Pagosa Brewing Company, Pagosa Springs, Colorado

This is the first of many occasional posts spotlighting visits to breweries and great beer bars.

Pagosa Brewing Company, Pagosa Springs, Colorado

Last night we stopped by The Pagosa Brewing Company in Pagosa Springs for dinner and some brews. Walking in the gate we were immediately taken aback with how nice the beer garden is. It was very inviting and I felt like I was walking into a friend’s backyard. There were a ton of tables and even a few people drinking beer around a fire. It was still a little too cold for us to sit outside, but I can’t wait to come back when the weather gets warmer and bring Walter the puppy along too.

Beer Garden at Pagosa Brewing Co

The restaurant/bar was a bit smaller than I had imagined, but it wasn’t too small for comfort. We took a table and looked at the food and beer menus. The food is pizza and typical pub grub (with a couple vegetarian options, veggie burgers and veggie brats are a nice addition). The food was good, nothing amazing, but far from bad. One thing that did stand out was the Poor Richard’s Mustard, mustard made with the breweries own Poor Richard’s Ale. It was delicious.

Now, on to the beer. They had about 10 beers on tap (maybe more, I forgot to count), all their own, they didn’t serve any beers made by other breweries. I started off with a Soaker’s Stout, it was dry but not too dry or bitter, if I remember right it was about 5-5.5% ABV. Definitely a drinkable stout that I’ll be drinking again. Kinsee got the Kayaker Cream Ale (which we were later told was one of their most popular beers), it was a little too light for me, maybe better in the summer time. I finished the meal off with an Alpine Abbey 10, a strong Belgian style beer, it was served in a brandy snifter and according to their website is 9.25%ABV, for having such a high alcohol content it didn’t come off too strong, in fact I thought it was a little on the sweet side. Not bad at all, but probably not something I’ll drink too often.

While waiting for our food we started looking around the tap room, they sell home brew equipment, and I was planning on buying a beginners kit, but they didn’t have one assembled, when one of the employees started chatting with us. Jason is one of the brewers at Pagosa Brewing and offered to give us a quick tour while we were waiting. He took us in the back and showed us where the magic happens while teaching us some of the chemistry and biology behind beer brewing. I’ve been on brewery tours before, but this was one of my favorites because it was so small and personal. We didn’t sign up for a tour, we just happened to start chatting with a brewer who offered to show us around.

Jason Explaining the Brewing Process

He told us about some of their other beers and a few of the seasonals really got my attention. I can’t wait to try the Pow Wow Imperial IPA, Wassail Ale, a chocolate porter with spices, vanilla and hazelnut, and Chimney Rock Chocolate Stout. Kinsee seemed mighty interested in Coconut Porter, a porter made with toasted coconut flakes that we were told is quite popular in the summertime.

I’m still kicking myself for not trying the Fire Stoned Irish Ale made especially for St. Patrick’s Day with heated granite stones and Poor Richard’s Ale, the interpretation of a beer Benjamin Franklin could have drank during his time. I would have liked to do a little taste test with their mustard made from this beer to see if I could taste the beer in it.

Our trip to Pagosa Brewing Co was a great time, pretty good food, great beer and best of all a friendly staff. I’ll definitely be back soon to pick up a home brew kit and sample some more beers.

The Bar at Pagosa Brewing Co

Photos by Kinsee Morlan

Tags: alpine abbey 10, beer garden, beer mustard, brewery tour, brewpub, chimney rock chocolate stout, coconut porter, fire stoned irish ale, kayaker cream ale, pagosa springs, pagosa springs beer, poor richard's ale, poor richard's mustard, pow wow imperial ipa, pub food, soaker's stout, wassail ale

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 1st, 2009 at 10:50 am and is filed under Beer, Pagosa Brewing Co.. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.