Words - Matthew Curtis, Photos - Dianne Tanner
I’ve been off the booze for over a week now and it’s not been easy as I’ve been stockpiling beers that I had planned to review and have also missed out on the chance to be involved in last nights #impoff online imperial stout tasting event. My cupboard currently contains such beauties as Epic Mayhem, Hitachino Nest Nipponia, Durham Temptation and a couple of the new Brewdog IPA is Dead packs but since falling victim to a stomach ulcer I’ve been subjected to a barrage of antibiotics and so have been sworn off the booze under doctors orders.
As a result I don’t really have much to write about today but for the sake of momentum I feel it’s important to keep writing, especially as I will have lots to write about over the next two weeks. Tuesday is brew day, it’s the day I’m allowed to have a drink and believe me I cannot wait to get some hops down my throat but it’s the day after that has got me even more excited.
This Wednesday morning I will be flying out to New York City for four days and then I’m off to stay with my Dad in Fort Collins, Colorado which has become my holiday destination of choice since I first visited back in the Summer of 2010. It’ll be my first trip to the States as an active beer blogger so I’m going to attempt to document as much of the beery fun as possible.
A lot of beer nonsense like this is about to occur
I don’t have many beer plans in New York or much time to do a lot of beer tourism as it’s my first ever visit to NYC so I plan on taking in a lot of the regular tourist sites as well. However I have penciled in a visit to Brooklyn Brewery next Saturday lunchtime so am looking forward to tasting some of their brews that aren’t Brooklyn Lager or EIPA (however I’ll try them just to gauge how well the stuff we get here travels) and will be endeavoring to sample as much local stuff as possible during visits to bars and restaurants. I’ve already had Sixpoint brewery highly recommended to me but if anyone out their reading this has any other recommendations for me then please leave a comment below.
After the hustle and bustle of New York I’m looking forward to a nice relaxing break in idyllic Colorado and have lots of beer tourism planned while I’m there. Fort Collins is now home to ten (at last count) microbreweries and one thing my Dad and I like to do is ride from tap room to tap room and work our way through a tasting tray at each stop. We usually start at Funkwerks for a Saison before our palate gets too clouded and then head into town to visit places such as Pateros Creek, Equinox and we usually finish at our favourite, Odell Brewing Co. I also plan to visit the epic Wilburs Total Beverage and pick up a couple of six packs of some hard to find IPA’s so again I’d love some recommendations!
I also have planned to make my first visit to Oskar Blues Brewery in Longmont which is about an hours drive from Fort Collins and if I have time I’d like to do the super fun tour of New Belgium Brewing Again. New Belgium's operation is the third largest (in terms of craft beer producers) in the States but I haven’t been on the tour since my first visit two years ago, it involves a slide, I love slides.
So next time you tune in I’ll be blogging from the good ol’ US of A and I’ll probably be drunk, cheers!