Crawl
One of my brothers was in town this past weekend and we did a brewery crawl. It was in everyone’s best interest not to go hard, so we did one beer (ish) each at each stop. It ended up being about one beer per hour, which was less hard than we used to go! We also saw a Colorado Switchbacks game (the highlight!) and stopped in at the best Irish pub in town.
Brewery #1: Bristol Brewing
Near to my house, and thus a common stop. Pretty good beer.
Beers:
- Laughing Lab Scotch Ale; 8 out of 10. Great Scotch ale; no overpowering malt
flavor.
- Mass Transit Amber Ale, 7 out of 10.
Ricoh GRIII
Ricoh GRIII
Brewery #2: Urban Animal Brewing
Closed for private event! No bueno.
Brewery #3: Uprise Taproom / C.O.A.T.I.
Not technially a brewery but it was next to Urban Animal and it had beer so, whatever. We played a game of chess to a draw. (He went easy on me.)
Beers:
- Cream Ale, 2 out of 10. Like a bad Bud Light. We didn’t bother to write down
who made it.
- Lone Tree Vanilla Caramel Amber, 9 out of 10. Just a really great dark beer.
They didn’t overdo the flavors.
Ricoh GRIII
Ricoh GRIII
Brewery #4: Brass Brewing
This is basically a military bar. “Brass” refers to officers and there’s a bunch of military paraphernalia on the wall. It took 15 minutes, at the front of the line, to get drinks.
Beers:
- Blood Orange Belgian Ale, 7 out of 10. A 7% that doesn’t taste like a 7%. Kind
of like an amber.
- Dust Off White IPA, 7 out of 10. Slightly citrusy, pretty good.
Ricoh GRIII
Ricoh GRIII
Brewery #5: Phantom Canyon Brewing
At this point - mid afternoon - we got hungry. And oh man did Phantom Canyon deliver. I had a lemon tobasco fried chicken that was outstanding. The beer was pretty good as well.
Beers:
- German Festbier, 7 out of 10. Bready, light Oktoberfest style.
- Mountain Moo-nlight Milk Stout, 7 out of 10. Light caramel, roasty.
Ricoh GRIII
Ricoh GRIII
Ricoh GRIII
Brewery #6: Cerberus Brewing
This was probably the highlight of the day in terms of beer. We split a flight and ordered another pint of the brown ale, our collective favorite.
Beers:
- Van Amber, 9 out of 10.
- Elysium IPA, 7 out of 10. (Not to be confused with Elysian Brewing.)
- Johnny Martzen, 7 out of 10.
- CCN Stout, 8 out of 10.
- Colin’s Feral Wookie Brown, 10 out of 10. Probably the best brown ale either
of us has had. A truly excellent beer.
Ricoh GRIII
Ricoh GRIII
The Western Conference Final
At this point we made our way to Weidner Field - only about a mile from my house! - to watch the Colorado Switchbacks play the Las Vegas Lights in the USL Western Conference Final. We had seats but spent the whole game making a lap around the stadium instead. I shot probably 100 photos during the game; the GR III never skipped a beat, even after what was already a full day of shooting. (Also, the Switchbacks won.)
Ricoh GRIII
Ricoh GRIII
Ricoh GRIII
Ricoh GRIII
Ricoh GRIII
Ricoh GRIII
Ricoh GRIII
Ricoh GRIII
Ricoh GRIII
Ricoh GRIII
Ricoh GRIII
Ricoh GRIII
After the game we walked down to the main strip to Jack Quinn’s Irish Pub, my favorite bar in Colorado Springs. We spent the next two or three hours fixing the world’s problems by bitching about them over pints of Smithwick’s.
Ricoh GRIII
Ricoh GRIII
Ricoh GRIII
At some point we packed it in and walked home. And all was right in the world! We didn’t have a single drop of alcohol the next day. It was an excellent weekend all around.
Ricoh GRIII