Blame It On The Altitude: Our Colorado Brewery Tour

One of the best parts about the trip out to Colorado was visiting just a small sample of the 100+ breweries that exist in the Rocky Mountain state.

We were able to visit 4 full breweries and 3 brewpubs, for a total of 7 places that brew their own beer. They were: Breckenridge Brewery and Pub across from Coors Field, Great Divide Brewing Co. , New Belgium Brewing Co., Left Hand Brewing Co., Oskar Blues Brewery, Mountain Sun Brewery & Pub, and the Colorado Brewing Company-Draft House. My biggest regret was not visiting Avery Brewing in Boulder.

Quick Awards:

Best Beers Overall: Great Divide

Favorite New Beer: Oskar Blues & Great Divide*

Best Tour & Overall Experience: New Belgium

Best Personal Experience: Oskar Blues

Best Deal: New Belgium

Best Bartender: Left Hand

*Favorite New Beers: Gubna at Oskar Blues and Wild Raspberry Ale at Great Divide

Probably, the most unique place we visited was a hippie brewpub in Boulder called Mountain Sun Pub & Brewery. The best beers they had by far were their two IPAs and the Colorado Kind Ale. Definitely a cool experience, as it was a small restaurant that had some really good beer.

I've never been a big fan of Breckenridge beers, and their pub across from Coors Field was cool, but the beers were not that special. They had a small batch Pilsner that was really good, but I can't find the name of it online.

GREAT DIVIDE BREWING CO.

The first brewery we visited was Great Divide Brewing in Denver. You've likely had their Titan IPA if you've had any of their beers (it was the only one I had previously).

G.D. was about 3 blocks from Coors Field, which immediately made me a fan, but it also had happy hour right after the game. This means $3 beers, that are mostly high gravity, and very delicious (you can imagine what happened after being there almost 3 hours in their small tap room).

G.D. had the best overall beers on our trip. My particular favorites were their Hades Belgian Style Ale, Wild Raspberry Ale (best berry ale I've ever had), and the Hoss Rye Lager.

Others in our the crew enjoyed the Yeti Imperial Stout and Hibernation Ale. I also enjoyed the Denver Pale Ale.

NEW BELGIUM BREWING CO.

This was the sign waiting for us on our tour. Lots of points for New Belgium!

Does your office have a two story slide in it? Do you have volleyball tournaments every week? Does your company give tours to 20+ insane UGA fans and then also give them FREE BEER?

Didn't think so, and that's why your life sucks if you don't work at New Belgium. Especially if you are not the "Director of Fun" that had this awesome slide installed.

A slide in the brewery. 'Nuff said.

If you've ever drank a beer, then you've likely had Fat Tire, their most popular beer. In recent times, many of the beers have become available in Georgia, so there were not too many surprises in their tap room. Don't let that fool you though, the tap room was still awesome, good bartenders, and we even got to meet the brewmaster.

The 1554, a Black Ale, was an excellent dark beer that tasted nothing like a dark beer. I know that sounds contradictory, and it is, but you just have to try it. Never had anything like it, especially a dark beer with such a smooth taste.

The actual tour of N.B. was awesome, given to us by Kaitlyn, as we got to see their beer making process, their massive bottling plant appropriately called "Thunderdome", and we got to pour our own beers and they served us plenty of free samples. FREE BEER, can you believe that!?!

I would be able to recount all of the cool things on the tour that Kaitlyn told me, but the free beer has caused me to not remember them.

The picture above is "The Thunderdome." One of the coolest things is that the brewery and Thunderdome are connected by a giant beer bridge that flows the beer from one building to another.

I learned how N.B. makes all their money though. They brainwash attendees of their awesome brewery and tap room so that they pile up on the merchandise when they leave (guilty as charged, I am a sucker!)

OSKAR BLUES BREWERY

Dale's Pale Ale is the signature beer of Oskar Blues, and it is one that you can find in almost any store and many bars in Atlanta. It is also the official craft brew of the Bubba 'N Earl tailgates as deemed by Bubba himself (those cans count for something). Mamas Lil Yella Pils is also one of their beers you can find in many stores

We visited the brewery and tap room for Oskar Blues in Longmont, as opposed to their restaurant in Lyons, CO that served as the original brewery.

We got to the brewery in time for them to pop open a cask of special ale(wish i could remember it, but it was delicious). I also got to try a new favorite beer called "Gubna." Hadn't seen it in Georgia yet, but it is a 10% alcohol Imperial IPA. This beer was insane, with a flavor I had never tasted before. Can't wait to find it here soon.

Some jerk and Dale of the Pale Ale.

Our experience was awesome at Oskar Blues because Tree, the HR director for the brewery (and is also the longest standing employee), gave us a personal guided tour of the brewery. It's a huge operation they had going on, and she even made sure we got all of the mardi gras beer can necklaces we could want (which was alot with this group).

Also on the tour was the DALE of Dale's Pale Ale (brewery founder Dale Katechis). Unknown to us was the we had previously met Dale when we pulled up next to a giant DPA RV and asked the driver where the tap room was. Just so happens that the drive was Dale himself, and he also shouted War Eagle as we drove off.

When we saw him on the tour, we found out that Dale attended Auburn before moving out to Colorado. I'm sure we bugged the crap out of him with questions and pictures, but you'd never know it by how nice he treated us and how he just hung out with us for an hour and a
half. He seemed incredibly stoked on how popular his beer was in Georgia.

We probably spent more time at Oskar Blues than any other brewery, and the personal touch and great beer they provided us was exactly why we had such an awesome experience.

The beer comes out of these things, and by the process of magic, ends up in the cans below.

We could not have asked for a better time at a brewery. Thanks Dale and Tree!

LEFT HAND BREWING CO.

Most here in Georgia have had Left Hand's Milk Stout if anything, and maybe their Haystack Wheat (which was the best wheat beer I had in Colorado).

Left Hand has a great tap room and patio. We weren't able to go on a tour of their brewery, so I can't give you the dish on that.

While Left Hand was the most expensive tap room we went to, it also had the best service of any place where you paid per glass (particularly given how full it was).

Our bartender, Josh, took care of us the entire time which was a huge help with our group of 12.

We managed to try nearly every beer on the menu, and there wasn't a single bad one.

As an awesome left handed person, kudos to L.H.!

Boulder Trippin': Gameday

The main reason we all traveled 1000 miles across the country was to see the Georgia Bulldogs take on the Colorado Buffaloes in Folsom Field. Thanks to the efforts of the Colorado Dawgs, there was a great tailgate set up on a field near the stadium where thousands of Dawgs fans met. Overall, it was a great day that ended on a sour note. Here are some pictures taken throughout the day:

Folsom Field is gorgeous from the outside. The brick blends in with the rest of the buildings on campus

We arrived at the Georgia tailgate around noon. It was already packed.

The weather was absolutely beautiful.

A few members of the Red Coats came by to fire up the Georgia fans.

Why do opposing teams always feel the need to dress Bulldogs up in their colors when they play us?

A giant, inflatable buffalo just outside the entrance to the stadium...

...and then a real buffalo running around on the field.

The team looked pretty fired up before hand. Then the game happenned.

Folsom Fiels looks really nice from the outside, but inside it sucks. The concourse is an old field house and it feels very outdated. The stadium is pretty small and the loud music definitely made more noise than their crowd. At times, I felt like I was at an ACC game.

About that AJ Green Catch

One of the few bright spots from last Saturday’s loss in Boulder was the return of superstar AJ Green. After being totally absent from the offense in the first quarter, he took a reverse for over 40 yards early in the second to get the Georgia offense going. AJ Green was back. The Dawgs were soon facing a third and goal from inside the Colorado 10.

This was my view of the field. The play happenned at the other end zone.

Green had yet to make a catch on the season, but this was the perfect situation for him to get his first. Quarterback Aaron Murray threw a fade pass towards Green. The pass was high and a little behind him, but that did not stop AJ from bringing it down:



The play was reviewed and soon the referee confirmed the touchdown. The Georgia fans went nuts and began chanting “A-J-GREEN! A-J-GREEN!” The play was named the #1 play of the week on Sportscenter the following night. But for those of us who have followed AJ’s career, you know that this catch still sits #2 on the list of his most amazing plays. In high school, Green hauled in a similar catch, only this time it was at full speed, thirty or forty yards down the field:



Personally, this catch may have been one of the most spectacular plays I have ever seen. The only exception may be Knowshon leaping the defender in 2008.

AJ, it’s great to have you back.

Boulder Trippin': Eating at the Buff

One of the great parts about our trip was eating breakfast Friday morning at The Buff. Just off Folsom Street about a mile from campus, The Buff definitely lived up to its billing. We all knew about it because of its appearance during season 3 of Man vs. Food on the Travel Channel:

We arrived at The Buff on Friday morning, hungry and tired from experiencing Rocky Mountain National Park and downtown Boulder the night before.

The cure to Josh's tiredness? Pancakes with sausage in them!

I ordered the Saddlebags, which are pancakes with meat cooked right in the batter. You can get bacon, ham, or sausage. I went with the bacon and it was delicious.

Saddlebags, in all their glory!

The food was great. Mrs. Streit liked the food so much, she made us go back for seconds on Saturday.

Finally Back

I finally got back to Atlanta about 6:00 AM yesterday morning after an absolutely packed red eye flight filled with Dawg fans. The trip to Colorado was great, the only exception of course being the result of the football game on Saturday night. I will be posting pictures from the trip in the next few days. Instead of my normal "Thoughts On..." post, I'm going to just write a couple of quick observations about the game and the CU fans. We all are pissed about the won-loss record, there is really no point to get into that mess right now.



- AJ Green = Amazing. Enough said.

- The Georgia Alumni tailgate was a great set up. The only bad part was that it really did segregate us from the rest of campus.

- Folsom Field looks great from the outside. The inside, on the other hand, kind of sucks. There are hardly any bathrooms and the field house that has them is way too small for the amount of people.

- Fans are allowed to leave a halftime of the game. That would be very dangerous if it was allowed in the SEC.



And lastly, I have something to say about the Colorado fans. Most of their fans seemed to be alright, except for the students. This may be the worst group of fans (the CU students) I have ever seen in college sports. Just because you are stoned out of your mind does not give you the right to treat other fans like trash. And the "F%&$ You, Georgia!" chant that began in the third quarter and continued throughout the night may have been the most classless act I have ever seen in sports. We don't even chant that at Florida or Georgia Tech, rivals that we play every season.



I'll be back later this week with the trip recap.



GO DAWGS!!!

If You Wanted To Know What Life in Colorado Is Like

Just got back to Atlanta and I will be working on several posts about our adventures to Colorado. But until then, here is a picture that pretty much accurately sums up what it is like to be in Colorado and Boulder in particular:



"CHeBA HUT" is a sub shop (and chain) that's located Boulder. That's what the "toasted subs" refers too, in case you were to confuse it with anything else.

We've Arrived: Colorado

The first part of the B'NE crew has arrived in Denver, and we're killing some time until we head to Coors Field and see the Rockies.

We did get the chance to eat breakfast at an awesome place called Snooze, where I had this giant breakfast burrito and almost died:



We'll be at the Breckinridge Brewery & Pub before the game, and then we'll hit Great Divide Brewery after.

Go Dawgs!

Getting the heck outta Dodge

To say things are bad in the Bulldog Nation right now is an understatement. Some are mad, others are sad, and no one really seems to know what comes next. What better of a time to get about as far away from the South as we can get!

The Bubba 'N Earl crew is heading west tomorrow morning. We'll be taking in the Rockies-Dodgers game at Coors field tomorrow afternoon, planning to go to the Alumni meet up at Mellow Mushroom on Thursday, and will be at the big tailgate on Saturday. While the team may be struggling, I fully expect the same level of excitement that the Bulldog nation showed in Tempe a few years ago.

The Dawgs will get back on track in Boulder on Saturday...I hope.



GO DAWGS!!!

Colorado Tickets on Sale Now

Most people know that the Colorado Buffaloes ticket office is putting single game tickets on sale August 2nd.

However, last week it became public that the Buffs decided that they would not sell single game tickets for UGA. This is an obvious response to the pending invasion of the West by Bulldawgs.

Instead of the single game package, you can only purchase ticket for the game in Boulder through their 3-game "National Championship" pack. While it seems like a pipe dream, it's actually in celebration of the REAL 1990 national champions.

However, you get stuck with tickets to Hawaii (been there done that!) and Kansas State (JUCO University is BACK!)

Anyways, if you want to pursue this option, tickets are actually on sale now if you have a promo code, and I'd suggest going to the Colorado Dawgs' facebook page to get the information on the tickets, as well as to get updates on what's happening in Denver and Boulder. They also seem to have a tailgate planned for the game, which is welcomed news.

$136 is the minimum price for the package, and if you look at online ticket sites, a single game ticket is at least $70, closer to $100 if you want a better seat.

At that point, I'd almost rather just buy the single game ticket and not worrying about unloading the others. That way, you at least have more control over where you sit.

Live at Folsom Field...in 11 months

Eleven months from now, myself and a great number of Georgia fans will make the long cross country trip to see Georgia take on the Colorado Buffaloes. Boulder is supposed to be a great town and home to historic Folsom Field. ESPN has a nice feature story up right now about Colorado's home stadium and it is a good read for anyone planning to make the trip next fall.

Folsom Field is also famous for holding conecerts, including the Dave Matthews Band every year.

Can't wait to see the Bulldog Nation invade the Rockies next fall!

It's Division I Football!

This story broke over the weekend on Michigan football. I'm sure that it's tough as a player to go through a coaching transition, especially if you believe the coach you sign with is going to be there through your entire college career (although you had to know Lloyd was going to retire soon). But change happens.

After a 3-9 opening season, there has been some backlash from Michigan players on Rich Rodriguez. Of course, we don't know exactly what's going on in Ann Arbor, but the complaints from these players seem a little over the top.

Look, I recognize the need for awareness if a workout becomes too stressful. But what the hell would Bo Schembechler say!?!

As Colorado head coach Dan Hawkins said a few years ago, "It's Division I football!...Go play intramurals brother..."