Our oldest son, Cameron, turned 21 years old in November. This was our first visit to Fort Collins, Colorado to visit him since he turned 21.
Cameron said that many years ago I promised to take him to Ireland when he turned 21 to sit at a local pub and he could share his first beer with me. I don’t remember that promise and his schedule with college was too busy to make that a reality so we decided to share our first beer together closer to home — at New Belgium Brewery in Fort Collins, Colorado.
New Belgium Brewery with Cameron
New Belgium Brewery
If you’ve ever drank a Fat Tire craft beer, you’ve had beer by New Belgium. New Belgium brewery was started in 1991 after founder Jeff Lebesch toured breweries in Belgium on his bicycle. The first beer they produced was named “Fat Tire”, after that Belgium trip.
New Belgium is now the 8th largest brewery in the USA and has almost 500 employees. They will soon be opening a brewery in Ashville, North Carolina.
New Belgium Brewery in Fort Collins, Colorado
New Belgium Brewery in Fort Collins, Colorado
If you are ever in Fort Collins, Colorado, you must take a tour of New Belgium. The tour lasts about an hour where you will learn the history of New Belgium, the process of creating beer, and you get to sample lots of beer along the way.
New Belgium Brewery in Fort Collins, Colorado
Getting a job at New Belgium is difficult because so many people want to work there. Our tour guide was talking about how his interview went. He first purchased several cases of Fat Tire beer and used it as the backdrop for his video interview.
New Belgium Brewery in Fort Collins, Colorado
New Belgium Brewery in Fort Collins, Colorado
New Belgium Brewery in Fort Collins, Colorado
New Belgium Brewery in Fort Collins, Colorado
The employees of New Belgium all own stock in the company and are encouraged to drive energy efficient automobiles. They have electric filling stations for electric cars.
Environmentally conscious
Once the tour was over, we were invited to slide down the New Belgium slide and of course we took part.
New Belgium Slide
Oskar Blues Brewery
A few days later, we went to a brewery in Longmont, Colorado that we had never been to. It was called Oskar Blues and the tasting room had a really cool hipsterish kinda vibe.
Oskar Blues Brewery was started in 1997 by Dale Katechis and are unique because they don’t bottle any beer. They only package cans and kegs.
You may have tried their Dale’s Pale Ale, it is a popular beer that was named “Best Pale Ale” by the New York Times in 2005. Dale Katechis first brewed Dale’s Pale Ale in his bathtub while a student at Auburn University.
Oskar Blues Brewery in Longmont, Colorado
We went with a couple of friends we met last year in Fort Collins and we are now starting to get to know them better. It was a great way to spend an afternoon.
Doug and Julie – our new Fort Collins buddies
There was a band playing and as you can see from the pictures, dogs are welcome and shoes are optional. My kind of bar.
Band from Maine
Pinner (a small joint) – it is Colorado!
Shoes optional
Cool funky vibe
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