo woman sits at bar and as the 4 or 5 drinkers begin to tell stories, she is here from Kansas visiting a friend near Limon. Limon???? the bar asks? The story is her friend was in a correction facility an unnamed offense. Barkeeper tells about a friend that for years was getting drugs shipped to him UPS. Friend comes home to see package sitting on doorstep, mangled, beat up, opened...He looked at package, thought I am screwed and he was. Barkeeper's father comes in, has 3/4 of a beer and tells a couple of Barkeep youth stories then leaves.

This was a laid back quite taproom with friendly staff and patrons. I would return. If one has a DD the Ft Collins Triangle or Quadrangle if one includes CooperSmith, would be a wonderful time.

Mike Kiester

Friday 21st of November 2008 04:25:48 PM

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This was the lesser known to me of the Fort Collins breweries but a great place. A small tasting room attached to the brewery. Bar can seat 8 people or so and tables and patio seating also available.

We had a sampler of their beers and they were all good. A variety of styles so something for everyone.

The staff were very friendly. We had several bartenders as they appeared to be brewery staff that were coming and going from the production area.

They were in the process of changing their logo so we got some great deals on T-shirts with the old logo.

Wednesday 13th of August 2008 06:34:45 PM

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A very small brewery but a nice little local's bar/brewery.

The sampler was average price. The sampler was a good size too. No tour so far as I knew/know.

I can't remember the name of the seasonal brew. But if you get the chance to stop in, you must ask them for it. It tastes exactly like the smell of the fermenting beer! You know that very yeasty smell when a brewery is well into brewing their latest batch. Oh my! I have never had something that interesting and tasty. It was definitely unique.

Like the other micro/regional breweries in Ft. Collins, its super easy to get to and within a short bike ride of New Belgium and Odell's which are amazing!

Ft. Collins is an amazing little bike-friendly city. Bring a bike. Ride to these breweries. Make a day of this town!

Sunday 20th of April 2008 12:27:56 PM

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The tasting room includes a short L-shaped bar and tall table seating plus some outside seating on the deck. The extended tasting flight includes all 6 standards and 2 seasonals. The Kidd Lager (Schwarzbier) and Double Chocolate Stout were particularly noteworthy but I also enjoyed the Rocky Mt IPA and the Retro Red. I wasn’t offered a tour and was told the brewery was pretty cluttered at the moment due to some equipment installation. There is a decent amount of parking available in a shared lot.

Friday 4th of April 2008 05:05:28 PM

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A friend and I accidentally stumbled across this place while actually looking for New Belgium - seemed small ;-) - and I was glad that we found it.
Fort Collins, for what it's worth, is a really cool town, often overshadowed by Denver. The breweries there seem to actually work harder because they know they have the local competition, as well as that of Denver to the south.
The building is on the outskirts of town in an industrial area and is fairly difficult to find. We were the only ones in the place at the time.
I had several tasters. FC Brewery has some very, very good stuff. The IPA and Z particularly impressed me, and I wished that we could have stayed longer so that I could have had a point. There were a few other specialty ones that I liked, but I can't recall all of them. Nonetheless, the selection was impressive.
I'll be back.

Saturday 9th of February 2008 08:20:46 PM

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Yes, this is the smallest of the FC breweries but do not pass this place up in search of top notch beers. They are not off the beaten path but just down the road from the two larger guys, Odells and New Belgium. Actually it makes for a great bike ride to hit all three since none are too far off the Poudre River Bike path. The have a great little tasting room that offers samples along with the seasonal or special offerings. You cannot go wrong with this micro and I can guarantee you will go away with a smile on your face and happiness in you tummy. Currently they are offering a DOUBLE CHOCOLATE STOUT for Valentine's Day and have a great new lager, EDGAR.