American Indian Casinos in Colorado | Colorado.com
any casinos around grand junction colorado
any casinos around grand junction colorado - win
Colorado breweries we've visited in the rest of the state: 2020 update
One more roundup before we leave, alas. Regions are still super approximate. I updated some previous rankings as well. Tallies: 137 in the Denver metro; 66 in the rest of the Front Range; 33 in the rest of the state. We've visited a total of 236 breweries, cideries, and meaderies in Colorado.
The Rest of the Front Range
300 Suns (Longmont): This brewery served me both a smoked cherry sour (YES) and a red ale with a distinct barf aroma, so I'm really split here. Overall, I'm not excited.
Avery (Boulder): Say what you will about their distributed lineup, but their taproom has some of the cooler small-batch brews out there. We got to attend their invitational twice; it's one of the best beer fests around.
Berthoud Brewing (Berthoud): The better of two options in this tiny town. That's not saying much.
Black Bottle (Fort Collins): Big tap list with lots of variety, usually good, sometimes uneven. I once found a lichtenhainer on tap here. I may have squealed.
Black Forest (Black Forest): Surprisingly good brewery in a tiny forest town just outside the Springs. Better-than-expected beers, sizeable lineup, nice people.
Brues Alehouse (Pueblo): I guess they're the best thing I've found in Pueblo, but that's a backhanded compliment if ever I gave one.
Buckhorn (Loveland, RIP): A brewery the size of a small living room with 4-5 beers on tap. The brewer came and chatted with us for a while and seemed like a super nice guy. They made some really cool stuff, including a no-boil, no-hop lacto stout that blew my mind. They shut down not long after we went.
Cerberus (Colorado Springs): A highlight in the Springs with very good food, too.
City Star (Berthoud): Nice tap list on their website seems to be months old. Neither of us cared for their actual lineup much.
Cogstone (Colorado Springs): Friends told us to go to try their chips 'n' salsa beer, which, yes, does taste like chips 'n' salsa. We didn't love anything here.
DC Oakes (Fort Collins): Standard-issue brewpub with its own beer. Nothing to write home about.
Dostal Alley Casino & Brewpub (Central City): Central City is a gorgeous Old West mountain town where the soulless casinos now seem to outnumber any sort of non-sleazy business. Naturally, when we found a casino with a built-in brewpub boasting GABF medals for their dry stout, we went. Unsurprisingly, the place was sleazy and crappy, with a few phoning-it-in beers and slot machines built into the bar.
Dratz (Loveland): They were brand new when we visited, and very nice. The beer was... not good. Hope they work out their initial difficulties.
Echo Brewing (Frederick): Just three weeks after visiting, I remember nothing at all about this brewery, but my Untappd ratings of their handful of run-of-the-mill styles were low. Evidently I wasn't impressed.
Elevation (Poncha Springs): Does this still qualify as the Front Range? I flippin' adore Elevation, makers of the single best pilsner I've ever had. One of the very best middle-of-nowhere, small-town breweries I've been to.
Elizabeth Brewing (Elizabeth): Small-town brewery in conservative Douglas County. Pretty meh throughout.
Goat Patch (Colorado Springs): We finally visited when we were stuck in the Springs after a blizzard closed all roads back to Denver. Pretty good, not amazing brewery in what looks like a former high school converted to gentrified hipster mall space.
Gold Camp (Colorado Springs, apparently no website): We felt a bit guilty because we got to meet their fabulously nice brewer, but just didn't care for their beers. They seemed closer to homebrew quality at the moment.
Great Storm (Colorado Springs, RIP): Really nice with some unusual styles and creative ideas. Friendly people. Closed soon after our visit; now Atrevida Brewing.
Grimm Brothers (Loveland): Cool taproom, some really nice beers.
Grossen Bart (Longmont): I was kind of disappointed. A lot of beers seemed really off style or just unremarkable.
Gunbarrel (Boulder): Good IPAs and a nice rosemary beer.
High Hops (Windsor): Gorgeous patio with view of hop field and gardening center, with a small distillery attached. The beer isdecent, not remarkable.
Industrial Revolution (Erie): I wanted to like them, based on their shtick. I think we left all of our beers unfinished. Nope.
Intersect (Fort Collins): Unabashed hipster taproom with piles of old records. Nice folks. Beer generally good, nothing great.
Iron Bird (Colorado Springs): Nice, but largely unremarkable.
Jessup Farm Barrel House (Fort Collins): My surprise favorite find on our second CO vacation and one of the very best wild/sour breweries around.
Kettle & Spoke (Boulder): We kind of just wound up here because they're down the street from Redstone. We found a tiny taproom inside a bike shop with some of the best IPAs in recent memory, and a fantastically nice brewer who offered us an impromptu tour of the production space.
Left Hand (Longmont): They're exceptionally solid, and I wish they'd strut their stuff a little more. Their Juju series of ginger brews has a special place in my heart.
Local Relic (Colorado Springs): An experimental brewery in a gorgeous old church that prides itself on never making the same beer twice. They blew our minds the first time we went, and we were in their expensive-ass beer club for a while. Their "no repeats" philosophy unfortunately means that they frequently have several super similar batches on tap at once, a lot of their beers could really use a trial run, and they often bottle things before they're ready. After a few too many bottle bombs and undrinkable yeast shakes, we pretty much stopped going.
Locust Cider (Boulder): The standard cidery model where everything's inoffensive and the business model is "bring that friend who doesn't do gluten." I just don't care about this form of cider at this point, but they do it just as well as everyone else.
Loveland Aleworks (Loveland): We like Verboten more, but these guys are another fabulous Loveland spot.
McClellan's (Fort Collins): I don't care much for British styles, but we enjoyed the beer, food, and a great conversation with a member of the brewing family here.
Nano 108 (Colorado Springs): Tiny taproom that we really liked in 2015. We went back in 2018 and found some stellar options (their rauchbier omggggggg) and several brews with off-flavor issues. Come for the German styles here; I'm not crazy about their IPAs.
New Belgium (Fort Collins): Did the tour, visited the taproom. They seem like a good company that just embraces inoffensiveness a bit too hard. Then they sold out, and now I haven't bought anything from them in years.
The Old Mine (Erie): Good cidery in a gorgeous old brick building in a tiny town.
Open Door (Longmont): Had good lagers and saisons here. Super nice people in a chill spot.
Periodic (Leadville): At 11k+ feet, this must be the highest craft brewery we've visited. OK beer, spotty service.
Phantom Canyon (Colorado Springs): Great beer and service the first time we came, mediocre at best the second time, and only OK ever since. Food is pretty good.
Redstone (Boulder): Likely the biggest of the tiny handful of meaderies currently in CO. Their stuff trends sweeter than I like, but they have some cool varieties (sunflower mead = yes) and wonderful taproom staff.
Rocky Mountain (Colorado Springs): Long-running brewery on the outskirts of the Springs. Some sugary sours and hard lemonades that weren't up my alley, along with a very good barleywine. We chatted with the brewmaster for a while, who was a super nice guy.
Royal Gorge (Cañon City): The only brewery in town and one of few places to grab a bite. They only had one or two of their own beers, which were homebrew quality. Keep driving.
Shamrock (Pueblo): Like everything about Pueblo, this place was a total disappointment.
Soulcraft (Salida): Another pretty good small-town brewery a few miles from Elevation.
St. Vrain (Longmont): Really excellent cidery with multiple ginger ciders and great guest taps.
Timnath Beerwerks (Timnath): Extremely solid, nice people. They're also more or less down the street from the Swetsville Zoo, one of my favorite roadside attractions in the state.
Tommyknocker (Idaho Springs): Gimmicky and never better than all right. Two blocks from Westbound & Down, which is the indisputably better option.
Trinity (Colorado Springs): I've no idea how it took me several years to get to the only brett-focused brewery I've ever found. Huge, consistently good tap and bottle list, great food with good veg options, nice staff. My best brewery find in the Springs to date. They sold in 2020, and we haven't been back since.
Twisted Pine (Boulder): Solid with some interesting ideas, including a good basil beer.
Uhl (Boulder): They took over Wild Woods' space in 2020 and opened during the shutdown. They had a few promising weird options, including an unexpectedly lovely peanut butter beer.
Verboten (Loveland): Our absolute favorite in town. Creative, irreverent, and spot-on.
WeldWerks (Greeley): I fussed for so long about wanting to come here that it was inevitably kind of a letdown when we finally went. Their beers are good, make no mistake, but definitely not "drive an hour and a half to get it" good.
Westbound & Down (Idaho Springs): Another hypey place. The beer, food, and service were all good on our first visit but sorta uneven on subsequent trips.
Wild Cider (Longmont): Standard-issue, above-average cider. Lovely outdoor seating with a gorgeous mountain view.
Wild Woods (Boulder, RIP): We stumbled in during their anniversary party and loved them. Their smoked yam beer rocked my world. They sadly closed in 2019.
Wiley Roots (Greeley): ... and now I'm going to contradict the above statement re: WeldWerks directly. Wiley Roots, just around the corner from the above, is worth that drive. Their wild ales are lovely, and while their adjunct stouts can be hit and miss, they're immensely solid overall. Massive pluses include an unusually nice taproom crew, a fluffy brew cat with her own Instagram account (@midnightbrewcat), and the lovely Syntax Distillery next door.
Zwei (Fort Collins): Kicks the crap out of Denver's Prost as far as I'm concerned. Good beer, great people.
The Rest of Colorado (South, West, Central)
Current category tally: 33
Angry James (Silverthorne): Pretty much anywhere I go on the way home from the stellar Outer Range isn't really going to get my heart rate up, but we enjoyed our stop here.
BierWerks (Woodland Park): Most of their taps were other people's beers, and the couple of in-house brews we managed to try ranged from so-so to not good. Oh, and they have a Nazi map on the wall for some damn reason!? Ute Pass across the street is an all-around better option.
Breckenridge (Breckenridge): Macro brewery in the "guess you have to go once" category. The beer was exceedingly mediocre, food was so-so.
BREW Pub & Kitchen (Durango): My favorite in Durango tbh. Oh, and their food is good, too.
Broken Compass (Breckenridge): Solid.
Carver (Durango): Nice people, good brunch. Their beer won't blow your mind, but it's usually solid.
Casey Brewing and Blending (Glenwood Springs): We bought tour tickets and made a weekend trip out just to go to Casey. My affection for sours is on a steep downward slope, but Casey is stellar, and the tour was delightful and totally worth doing.
Colorado Vineyards/Rocky Mountain Winery (Palisade): Including them here because they make a lot of mead, which I like, but don't love.
Eddyline (Buena Vista): Middlin', IPA-focused place in the horrifically named Byoona Vista.
Glenwood Canyon (Glenwood Springs): One of those breweries that only seem to stay in business because they have a central spot in a tourist town. Nothing interesting here.
Guanella Pass (Georgetown): Most of the beers we tried were yeasty af. No love from me.
High Alpine (Gunnison): We stopped here after a trip to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, out of our minds with natural beauty. The beer was, unsurprisingly, nothing to write home about, but the food was outstanding and the staff was delightful.
Highside (Frisco): It's hard to look good when you share a ZIP code with Outer Range. Run-of-the-mill small-town brewery with food, nothing to write home about.
Mad Jack's Mountain Brewing (Bailey): We pulled off 285 here one afternoon to get out of the rain. Small tap list and tiny tap room, but pretty good beer and a killer food truck out back.
Main Street (Cortez): Another small-town brewery with not much going.
Meadery of the Rockies (Palisade): The better Palisade meadery. Again, they like their mead sweeter and gloopier than I do, but it's lovely in small quantities.
Mr. Grumpy Pants/Ourayle House (Ouray): I like the guy and his shtick a bit more than the beer, but it's definitely the better brewery in town.
Ouray Brewery (Ouray): The douchey tourist trap option in beautiful Ouray.
Outer Range (Frisco): The hype is real. ORB makes hands down the best NEIPAs I've ever had, and a stunning range of them. "Downside:" NEIPAs are basically all they do. They have a couple of Belgians, but if you're not into hazy IPAs, this place really isn't for you.
Palisade Brewing (Palisade): Solid, unexciting.
Paradox (Divide): One of the best sour-focused breweries around. They may have the most stunning mountain view of any brewery I've been in this state, and that's saying a lot.
Riff Raff (Pagosa Springs): One of those breweries where they put your pint down in front of you, you take one sip, and you're ready to head out.
San Luis Valley (Alamosa): We stopped here on our way back from my birthday trip in 2019, which coincided with a blizzard that shut down the entire Denver metro. Their beer and food were forgettable, but the fact that I was worried sick about getting home to our pets (we didn't until 24 hours later) the whole time we were there didn't help matters.
South Park (Fairplay): We stopped here to escape a crazy cloudburst. Beer was OK, food was OK, neither was anything I really need again.
Steamworks (Durango): Ranges from really good to barely decent. Decent food.
Telluride Brewing (you guessed it - Telluride): Quite good brewery with nice people in one of the more picturesque mountain towns out there.
Three Barrel (Del Norte): Ah, Colorado. Where else do towns of 1,700 in the middle of nowhere have breweries with sahtis and sours on the menu?
Two Rascals (Montrose): Unremarkable.
Ute Pass (Woodland Park, RIP): This brewery had four different wits on tap, including two black wits.
Vino Salida (Salida): Yes, tiny Salida and Poncha Springs have two good breweries, a distillery, and a meadery. Dayum.
Wolfe (Pagosa Springs): Pleasant small-town brewery.
In 1988, Jessica Arredondo was abducted and murdered in the Denver area. Is a convicted killer responsible for her death?
In November 1988, Jessica Arrendondo, 21, was an operator at the U.S. West phone company. She had graduated from Abraham Lincoln High School a couple of years ago, where she played soccer, served on the student senate, and captained the school’s cheerleading squad. Perhaps it’s because it was the 1980s and Jessica loved dancing, but her pictures bring to mind the actress Jennifer Beals of Flashdance fame. At the time of her murder, Jessica was living at home with her parents and her beloved dog Frosty. She also loved her new car, an eye-catching red 1988 Mustang convertible. According to her family, she had saved money for months and months, and the car was her pride and joy. She kept it in immaculate condition, and the car had a personalized license plate that read “88 PONY.” Friday, November 25, 1988, was the day after Thanksgiving. Jessica and her boyfriend hopped in her car and headed towards Glendale, Colorado, a municipality in the southern part of metropolitan Denver. On the way, they had a minor disagreement. She dropped him off at Neil’s, a bar in Glendale, and drove away. It was the last time he would see her. At 11:25 PM, Jessica’s Mustang was found abandoned with its blinkers on at E. 7th and Jackson Street, a few blocks from Neil’s. When police inspected the scene, they noticed there was damage to the exterior of the car as if a minor accident had occurred. Witnesses reported that Jessica had been kidnapped from the site by multiple men, and at least one article mentions that two cars were involved. Police suspected that someone had crashed into her car intentionally as a ruse to get her to pull over and then abducted her. On Saturday afternoon, two passersby were playing in the snow along U.S. 36 in Larrimer County and found a nude body about 50 feet from the road. This area is north of Denver, close to Rocky Mountain National Park, and approximately a 1.5 hour drive from where Jessica’s car was abandoned. The autopsy later revealed Jessica had died from blunt force trauma to the head. Although one article in the Denver Post stated there were no signs of sexual assault, a later article in the Fort Collins Coloradoan clarified that investigators believe she was sexually assaulted, although there is no forensic evidence proving so. Some reports state that the trauma to Jessica’s body may have been from her jumping from a moving vehicle, but this is merely speculation. Jessica’s clothes were recovered scattered along the highway near where her body was found. At the scene, law enforcement found tire tracks indicating someone had backed up a vehicle and dumped Jessica’s body down an embankment. The other notable clue was not one, but two sets of footprints in the snow near the body, consistent with witnesses’ assertions that there were multiple men at the scene of her abduction. Despite composite sketches of two of the men seen at the accident scene, law enforcement never named any suspects. Jessica’s case soon went cold. Another Murder, Five Years Later On February 12, 1994, Rhonda Maloney, 25, finished her shift as a waitress at Harrah’s Casino in Central City and headed towards her home in Adams County. Robert Eliot Harlan, 29, pulled his car alongside hers and ran her off the road near the intersection of I-76 and I-25. Once she had stopped the car, Harlan threatened Maloney with a gun. He dragged her from the car and proceeded to rape her repeatedly. Mother of three Jaquie Creazzo was on her way to pick up her father around 5:45 AM. The sun had not yet risen, but in the darkness she noticed the two cars haphazardly on the side of the ramp to northbound I-25, one with blinkers on. She slowed down and caught a glimpse of a blonde woman fleeing one of the cars; the terrified expression on her face made Creazzo come to a complete stop. Maloney ran to Creazzo’s car and jumped in, telling her she’d been run off the road and then raped for hours by a man with a gun. Creazzo immediately headed toward the local police station. Harlan had not given up; he was in hot pursuit, and a dangerous chase ensued on the icy road. Harlan pulled alongside Creazzo’s Cadillac and fired several rounds into the driver’s side, hitting Creazzo in her face, knee, and spine. She tried to steer but she lost control, crossed the median, and came to a stop on the lawn of her destination, the Thornton Police station. Behind the wheel, Creazzo was still conscious but covered in blood, unable to move and spitting out teeth. Harlan appeared, telling Creazzo not to tell anyone about Maloney, saying he would find her and kill her if she did. She watched helplessly as Harlan pulled Maloney from the passenger’s seat and sped off. Creazzo would later tell the Los Angeles Times, “Being paralyzed is a small price to pay to get this person, actually if you want to call him a person, off the street.” Creazzo provided police with a description of the perpetrator and the car, helping to generate leads. In the meantime, Darryl Harlan, Robert’s brother, had seen reports about Maloney’s murder on the news and he made a horrific realization. Robert had shown up at Darryl’s house at 8 AM the morning of the murder, wearing bloody sweatpants. Darryl asked Robert if he had vomited on himself. That morning, Robert left his bloody clothes and an unloaded gun at his brother’s house. On February 15th, Darryl approached their father, a Denver police detective, and shared his suspicions. Detective Belt Harlan Jr. bagged the items his son Robert had left at his son Darryl’s house. According to Darryl, the two of them then broke down and cried at the realization of what Robert may have done. Detective Harlan then took the bagged items directly to Denver Police Chief David Michaud, and Robert Harlan was arrested that day. Harlan was in custody, but Maloney was still missing and Harlan provided the cops with no new information. Maloney’s purse was recovered by the side of a road. A local Aurora man who saw a news report about the recovered purse and the ongoing search believed the cops were searching in the wrong place. A San Francisco Examiner article entitled, “Amateur sleuth locates body in record time,” describes how Loyal Burner mapped out the area and initiated his own search. Although police had been searching for a week, Burner found Rhonda Maloney’s nude body in 1 ½ hours near the town of Watkins, east of Denver. Maloney’s autopsy revealed she had been severely beaten, with several fractures to her skull, and had injuries consistent with sexual assault. Cause of death was determined to be a gunshot to the head. The Suspect Given the similarities in M.O., law enforcement in Larimer County named Harlan a suspect in Jessica Arredondo’s abduction and murder. At first glance, Robert Harlan may have seemed like an unlikely perpetrator. He had stable employment. He was the son of a Denver police detective and seemed to have solid family ties. Indeed, both his brother and his father testified in his defense during the sentencing phase of his trial. But even a brief look into Harlan’s past revealed a history of harassment and violence against women. The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel reported that Harlan was on parole and in a sex offender program at the time of the murder. Although I could not determine what precipitated this sentence, a separate article mentioned he had been arrested for using a stun gun on his then-wife. The month before he killed Rhonda Maloney, a psychologist who had been treating Harlan for a year wrote letters to Harlan’s probation officer and a judge, recommending that he be supervised more closely because he was a danger to the community. Harlan had a parole revocation hearing scheduled two days after Maloney was killed. A second rather damning fact was that Harlan was working as an operator at U.S. West, where Jessica Arredondo had worked. In fact, he had been in that position for eight years and had worked alongside Jessica. Harlan’s history at work soon grabbed headlines, as the Maloney trial galvanized 39 women who had worked at U.S. West to hire a lawyer and seek a $22 million settlement. They claimed Harlan made lewd comments, touched them inappropriately, and harassed them, creating a hostile and un unsafe work environment. At one point, he brought a gun to work. He stalked one of his co-workers, and she obtained a restraining order against him. The women claimed their fear of Harlan escalated after Arredondo’s disappearance, yet U.S. West never took action against Harlan. The Only Suspect? Larimer County Sheriff’s Department investigator John Toppenberg was quoted in the news during the Maloney trial. The judge excluded any evidence about the Arrendondo murder during the Maloney trial. Regarding Harlan, Toppenberg claimed “He is our only suspect. He is our prime suspect. It is our view that he killed Jessica Arrendondo.” To this day, no other suspects have been named. If you recall, however, there were two sets of footprints where Jessica’s body was found. Another article also states that not one, but two cars were observed driving her off the road the night she went missing, and that police believed three men were involved; two composite sketches were released to the press. Harlan may be the only suspect they have identified, but it seems he is not the only suspect involved. Harlan’s Fate On June 20, 1995, Harlan was found guilty of Maloney’s kidnapping, rape, and murder, as well as the attempted murder of Jaquie Creazzo. In September, he was sentenced to death by lethal injection. At the time Harlan was sentenced, no one had been executed in Colorado since 1967, and only a couple of men were on death row. Gary Lee Davis was executed in 1997, however, and for crimes similar to Harlan’s: the kidnapping, rape, and murder of Virginia Ray. Given the governor had refused to grant Davis clemency, this likely raised Harlan’s fear that he too may be put to death. He appealed his convictions and the sentence, filing several briefs about voir dire, the suitability of various jurors, whether or not a change of venue was warranted, instructions given to jurors, and other typical appeals that were all denied. In 2003, Harlan again appealed his death sentence. This time, the filing had teeth. Jurors had brought Bibles into the jury room while deliberating his sentence in 1995, considering passages such as the oft-quoted “eye for an eye” during the discussion. It is against state law for jurors to consider outside materials irrelevant to the case during deliberation. (Further, it seems wildly inappropriate and unconstitutional to weigh a particular religion’s belief in such a determination.) In a 3-2 decision, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled this was a violation of Harlan’s rights. Because this happened during the sentencing phase, not the guilt phase, his conviction was upheld but his sentence was overturned. The U.S. Supreme Court later refused to reinstate the death sentence for Harlan. Other victims? One article noted that there are over 35 unsolved homicides of young women in the Denver area in between 1975 and 1995, a period which would have included Harlan’s viable killing years. There are several young women who were murdered and found nude by roadsides preceding and following Arredondo’s death. Because both Arrendondo’s and Maloney’s deaths do not adhere to a clear pattern—the first seemingly a gang rape and murder, the second interrupted by Jacquie Creazzo’s heroic act—I think it is difficult to assign a complete MO to Harlan or to know how he would have behaved without the interference of others. I assume Harlan’s DNA is in CODIS, but it is unclear whether DNA from these various cold cases (or Jessica's, for that matter) has been processed. Do you think Harlan was involved in the killing of Jessica Arredondo? A very long shot, but do you know of any perpetrators in the Denver area at the time that could have been involved in Jessica's disappearance (either ties to Harlan or similar MO)? Do you think Harlan is a serial killer? Are there other cases you think Harlan is a good match for? If you have any information on abduction and murder of Jessica Arredondo, please contact the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office at Larimer County Sheriff's Department at 1 (970) 498-5100. Sources https://apps.colorado.gov/apps/coldcase/casedetail.html?id=1425 http://blogs.denverpost.com/coldcases/2010/07/25/killers-rammed-car-kidnapped-young-woman-and-tossed-body/1637/3/ https://www.pomc.com/mw_stories_1-19/jessica_arredondo.html https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-11-20-mn-64850-story.html https://www.denverpost.com/2005/12/19/killer-harlan-gets-life-without-parole/ https://caselaw.findlaw.com/co-supreme-court/1026772.html Newspaper sources (sorry, no links) “Suspect has history of sex offenses,” Daily Sentinel. February 18, 1994 “Amateur sleuth locates body in record time,” San Francisco Examiner. February 21, 1994 “Kidnap-murder link strong,” Daily Sentinel. February 22, 1994 “Results of autopsy on slain waitress won’t be given until suspect’s hearing,” Daily Sentinel. February 23, 1994 “Harlan suspected in ’88 slaying,” Fort Collins Coloradoan. June 24, 1995. “Murderer’s policeman father expected to be final witness,” Daily Sentinel. June 28, 1995 “Harlan sentenced to death in murder,” Fort Collins Coloradoan. July 2, 1995 “Killer’s former co-workers plan suit,” Daily Sentinel. July 6, 1995 EDIT: Changed spelling of Jaquie Creazzo's name. Although it also appears as "Jacquie" in several places, I switched to the spelling in the legal document.
Hi everyone, I posted a few weeks back about starting to write a series about my adventures on the road - to inspire! I just finished the first section of my first story. This part takes place from 1 sunset to the next - adventures of 1 day on the road. This is part of a longer segment about a road trip to Coachella.... I hope you enjoy: ps. any feedback greatly appreciated It’s 4:45pm on a cold April evening in Boston, I’m counting the minutes and seconds 'till I can dart out of my office and head to the airport. I have my carry on bag and backpack with me at my desk, and my mind is far from work. My father, who happened to be in the city for meetings, is waiting outside to take me to the airport. The clock strikes 5 and I am gone before the big hand ticks again. I smoke a quick spliff on the sidewalk around the corner and then hop in my father’s car - I’m officially on vacation. He drops me off, we say our goodbyes, and I arrive at the airport with enough time to have 2 beers before my flight. As I sit in my window seat waiting for takeoff, I slowly watch the sunset over the Boston skyline, only imagining what the next couple of sun sets will look like from the west. I couldn’t imagine everything I would see before the next time the sun set. The plane took off at 8pm. I’m usually the type of person to stare out the window for the entire plane ride, so much so that I usually leave the plane with a sore neck - but for this flight I knew I should sleep so I could be energized for what lay ahead. I managed to sleep for about 2 hours on the plane. I woke up to the captain calling for the final descent into Denver. We touched down in Denver in the midst of a late spring snow storm, 10:30pm local time. Syd was already at the Terminal West pickup zone waiting for me with his bags packed. We make a couple of quick stops to prep for the road (munchies and what-not) and off we went - headed West. The clock strikes Midnight as we get on the highway - it’s now officially 4/20 in Colorado, I’m overwhelmed with joy, excitement, and weed smoke. Syd took the initiative and picked up an ounce for our trip - each gram was in its own bag which was odd at the time but came in handy later on in the trip. Just a few hours ago, I was in my cubicle - now I’m in Denver on 4/20, every adolescents dream. This was just the very beginning. Exiting Denver heading West, I started to notice the drastic change in landscape. Denver sits at the very edge of the plains that spread across middle America from Pennsylvania to literally Denver. East of Denver is plains, farmland, and corn for 1,500 miles. Each farm and cornfield a spitting image of the previous one. West of Denver is the most beautiful, drastic, diverse scenery all the way to the Pacific Ocean. You have what seems like unlimited options to choose from once passing through the rockies - head southwest for desert, head norwest for ancient forests and god’s country, head directly west for a mix of both and everything in between. This trip we were going southwest. We zoomed into the rockies with snow getting heavier by the minute. I started to get nervous but remembered how I was here back in February with the same road conditions and the same fright. I then remembered how well Syd could handle these roads, so I chilled out. We passed by Loveland, Arapahoe Basin, and Keystone ski resorts, and I started to reflect about my 2 weeks of snowboarding here only 2 months prior in February. I thought about how I would love to snowboard here again one day. Little did I know, I would be working for Keystone the following Winter (more on that later). With Keystone in our rear view, we quickly approached Breckenridge, then Copper, then Vail, and then Beaver Creek. Coming from the East Coast it was hard to believe that all of these world class resorts were all within 45 minutes of each other. You can drive 10 minutes in any direction in Summit County, Colorado and arrive at a world class resort. Once we passed Beaver Creek the snow started to subside and you could see dirt and grass start to be evermore present. A relief from the harsh storm. I was now more relaxed and slept for an hour or 2. I woke up to see an array of lights in the near distance, a massive city- like region as far as the eyes could see. We were approaching Grand Junction, CO, a city declared in the late 1800s as a “grand” junction of the mighty Colorado River and it’s largest tributary, the Gunnison River. Grand Junction is Colorado’s wine country and the closest civilization to Grand Mesa, the world's largest flat-topped mountain which covers hundreds of miles. I was in awe as it seemed to go on forever. We passed through Grand Junction and immediately crossed over into Utah around 4AM, and I took the wheel. One thing that strikes me about these Western states is you can actually see and feel yourself crossing into another state without there being any formal notice or signs. The way the land drastically changes is amazing. As soon as we entered Utah everything around us started getting more colorful. The brown dirt changed to red clay, the tan grass of Western Colorado quickly changed to green cactuses (or cacti?). The snowy mountains changed to rainbow-colored hills and otherworldly rock formations. I felt like I had just left planet earth and landed on Mars. “This is the coolest place ever” I said to Syd. I continued on in admiration for about an hour, then I could see the very first sign of the sun rising in my rearview mirror. What I thought was beautiful before instantly appeared way more spectacular. I was in awe, trying to soak everything there was to see. I’m lucky that I didn’t drift off the road during these gazes, but luckily the Utah highway was straight and flat, with no other cars at this hour. Each and every minute grew more beautiful as the sun rose higher and higher in my mirrors. It seemed as if the sun was chasing us from the east as we bolted west at a steady 80mph. Once the sun was about halfway up the horizon behind us everything started to brighten up from the darkness of the night. I pulled over at a rest stop to climb a hill and watch the sunrise over the utah desert. I found a boulder at the top of the hill perched over a valley, and watched the sun slowly illuminate hundreds of miles of desert. I will never forget it. Now that it was bright as day, I hopped back into the driver’s seat and continued on. Syd woke up from a snooze; I tried to describe what I had just witnessed but no words could do justice. From there on, I pulled over at every scenic viewpoint that we came across, which seemed like every 10 minutes. They each got better and better the further into Utah we ventured. Sand Bench, Ivie Creek, Devil’s Canyon, Ghost Rock, Spotted Wolf, San Rafael Reef, Black Dragon Canyon, and Crescent Junction to name a few. We probably lost an hour off of our ETA for these stops, but to me they were priceless, and I didn’t care the least. By this time it was around 8am and the temperature had now reached a comfortable 70 degrees. From here the windows would be down for the rest of the trip. After about 8 hours of cruising I-70 from the snowy Rocky Mountains through the Utah desert, we passed through Fishlake National Forest in Salina, UT and pulled onto interstate 15 to start heading South. The desert had now transformed into an oasis with green grasses growing, wildflowers budding, trees waving in the gentle wind, and chirping birds greeting the morning. It was like entering a whole different environment yet there was still snow capped mountains in the near distance. I could smell the beautiful scent of the valley and everything it had to offer. I thought to myself how bad the streets of Boston stunk where my office was located, and how amazing this often overlooked section of the country had been so far. Syd was well rested at this point so we pulled over, took our shoes off to walk around the soft warm grass, had a quick beer while soaking in the morning, and hopped back on the road - Syd driving now. We only drove for about 10 minutes until we saw Our next stop was Zion National Park. We approached Zion National Park from the north, so we were able to get in without paying the national park dues. As we approached Zion, I was convinced that I had already seen the beauty of Utah, and that Zion National Park was going to look like the beautiful valley that we were in during our approach. I was wrong. We traversed the winding road that leads into the northwestern park of the park and then she revealed herself. The sheer beauty of this valley is almost indescribable, and only the finest poets could barely do justice. All of a sudden we were hundreds of feet above this majestic garden of eden. Both Syd and I had to pick our jaws up from the car floor, and still remained speechless after that. We pulled the car over and sat there in awe and tried to absorb all the beauty that was in front of us. It reminded me of the old childs movie “The Land Before Time”. I imagined pterodactyls soaring above the cliffs, gazing over all sorts of other dinosaurs that roamed the valley floor. There were emerald rivers below me and massive cliff walls surrounding me with trees and plants growing everywhere. Every color on the spectrum could be seen in this little speck nature. I pictured the natives who used to call this place home and how it must have felt to discover this desert oasis. I felt one with nature here. Syd and I must have spent an hour sitting here and admiring this beauty. We had to get going so I took one last gaze, and went back in the car. I told myself I would come back here to really explore the place. I sure did, but that adventure comes in a later story. We left Zion and had Las Vegas in our sights. Zion is only about 2 hours away from Las Vegas, so we planned on that being our next stop/point of interest. Right around this time, about 10AM, we realized that we had left Denver about 10 hours ago and needed some food. We decided we would wait until Vegas, but then all of a sudden a mirage appeared in the desert. “That is a mirage, right Syd?”. “It must be”. I got overwhelmed with excitement as my mouth started watering, the mirage got closer. “That mirage looks pretty real” “But it can’t be...we’re in Utah”. Yup, it was real. I rubbed my eyes to be sure. We pulled up to the Washington, UT exit signs and there was a billboard that read “In-N-Out 1 mile”. I hadn’t been that happy in a while. We checked what time they opened: 10:30 AM, we checked our clock: 10:20 AM. It was a miracle. We smoked a joint and walked in as they were taking down the “closed” sign. Now here is where I had another “holy shit it’s a small world” moment. Throughout my life I had always had these weird coincidences where I see someone I know while on vacation or somewhere hundreds/thousands of miles away. From seeing a college friend at a resort in Puerto Rico, to sitting next to my hometown buddy on a plane from the DR, to sitting across the table from a classmate in the Bahamas. As I was munching my burger, in the middle of Southerwestern Utah, two people from my highschool walked in. An older couple that was I think 3 years above me. Now we didn’t know each other well enough, so we didn’t speak but we all looked at each other with the “WTF?” eyes, and continued to pretend not to know each other, even though we both knew our stories started in a small coastal town in MA. “What a small world” I thought as I finished my burger (animal style, of course). We hopped back in the car and in a flash we were in Las Vegas. I was very excited to finally see Las Vegas. I was reminiscing of all the crazy stories ive heard and movies ive seen, portraying this to be the place of no rules where everyone leaves with a crazy story that they can’t tell their mother (I do have a crazy vegas story, but thats from a different road trip). Well, not at 1:00pm I guess. We drove up and down the strip feeling like movie stars with our arms and feet hanging out the window, trying to show off my fake Y-3 shoes (SMH). Vegas is a whole nother world during the day, and there is not much to be excited about. We parked the car at Caesars Palace and roamed around the casino, only to find desperate slot-goers at this hour. It was kind of depressing. After an hour of roaming the strip and fantasizing in the Louis Vuitton and Gucci stores, we decided it was time to leave Vegas. The next time I was in Vegas turned out to be a lot more...fear and loathing-ish, we’ll get to that later. After Vegas we were ready to get to California. We decided we would only stop for gas from this point on, and set our sites on San Diego. The goal was to race there fast enough to watch the sunset over the Pacific Ocean before heading to Coachella the following day. My cousin lived in San Diego at the time and welcomed us to stay the night at his house before the festival. We drove and drove racing the sun which was starting to gain on us. We crossed into California and kept driving until we hit San Bernardino and came to a complete stop. There was traffic for as far as the eyes could see. “Are you kidding me? LA traffic all the way out here” while it might not have specifically been LA traffic, there was certainly bumper-to-bumper traffic all the way to LA. “wow, people aren’t joking about LA traffic” we laughed. Luckily after only a couple miles we pulled off the exit to head south to San Diego and were back cruising along. In what seemed like a close race against time, we pulled into Pacific Beach, San Diego right as the sun was reaching the point where it really starts to turn the color of the sky to a pinkish-peach color. It was so beautiful. We paced onto the boardwalk and got a perfect spot to watch the sun set over the surfers trying to catch their last waves before darkness. We stayed and watched in awe until there was no sun left to watch. As we were exiting the boardwalk we were overwhelmed with delicious smells of local vendors preparing food for the night crowd. It felt as if we entered a food truck convention, and thousands of people now fluttered in to get a taste of the local cuisine. We walked around aimlessly smelling and tasting all they had to offer. I had a couple beef and pork tacos and a churro; Syd had a freshly caught fish taco. From there we soaked everything in, breathed a sigh of relief for we had made it and reflected on what an incredible day we just had. From there we went to my cousins loft and relaxed with him, only to begin a new adventure tomorrow.
Hi everyone, I posted a few weeks back about starting to write a series about my adventures on the road - to inspire! I just finished the first section of my first story. This part takes place from 1 sunset to the next - adventures of 1 day on the road. This is part of a longer segment about a road trip to Coachella.... I hope you enjoy: ps. any feedback greatly appreciated edit: I misspelled the title :/ It’s 4:45pm on a cold April evening in Boston, I’m counting the minutes and seconds 'till I can dart out of my office and head to the airport. I have my carry on bag and backpack with me at my desk, and my mind is far from work. My father, who happened to be in the city for meetings, is waiting outside to take me to the airport. The clock strikes 5 and I am gone before the big hand ticks again. I smoke a quick spliff on the sidewalk around the corner and then hop in my father’s car - I’m officially on vacation. He drops me off, we say our goodbyes, and I arrive at the airport with enough time to have 2 beers before my flight. As I sit in my window seat waiting for takeoff, I slowly watch the sunset over the Boston skyline, only imagining what the next couple of sun sets will look like from the west. I couldn’t imagine everything I would see before the next time the sun set. The plane took off at 8pm. I’m usually the type of person to stare out the window for the entire plane ride, so much so that I usually leave the plane with a sore neck - but for this flight I knew I should sleep so I could be energized for what lay ahead. I managed to sleep for about 2 hours on the plane. I woke up to the captain calling for the final descent into Denver. We touched down in Denver in the midst of a late spring snow storm, 10:30pm local time. Syd was already at the Terminal West pickup zone waiting for me with his bags packed. We make a couple of quick stops to prep for the road (munchies and what-not) and off we went - headed West. The clock strikes Midnight as we get on the highway - it’s now officially 4/20 in Colorado, I’m overwhelmed with joy, excitement, and weed smoke. Syd took the initiative and picked up an ounce for our trip - each gram was in its own bag which was odd at the time but came in handy later on in the trip. Just a few hours ago, I was in my cubicle - now I’m in Denver on 4/20, every adolescents dream. This was just the very beginning. Exiting Denver heading West, I started to notice the drastic change in landscape. Denver sits at the very edge of the plains that spread across middle America from Pennsylvania to literally Denver. East of Denver is plains, farmland, and corn for 1,500 miles. Each farm and cornfield a spitting image of the previous one. West of Denver is the most beautiful, drastic, diverse scenery all the way to the Pacific Ocean. You have what seems like unlimited options to choose from once passing through the rockies - head southwest for desert, head northwest for ancient forests and god’s country, head directly west for a mix of both and everything in between. This trip we were going southwest. We zoomed into the rockies with snow getting heavier by the minute. I started to get nervous but remembered how I was here back in February with the same road conditions and the same fright. I then remembered how well Syd could handle these roads, so I chilled out. We passed by Loveland, Arapahoe Basin, and Keystone ski resorts, and I started to reflect about my 2 weeks of snowboarding here only 2 months prior in February. I thought about how I would love to snowboard here again one day. Little did I know, I would be working for Keystone the following Winter (more on that later). With Keystone in our rear view, we quickly approached Breckenridge, then Copper, then Vail, and then Beaver Creek. Coming from the East Coast it was hard to believe that all of these world class resorts were all within 45 minutes of each other. You can drive 10 minutes in any direction in Summit County, Colorado and arrive at a world class resort. Once we passed Beaver Creek the snow started to subside and you could see dirt and grass start to be evermore present. A relief from the harsh storm. I was now more relaxed and slept for an hour or 2. I woke up to see an array of lights in the near distance, a massive city- like region as far as the eyes could see. We were approaching Grand Junction, CO, a city declared in the late 1800s as a “grand” junction of the mighty Colorado River and it’s largest tributary, the Gunnison River. Grand Junction is Colorado’s wine country and the closest civilization to Grand Mesa, the world's largest flat-topped mountain which covers hundreds of miles. I was in awe as it seemed to go on forever. We passed through Grand Junction and immediately crossed over into Utah around 4AM, and I took the wheel. One thing that strikes me about these Western states is you can actually see and feel yourself crossing into another state without there being any formal notice or signs. The way the land drastically changes is amazing. As soon as we entered Utah everything around us started getting more colorful. The brown dirt changed to red clay, the tan grass of Western Colorado quickly changed to green cactuses (or cacti?). The snowy mountains changed to rainbow-colored hills and otherworldly rock formations. I felt like I had just left planet earth and landed on Mars. “This is the coolest place ever” I said to Syd. I continued on in admiration for about an hour, then I could see the very first sign of the sun rising in my rearview mirror. What I thought was beautiful before instantly appeared way more spectacular. I was in awe, trying to soak everything there was to see. I’m lucky that I didn’t drift off the road during these gazes, but luckily the Utah highway was straight and flat, with no other cars at this hour. Each and every minute grew more beautiful as the sun rose higher and higher in my mirrors. It seemed as if the sun was chasing us from the east as we bolted west at a steady 80mph. Once the sun was about halfway up the horizon behind us everything started to brighten up from the darkness of the night. I pulled over at a rest stop to climb a hill and watch the sunrise over the utah desert. I found a boulder at the top of the hill perched over a valley, and watched the sun slowly illuminate hundreds of miles of desert. I will never forget it. Now that it was bright as day, I hopped back into the driver’s seat and continued on. Syd woke up from a snooze; I tried to describe what I had just witnessed but no words could do justice. From there on, I pulled over at every scenic viewpoint that we came across, which seemed like every 10 minutes. They each got better and better the further into Utah we ventured. Sand Bench, Ivie Creek, Devil’s Canyon, Ghost Rock, Spotted Wolf, San Rafael Reef, Black Dragon Canyon, and Crescent Junction to name a few. We probably lost an hour off of our ETA for these stops, but to me they were priceless, and I didn’t care the least. By this time it was around 8am and the temperature had now reached a comfortable 70 degrees. From here the windows would be down for the rest of the trip. After about 8 hours of cruising I-70 from the snowy Rocky Mountains through the Utah desert, we passed through Fishlake National Forest in Salina, UT and pulled onto interstate 15 to start heading South. The desert had now transformed into an oasis with green grasses growing, wildflowers budding, trees waving in the gentle wind, and chirping birds greeting the morning. It was like entering a whole different environment yet there was still snow capped mountains in the near distance. I could smell the beautiful scent of the valley and everything it had to offer. I thought to myself how bad the streets of Boston stunk where my office was located, and how amazing this often overlooked section of the country had been so far. Syd was well rested at this point so we pulled over, took our shoes off to walk around the soft warm grass, had a quick beer while soaking in the morning, and hopped back on the road - Syd driving now. We only drove for about 10 minutes until we saw Our next stop was Zion National Park. We approached Zion National Park from the north, so we were able to get in without paying the national park dues. As we approached Zion, I was convinced that I had already seen the beauty of Utah, and that Zion National Park was going to look like the beautiful valley that we were in during our approach. I was wrong. We traversed the winding road that leads into the northwestern park of the park and then she revealed herself. The sheer beauty of this valley is almost indescribable, and only the finest poets could barely do justice. All of a sudden we were hundreds of feet above this majestic garden of eden. Both Syd and I had to pick our jaws up from the car floor, and still remained speechless after that. We pulled the car over and sat there in awe and tried to absorb all the beauty that was in front of us. It reminded me of the old childs movie “The Land Before Time”. I imagined pterodactyls soaring above the cliffs, gazing over all sorts of other dinosaurs that roamed the valley floor. There were emerald rivers below me and massive cliff walls surrounding me with trees and plants growing everywhere. Every color on the spectrum could be seen in this little speck nature. I pictured the natives who used to call this place home and how it must have felt to discover this desert oasis. I felt one with nature here. Syd and I must have spent an hour sitting here and admiring this beauty. We had to get going so I took one last gaze, and went back in the car. I told myself I would come back here to really explore the place. I sure did, but that adventure comes in a later story. We left Zion and had Las Vegas in our sights. Zion is only about 2 hours away from Las Vegas, so we planned on that being our next stop/point of interest. Right around this time, about 10AM, we realized that we had left Denver about 10 hours ago and needed some food. We decided we would wait until Vegas, but then all of a sudden a mirage appeared in the desert. “That *is* a mirage, right Syd?”. “It must be”. I got overwhelmed with excitement as my mouth started watering, the mirage got closer. “That mirage looks pretty real” “But it can’t be...we’re in Utah”. Yup, it was real. I rubbed my eyes to be sure. We pulled up to the Washington, UT exit signs and there was a billboard that read “In-N-Out 1 mile”. I hadn’t been that happy in a while. We checked what time they opened: 10:30 AM, we checked our clock: 10:20 AM. It was a miracle. We smoked a joint and walked in as they were taking down the “closed” sign. Now here is where I had another “holy shit it’s a small world” moment. Throughout my life I had always had these weird coincidences where I see someone I know while on vacation or somewhere hundreds/thousands of miles away. From seeing a college friend at a resort in Puerto Rico, to sitting next to my hometown buddy on a plane from the DR, to sitting across the table from a classmate in the Bahamas. As I was munching my burger, in the middle of Southerwestern Utah, two people from my highschool walked in. An older couple that was I think 3 years above me. Now we didn’t know each other well enough, so we didn’t speak but we all looked at each other with the “WTF?” eyes, and continued to pretend not to know each other, even though we both knew our stories started in a small coastal town in MA. “What a small world” I thought as I finished my burger (animal style, of course). We hopped back in the car and in a flash we were in Las Vegas. I was very excited to finally see Las Vegas. I was reminiscing of all the crazy stories ive heard and movies ive seen, portraying this to be the place of no rules where everyone leaves with a crazy story that they can’t tell their mother (I do have a crazy vegas story, but thats from a different road trip). Well, not at 1:00pm I guess. We drove up and down the strip feeling like movie stars with our arms and feet hanging out the window, trying to show off my fake Y-3 shoes (SMH). Vegas is a whole nother world during the day, and there is not much to be excited about. We parked the car at Caesars Palace and roamed around the casino, only to find desperate slot-goers at this hour. It was kind of depressing. After an hour of roaming the strip and fantasizing in the Louis Vuitton and Gucci stores, we decided it was time to leave Vegas. The next time I was in Vegas turned out to be a lot more...fear and loathing-ish, we’ll get to that later. After Vegas we were ready to get to California. We decided we would only stop for gas from this point on, and set our sites on San Diego. The goal was to race there fast enough to watch the sunset over the Pacific Ocean before heading to Coachella the following day. My cousin lived in San Diego at the time and welcomed us to stay the night at his house before the festival. We drove and drove racing the sun which was starting to gain on us. We crossed into California and kept driving until we hit San Bernardino and came to a complete stop. There was traffic for as far as the eyes could see. “Are you kidding me? LA traffic all the way out here” while it might not have specifically been LA traffic, there was certainly bumper-to-bumper traffic all the way to LA. “wow, people aren’t joking about LA traffic” we laughed. Luckily after only a couple miles we pulled off the exit to head south to San Diego and were back cruising along. In what seemed like a close race against time, we pulled into Pacific Beach, San Diego right as the sun was reaching the point where it really starts to turn the color of the sky to a pinkish-peach color. It was so beautiful. We paced onto the boardwalk and got a perfect spot to watch the sun set over the surfers trying to catch their last waves before darkness. We stayed and watched in awe until there was no sun left to watch. As we were exiting the boardwalk we were overwhelmed with delicious smells of local vendors preparing food for the night crowd. It felt as if we entered a food truck convention, and thousands of people now fluttered in to get a taste of the local cuisine. We walked around aimlessly smelling and tasting all they had to offer. I had a couple beef and pork tacos and a churro; Syd had a freshly caught fish taco. From there we soaked everything in, breathed a sigh of relief for we had made it and reflected on what an incredible day we just had. From there we went to my cousins loft and relaxed with him, only to begin a new adventure tomorrow.
Colorado Breweries We've Visited vol. 2: Rest of the State
The prior posts are now archived, so I'm starting a pair of new threads. We're still finding new breweries, cideries, and meaderies to try in the Denver metro area and all over the state. Note: Regions are for convenience only. I reserve the right to be wrong about categorizing some out-of-the-way spots.
The Rest of the Front Range
Current category tally: 56
300 Suns (Longmont): This brewery served me both a smoked cherry sour (YES) and a red ale with a distinct barf aroma, so I'm really split here. Overall, I'm not excited.
Avery (Boulder): Say what you will about their distributed lineup, but their taproom has some of the cooler small-batch brews out there.
Berthoud Brewing (Berthoud): The better of two options in this tiny town.
Black Bottle (Fort Collins): Big tap list with lots of variety and some unusual styles. On my last visit, I found a lichtenhainer on tap here. I may have squealed.
Black Forest (Black Forest): Surprisingly good brewery in a tiny forest town just outside the Springs. Better-than-expected beers, sizeable lineup, nice people.
Cerberus (Colorado Springs): A highlight in the Springs with very good food, too.
City Star (Berthoud): Great tap list on their website seems to be months old. Neither of us cared for their actual lineup much.
Colorado Mountain Brewery at the Roundhouse (Colorado Springs): Bland gastropub with blah beer. Note: Years later, I was at another location of theirs for an event. Decent food, beer definitely not worth buying.
Dostal Alley Casino & Brewpub (Central City): Central City is a gorgeous Old West mountain town where the soulless casinos now seem to outnumber any sort of non-sleazy business. Naturally, when we found a casino with a built-in brewpub boasting GABF medals for their dry stout, we went. Unsurprisingly, the place was sleazy and crappy, with a few phoning-it-in beers and slot machines built into the bar.
Dratz (Loveland): They were brand new when we visited, and very nice. The beer was... not good. I'll come back in a few years.
Echo Brewing (Frederick): Just three weeks after visiting, I remember nothing at all about this brewery, but my Untappd ratings of their handful of run-of-the-mill styles were low. Evidently I wasn't impressed.
Elevation (Poncha Springs): Does this still qualify as the Front Range? I flippin' adore Elevation, makers of the single best pils I've ever had. One of the very best middle-of-nowhere, small-town breweries I've been to.
Goat Patch (Colorado Springs): We finally visited when we were stuck in the Springs after a blizzard closed all roads back to Denver. Pretty good, not amazing brewery in what looks like a former high school converted to gentrified hipster mall space.
Gold Camp (Colorado Springs, apparently no website): We felt a bit guilty because we got to meet their fabulously nice brewer, but just didn't care for their beers. They seemed closer to homebrew quality at the moment.
Great Storm (Colorado Springs): Really nice with some unusual styles and creative ideas. Friendly people. Closed soon after our visit; now Atrevida Brewing.
Grimm Brothers (Loveland): Cool taproom, some really nice beers.
Grossen Bart (Longmont): I was kind of disappointed. A lot of beers seemed really off style or just unremarkable.
Gunbarrel (Boulder): Good IPAs and a nice rosemary beer.
High Hops (Windsor): Gorgeous patio with view of hop field and gardening center. The beer was decent, not remarkable.
Industrial Revolution (Erie): I wanted to like them, based on their shtick. I think we left all of our beers unfinished. Nope.
Intersect (Fort Collins): Unabashed hipster taproom with piles of old records. Nice folks. Beer generally good, nothing great.
Iron Bird (Colorado Springs): Nice, but largely unremarkable.
Jessup Farm Barrel House (Fort Collins): My surprise favorite find on our second CO vacation and one of the very best wild/farmhouse breweries I've found to date.
Kettle & Spoke (Boulder): We kind of just wound up here because they're down the street from Redstone. We found a tiny taproom inside a bike shop with some of the best IPAs in recent memory, and a fantastically nice brewer who offered us an impromptu tour of the production space.
Left Hand (Longmont): Another brewery that could do more with what they've got. Their Juju series of ginger brews has a special place in my heart.
Local Relic (Colorado Springs): One of my absolute favorite finds in recent years. With a taproom in a 120-year-old church building, this brewery churns out 200+ original batches a year of the kinds of experimental stuff I constantly wish more brewers would tackle. Ridiculously nice and knowledgeable people, and good food on site, too. Yeah, we signed up for an expensive-ass beer club that’s an hour away.
Loveland Aleworks (Loveland): We like Verboten more, but these guys are another fabulous Loveland spot.
McClellan's (Fort Collins): I don't care much for British styles, but we enjoyed the beer, food, and a great conversation with a member of the brewing family here.
Nano 108 (Colorado Springs): Tiny taproom that we really liked in 2015. We went back in 2018 and found some stellar options (their rauchbier omggggggg) and several brews with off-flavor issues. Come for the German styles here; I'm not crazy about their IPAs.
New Belgium (Fort Collins): Did the tour, visited the taproom. They seem like a great company that just embraces inoffensiveness a bit too hard. Live a little, New Belgium.
The Old Mine (Erie): Good cidery in a gorgeous old brick building in a tiny town.
Open Door (Longmont): Had outstanding lagers and saisons here. Super nice people in a chill spot.
Periodic (Leadville): At 11k+ feet, this must be the highest craft brewery we've visited. OK beer, crappy service.
Phantom Canyon (Colorado Springs): Great beer and service the first time we came, mediocre at best the second time, and only OK ever since. Food is pretty good.
Redstone (Boulder): Likely the biggest of the tiny handful of meaderies currently in CO. Their stuff trends sweeter than I like, but they have some cool varieties (sunflower mead = yes) and wonderful taproom staff.
Rocky Mountain (Colorado Springs): Long-running brewery on the outskirts of the Springs. Some sugary sours and hard lemonades that weren't really up my alley, along with a very good barleywine. We chatted with the brewmaster for a while, who was a super nice guy.
Royal Gorge (Cañon City): The only brewery in town and one of few places to grab a bite. They only had one or two of their own beers, which were homebrew quality. Keep driving.
Shamrock (Pueblo): Like everything about Pueblo, this place was a total disappointment.
Soulcraft (Salida): Another pretty good small-town brewery a few miles from Elevation.
St. Vrain (Longmont): Really excellent cidery with multiple ginger ciders and great guest taps.
Tommyknocker (Idaho Springs): Heavy tendency toward the gimmicky with no real stand-outs for me. Two blocks from Westbound & Down, which is the indisputably better option.
Trinity (Colorado Springs): I've no idea how it took me several years to get to the only brett-focused brewery I've ever found. Huge, consistently excellent tap and bottle list, great food with good veg options, nice staff. My best brewery find in the Springs to date.
Twisted Pine (Boulder): Solid with some interesting ideas, including a good basil beer.
Verboten (Loveland): Our absolute favorite in town. Creative, irreverent, and spot-on.
WeldWerks (Greeley): I fussed for so long about wanting to come here that it was inevitably kind of a letdown when we finally went. Their beers are good, make no mistake, but definitely not "drive an hour and a half to get it" good.
Westbound & Down (Idaho Springs): We came here at enthusiastic recommendations from several friends and strangers. The beer, food, and service were all good on our first visit, straight-up disappointing on our second.
Wild Woods (Boulder): We stumbled in during their anniversary party and loved them. Their smoked yam beer rocks my world.
Wiley Roots (Greeley): ... and now I'm going to contradict the above statement re: WeldWerks directly. Wiley Roots, just around the corner from the above, is worth that drive. Their wild ales aren't as good as, say, TRVE's to me, and their adjunct stouts can be hit and miss, but they're immensely solid overall. Massive pluses include an unusually nice taproom crew, a fluffy brew cat with her own Instagram account (@midnightbrewcat), and the lovely Syntax Distillery next door.
Zwei (Fort Collins): Kicks the crap out of Denver's Prost as far as I'm concerned. Great beer, great people.
The Rest of Colorado (South, West, Central)
Current category tally: 29
Angry James (Silverthorne): Pretty much anywhere I go on the way home from the stellar Outer Range isn't really going to get my heart rate up, but we enjoyed our stop here.
BierWerks (Woodland Park): Most of their taps were other people's beers, and the couple of in-house brews we managed to try ranged from so-so to not good. Oh, and they have a Nazi map on the wall for some damn reason!? Ute Pass across the street is an all-around better option.
BREW Pub & Kitchen (Durango): My favorite in Durango tbh. Oh, and their food is good, too.
Carver (Durango): Nice people, good brunch. Their beer won't blow your mind, but it's usually solid.
Casey Brewing and Blending (Glenwood Springs): We bought tour tickets and made a weekend trip out just to go to Casey. My affection for sours is on a steep downward slope, but Casey is stellar, and the tour was delightful and totally worth doing.
Colorado Vineyards/Rocky Mountain Winery (Palisade): Including them here because they make a lot of mead, which I like, but don't love.
Glenwood Canyon (Glenwood Springs): One of those breweries that only seem to stay in business because they have a central spot in a tourist town. Nothing interesting here.
Guanella Pass (Georgetown): Most of the beers we tried were yeasty af. No love from me.
High Alpine (Gunnison): We stopped here after a trip to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, out of our minds with natural beauty. The beer was, unsurprisingly, nothing to write home about, but the food was outstanding and the staff was delightful.
Highside (Frisco): It's hard to look good when you share a ZIP code with Outer Range. Run-of-the-mill small-town brewery with food, nothing to write home about.
Mad Jack's Mountain Brewing (Bailey): We pulled off 285 here one afternoon to get out of the rain. Small tap list and tiny tap room, but pretty good beer and a killer food truck out back.
Main Street (Cortez): Another small-town brewery with not much going.
Meadery of the Rockies (Palisade): The better Palisade meadery. Again, they like their mead sweeter and gloopier than I do, but it's lovely in small quantities.
Mr. Grumpy Pants/Ourayle House (Ouray): I like the guy and his shtick a bit more than the beer, but it's definitely the better brewery in town.
Ouray Brewery (Ouray): The douchey tourist trap option in beautiful Ouray.
Outer Range (Frisco): The hype is real. ORB makes hands down the best NEIPAs I've ever had, and a stunning range of them. "Downside:" NEIPAs are basically all they do. They have a couple of Belgians, but if you're not into hazy IPAs, this place really isn't for you.
Palisade Brewing (Palisade): Solid, unexciting.
Riff Raff (Pagosa Springs): One of those breweries where they put your pint down in front of you, you take one sip, and you're ready to head out.
San Luis Valley (Alamosa): We stopped here on our way back from my birthday trip in 2019, which coincided with a blizzard that shut down the entire Denver metro. I think their beer and food were forgettable, but the fact that I was worried sick about getting home to our pets (we didn't until 24 hours later) the whole time we were there didn't help matters one bit.
South Park Brewing (Fairplay): We stopped here to escape a crazy cloudburst. Beer was OK, food was OK, neither was anything I really need again.
Steamworks (Durango): Ranges from really good to barely decent. Decent food.
Telluride Brewing (you guessed it - Telluride): Quite good brewery with nice people in one of the more picturesque mountain towns out there.
Three Barrel (Del Norte): Ah, Colorado. Where else do towns of 1,700 in the middle of nowhere have breweries with sahtis and sours on the menu?
Two Rascals (Montrose): Unremarkable.
Ute Pass (Woodland Park): This brewery had four different wits on tap, including two black wits.
Vino Salida (Salida): Yes, tiny Salida and Poncha Springs have two good breweries, a distillery, and a meadery. Dayum.
Wolfe (Pagosa Springs): Pleasant small-town brewery.
The Great Colorado Beer Jamboree 2: Breweries we’ve visited outside the Denver area
In addition to our ongoing explorations in the Denver area, we also continue to explore craft breweries in the rest of the state. This, too, shall be an ongoing list. Note: Regions are for convenience only. I reserve the right to be wrong about categorizing some out-of-the-way spots.
The Rest of the Front Range
Current category tally: 42
300 Suns (Longmont): This brewery served me both a smoked cherry sour (YES) and a red ale with a distinct barf aroma, so I'm really split here. Overall, I'm not excited about 'em.
Avery (Boulder): Say what you will about their distributed lineup, but their taproom has some of the cooler small-batch brews out there.
Black Bottle (Fort Collins): Big tap list with lots of variety and some unusual styles. On my last visit, I found a lichtenhainer on tap here. I may have squealed.
Cerberus (Colorado Springs): Absolute highlight in CO Springs with very good food, too.
Colorado Mountain Brewery at the Roundhouse (Colorado Springs): Bland gastropub with blah beer. Note: Years later, I was at another location of theirs for an event. Decent food, beer definitely not worth buying.
Dostal Alley Casino & Brewpub (Central City): Central City is a gorgeous Old West mountain town where the soulless casinos now seem to outnumber any sort of non-sleazy business. Naturally, when we found a casino with a built-in brewpub boasting GABF medals for their dry stout, we went. Unsurprisingly, the place was sleazy and crappy, with a few phoning-it-in beers and slot machines built into the bar.
Elevation (Poncha Springs): Does this still qualify as the Front Range? I flippin' adore Elevation, makers of the best pils I've ever had. One of the very best middle-of-nowhere, small-town breweries I've been to.
Gold Camp (Colorado Springs, apparently no website): We felt a bit guilty because we got to meet their fabulously nice brewer, but just didn't care for their beers. They seemed closer to homebrew quality at the moment.
Great Storm (Colorado Springs): Really nice with some unusual styles and creative ideas. Friendly people.
Grimm Brothers (Loveland): Cool taproom, some really nice beers
Gunbarrel (Boulder): Good IPAs and a nice rosemary beer.
Iron Bird (Colorado Springs): Nice, but largely unremarkable.
Jessup Farm Barrel House (Fort Collins): My surprise favorite find on our second CO vacation and one of the very best wild/farmhouse breweries I've found to date.
Kettle & Spoke (Boulder): We kind of just wound up here because they're down the street from Redstone. We found a tiny taproom inside a bike shop with some of the best IPAs in recent memory, and a fantastically nice brewer who offered us an impromptu tour of the production space.
Left Hand (Longmont): Another brewery that could do more with what they've got. Their Juju series of ginger brews has a special place in my heart.
Local Relic (Colorado Springs): One of my absolute favorite finds in recent years. With a taproom in a 120-year-old church building, this brewery churns out 200+ original batches a year of the kinds of experimental stuff I constantly wish more brewers would tackle. Often flawless execution, ridiculously nice and knowledgeable people, and good food on site, too. Yeah, we signed up for an expensive-ass beer club that’s an hour away.
Loveland Aleworks (Loveland): We like Verboten more, but these guys are another fabulous Loveland spot.
McClellan's (Fort Collins): I don't care much for British styles, but we enjoyed the beer, food, and a great conversation with a member of the brewing family here.
Nano 108 (Colorado Springs): Tiny taproom that we really liked in 2015. We went back in 2018 and found some stellar options (their rauchbier omggggggg) and several brews with off-flavor issues. Come for the German styles here; I'm not crazy about their IPAs.
New Belgium (Fort Collins): Did the tour, visited the taproom. They seem like a great company that just embraces inoffensiveness a bit too hard. Live a little, New Belgium.
The Old Mine (Erie): Good cidery in a gorgeous old brick building in a tiny town.
Open Door (Longmont): Had outstanding lagers and saisons here. Super nice people in a chill spot.
Periodic (Leadville): At 11k+ feet, this must be the highest craft brewery we've visited. OK beer, crappy service.
Phantom Canyon (Colorado Springs): Great beer and service the first time we came and mediocre at best the second time. Food is pretty good.
Redstone (Boulder): Likely the biggest of the tiny handful of meaderies currently in CO. Their stuff trends sweeter than I like, but they have some cool varieties (sunflower mead = yes) and wonderful taproom staff.
Royal Gorge (Cañon City): The only brewery in town and one of few places to grab a bite. They only had one or two of their own beers, which were homebrew quality. Keep driving.
Shamrock (Pueblo): Like everything about Pueblo, this place was a total disappointment.
Soulcraft (Salida): Another pretty good small-town brewery a few miles from Elevation.
St. Vrain (Longmont): Really excellent cidery with multiple ginger ciders and great guest taps.
Tommyknocker (Idaho Springs): Heavy tendency toward the gimmicky with no real stand-outs for me. Two blocks from Westbound & Down, which is the indisputably better option.
Twisted Pine (Boulder): Solid with some interesting ideas, including a good basil beer.
Verboten (Loveland): Our absolute favorite in town. Creative, irreverent, and spot-on.
WeldWerks (Greeley): I fussed for so long about wanting to come here that it was inevitably kind of a letdown when we finally went. Their beers are good, make no mistake, but definitely not "drive an hour and a half to get it" good.
Westbound & Down (Idaho Springs): We came here at enthusiastic recommendations from several friends and strangers. The beer, food, and service were all good on our first visit, straight-up disappointing on our second.
Wiley Roots (Greeley): ... and now I'm going to contradict the above statement re: WeldWerks directly. Wiley Roots, just around the corner from the above, is worth that drive. Their wild ales aren't as good as, say, TRVE's to me, and their adjunct stouts can be hit and miss, but they're immensely solid overall. Massive pluses include an unusually nice taproom crew, a fluffy brew cat with her own Instagram account (@midnightbrewcat), and the lovely Syntax Distillery next door.
Zwei (Fort Collins): Kicks the crap out of Denver's Prost as far as I'm concerned. Great beer, great people.
The Rest of Colorado (South, West, Central)
Current category tally: 24
Angry James (Silverthorne): Pretty much anywhere I go on the way home from the stellar Outer Range isn't really going to get my heart rate up, but we enjoyed our stop here.
BREW Pub & Kitchen (Durango): My favorite in Durango tbh. Oh, and their food is good, too.
Carver (Durango): Nice people, good brunch. Their beer won't blow your mind, but it's usually solid.
Casey Brewing and Blending (Glenwood Springs): We bought tour tickets and made a weekend trip out just to go to Casey. My affection for sours is on a steep downward slope, but Casey is stellar, and the tour was delightful and totally worth doing.
Colorado Vineyards/Rocky Mountain Winery (Palisade): Including them here because they make a lot of mead, which I like, but don't love.
Glenwood Canyon (Glenwood Springs): One of those breweries that only seem to stay in business because they have a central spot in a tourist town. Nothing interesting here.
High Alpine (Gunnison): We stopped here after a trip to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, out of our minds with natural beauty. The beer was, unsurprisingly, nothing to write home about, but the food was outstanding and the staff was delightful.
Mad Jack's Mountain Brewing (Bailey): We pulled off 285 here one afternoon to get out of the rain. Small tap list and tiny tap room, but pretty good beer and a killer food truck out back.
Main Street (Cortez): Another small-town brewery with not much going.
Meadery of the Rockies (Palisade): The better Palisade meadery. Again, they like their mead sweeter and gloopier than I do, but it's lovely in small quantities.
Mr. Grumpy Pants/Ourayle House (Ouray): I like the guy and his shtick a bit more than the beer, but it's definitely the better brewery in town.
Ouray Brewery (Ouray): The douchey tourist trap option in beautiful Ouray.
Outer Range (Frisco): The hype is real. ORB makes hands down the best NEIPAs I've ever had, and a stunning range of them. "Downside:" NEIPAs are basically all they do. They have a couple of Belgians, but if you're not into hazy IPAs, this place really isn't for you.
Palisade Brewing (Palisade): Solid, unexciting.
Riff Raff (Pagosa Springs): One of those breweries where they put your pint down in front of you, you take one sip, and you're ready to head out.
There are 3 Casinos in or near Grand Junction, Colorado CO. D & J TOWING & RECOVERY. D & J TOWING & RECOVERY is located approximately 4 miles from Grand Junction. D & J TOWING & RECOVERY is a really good Casino. You can reach them at (970) 523-0775. Read more about D & J TOWING & RECOVERY in GRAND JUNCTION, CO. Timberline Tours. Timberline Tours is located approximately 102 miles from Grand Found around the world at elevations of more than 20,000 feet, the pika is one of the most resilient beasts around. Roughly the size of a fist, the pika tends to be underestimated amongst hikers and climbers, though this should not be the case. By using a special type of telepathy, pikas are able to pull together into large groups within moments if threatened, joining up in numbers upwards of Grand Junction Colorado Casinos Slots, Blackjack, Roulette, Craps & more... In Depth. Free Visitor Guides; Introduction Articles Sleep + Eat. Lodging RV Parks Camping Dining Sightseeing. Sightseeing Overview; Attractions Scenic Drives Shopping Sightseeing Tours Recreation. Recreation Overview; Tour Companies Biking Boating Fishing Golfing Hiking Horseback Riding Offroad - ATV - UTV Climbing Casablanca Resort & Casino, Grand Junction, CO, Northwest Colorado: Vacation resort guide for Casablanca Resort & Casino featuring deals, packages, reviews, photos {{result.name}} {{result.title}} {{result.start_date | date}} - {{result.end_date | date}}, {{result.listing_name}} {{result.address}}, {{result.city}}, {{result Sky Ute Casino Resort, IgnacioOwned and operated by the Southern Ute tribe, the Sky Ute Casino has 45,000 square feet of slots, table games and bingo. But there’s more to this casino than just bright lights and winning hands, the Sky Ute Casino plays host to big-name acts and entertainment, including boxing and the growing sport of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). Casablanca Resort And Casino Grand Junction Colorado, casino 42008 saint etienne cedex 2, 32red poker download, harrah's casino tahoe. Wager. Bonus. MariaCasino. PlayAmo. Percentage. Over 600 Casino Games ; 24/7 Live Support; VIP Program; Bonus. Read our full review. 0. Easy To Navigate; Great Casino Slots; Big Bonus Offer; Review. Read our full review-25x. We do not sell or share your Casino Near Grand Junction Colorado Every site we review is tested for its security measures, how reliable Casino Near Grand Junction Colorado its payout system is, and of course the overall quality of the experience. While all of our recommended casinos have passed the test, there are some which didn't meet our standards. These sites have been Southwest Colorado Casinos. Two of Colorado’s 36 casinos are on tribal land in the four corners area, in the far southwest part of the state. These two casinos near Durango & Cortez, Colorado are Native American casinos, named the Ute Mountain Casino (12 miles south of Cortez), and the Sky Ute Casino, (22 miles southeast of Durango), respectively. While neither casino would be considered Sky Ute Casino Resort is Southwest Colorado's entertainment headquarters. Stay in our 140 room hotel and play the hottest slots, poker, table games and bingo.
We Take a look at the most beautiful places in Colorado. We didn't repeat any places from our former videos, so if a place you thought that should be in this... We are surprising teachers around Grand Junction each month to be honored as Teacher of the Month. Congratulations to Mr. Rode of Shelledy Elementary for receiving the Teacher of the Month honor ... Top 10 best towns in Colorado. These are the best places to live.Colorado is one of the most awe-inspiring landscapes in the United States. Enjoy.Patreon: ht... The biggest hills we have ever rode, the longest hill climbs we have ever laid eyes on, the steepest incline we have ever climbed. Grand Junction Colorado is like Cainville, UT but on steroids ... It is designed mainly for to be used to cut assembeled pipes in a ditch, but it can be also used on the pipe supports like any other Exact pipe saw. Features Exact Pipe Saw 360Air Safe to use 10 Secrets Casinos Don't Want You to Know. Subscribe for more amazing videos! http://bit.ly/Subscribe-to-Richest Casinos are multi-million dollar business... Laughlin Nevada Casinos Re-Opened - Colorado River Basin - Union Pass - Duration: ... P Way Junction renewal - the old way ... An Evening at Disney's Polynesian & Grand Floridian Resorts ... Denver Colorado auto broker dealer sales sale walk around start up test drive demo in depth research review front range go utah burt groove boulder groove flat colorado springs grand junction ... 11691 Hwy 65, Mesa, Colorado 81643 - Duration: 5:04. ... Around The World Recommended for you. 10:05. Homes for Sale in Grand Junction 2339 Lions Paw Court - Duration: 1:14. To reach the trail head from Estes Park, drive 12.6 miles south on Colorado Highway 7 to the Wild Basin Road junction and turn right. After driving 0.4 miles make another right turn into the park.