Fort Collins has the most brewers and microbreweries per capita of any city in Colorado. At this time Ft Collins has five. Colorado is now ranked 2nd in country for most craft beer by production volume. All brewers in Fort Collins with the exception of the Anheuser Busch Brewery are considered craft brewers. Craft beer is defined by the Brewers association as follows. Craft beer is produced by small, independent and traditional brewers in the United States and generally made with 100% malted barley.

Craft beer that is not made with 100% malted barley is substituted with a percentage of malted wheat or malted rye or other fermentable that enhance flavor. Craft beer inspiration is traced to British, German or Belgian traditions or is often uniquely American.

In 2005 7 million barrels of craft beer was produced by craft brewers. The industry is growing at the rate of 9% per year. There are 52 regional craft breweries, 397 microbreweries and 922 brewpubs in the U.S. Two of the Regional Craft Breweries are in Fort Collins, New Belgium and ODells.

BIG HORN BREWERY  Big Horn Brewery is part of the CB & Potts National restaurant chain. In each restaurant they have a brew pub which serves not only Fort Collins and Loveland but the states around it as well. This brew pub has locations in Colorado Wyoming Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Oregon and Washington.

Big Horn Brewing brews five different beers and one root beer. There most popular beer is Buttface Amber Ale. The label is adorned with two Rocky Mountain Big Horn Sheep butting heads.  Also very popular is Blonde a golden ale. The rest of their line is rounded out with Hefewiizen, Big Red and Total Disorder Porter.

Big Horn is rather unique in that they brew a premium root beer from a secret recipe that has a fresh home made taste. They always serve it in and ice frosted mug making me think of those old drug store days. Also available in six packs and cases.

2006 Silver Medal 6x Golden Lager, Great American Beer Festival.

COOPERSMITH’S PUB AND BREWING  This brew pub is located located in the historic J.L. Hohnstein building in Old Town Square, in downtown Fort Collins. Also they have a poolside building which is located across the walkway from the main restaurant. Coopersmith’s restaurant and brewpub has been brewing beer since 1989. There are always at least ten handcrafted ales available with styles to please the most "pedestrian" palates to the "stoutest" of beer enthusiasts. Coopersmith’s also offers a variety of seasonal beers including Oktoberfests, Christmas ales and fruit beers. The patio seating allows customers to enjoy a great meal, a great beer and a great atmosphere.

FORT COLLINS BREWERY Fort Collins Brewery is the newest microbrewery in Northern Colorado, specializing in lagers. They currently make Doktor Lager, a pale lager, Edgar Lager, an amber lager and, Z Lager, which has a slightly aromatic smoke flavor. Additionally, Major Tom’s Pomegranate Wheat, Retro Red, and Chocolate Stout round out their selections. They also have four seasonal brands.

NEW BELGIUM BREWING COMPANY INC.  From bumming around Belgium by bike, finding and trying their beers, to his home basement, electrical engineer turned home brewer Jeff Lebesch started New Belgium Brewing. All of this happened in the late 1980's and  1990.  Jeff was very impressed with Belgian brewing techniques and ingredients. The Belgians used or experimented with almost anything edible.  

After returning home he brewed two home brews, which were to become Fat Tire and Abbey. These brews were of course tried out on his tasting panel of friends and relatives. None could understand why anyone would want to call a beer Fat Tire but the taste for the two beers was loved by one and all. As for the name Fat Tire, it was to commemorate the Belgian bike trip and as a marketing symbol the old fashioned cruiser bike is now known by beer lovers all over the United States.

As many American small business men he had a partner. Like many partners Jeff's was an outgoing, hard working, creative soul that was responsible for the marketing and  helped with bottling, and did the deliveries, and called on the customers and took the kids to school and cooked the dinners and and and. This is of course is Kim Jordan the other half. Together, this husband and wife team, with there first trusty assistant, son Zach,  took the company commercial in 1991.

Between 1991 and 1995 they moved from the basement into other locations and finally into an antique railroad freight station. Then in 1995 they moved into their own handsomely custom designed building just across the Poudre River from Old Town Fort Collins. This building has two brew houses, four quality assurance labs and it's own waste water treatment plant. The waste water treatment plant allows them to clean their own water and to create energy for their plant's use.

This company is run and owned by unique and creative people. The employees. When you study this company and it's people you can find some very interesting stories. New Belgium is an environmentally friendly brewery and was the first wind-powered brewery in America. Light tubes provide natural light in the warehouse and materials are recycled whenever possible. These folks are very unusual in the way they run their brewery and do business but that is another story for another time.

New Belgium has also won many medals in it's short history.

New Belgium Brewing Company counts among their quality products: Fat Tire Amber Ale, Sunshine Wheat and Blue Paddle Pilsner.  Also in the line is 1554, Abbey, Trippel and seasonal releases brewed and sold for only a short time. New Belgium Brewing is considered a regional craft brewery.

2006 Gold Medal for Le Fleur, Great American Beer Festival
2006 Gold Medal for La Folie, Great American Beer Festival

ODELL BREWING COMPANY  In1989, the Odell family opened  the Odell Brewing Company, making it the second microbrewery in Colorado. There story is like most small business in America today. The founder Doug and his sister Corkie brewed the beer, delivered the beer, cleaned the bottles and the floors. There first brewery was a four story grain elevator built in 1915. Since then the company has grown from selling 900 barrels a year to over 28,000 barrels a year.

This growth has allowed them to expand there first brewery and add over 10,500 square feet and some state of the art brewing equipment.  They now have a full bottling line and a 5 barrel pilot system which is one/tenth the size of their commercial brewing vessels and was introduced for brew experimentation. On this 5 barrel line is were the brewers get to play. The best results go to the tasting room tap bar. The brewery also has tours six days a week.

Odell Brewing specializes in English style ales using imported British Malts and hops to make their award winning brews. 90 Schilling is their most popular beer.  Other choices are Easy Street,  5 barrel Pale Ale, Levity Ale and Cutthroat Porter round out the selections. They have a winter seasonal offering called Isolation Ale. As mentioned above using their 5 barrel brewing line you never know what you may find in their tasting room

Odell has also won many medals for their creations. In 2005 they won 2 Gold, 3 Silver and two Bronze medals. They have been winning best in show, best in Denver and medals at fairs and festivals since 1991 just two short years after they opened.

2006 Gold Medal for 5 Barrel Ale, The Great American Beer Festival
2006 Bronze Medal for Whale's Tale Pale Ale, Great American Beer Festival
2006 Bronze Medal for Curmudgeons Nip, Great American Beer Festival

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