Wed Nov 26, 2014 11:34 pm
Best bottle shops in that area are probably Hazels and Liquor Mart in Boulder. Backcountry Pizza in Boulder it the place to go for a good draft selection.
Boulder has a lot of breweries but most of them are very mediocre. I would not waste time visiting Boulder Beer, Avery, or Upslope and these are the best-known. West Flanders is terrible though the location is nice. I have never had a beer from Left Hand or Oskar Blues that I would order a second time.
Crooked Stave (towards Denver) makes some good sour beer, though I have found that listening to Chad talk about his beer on the session is more enjoyable than actually drinking the stuff. Ft Collins is a bit of a drive but is home to some of the better breweries in the area - Odells, Funkwerks, and New Belgium. The tour at New Belgium is fantastic but gets booked up way in advance. My top picks for Colorado beer that you might not get out of state are:
1. Telluride Bridal Veil Rye Pale Ale
2. Odells St Lupulin
3. Odells Myrcenary
4. Maybe Upslope double IPA though it is insanely expensive
Just my .02. The locals seem to enjoy CO brews, and you may discover something great.