Review: Estes Park Brewery

Down the road from the Rocky Mountain National Park is the Estes Park Brewery, the only brewpub in Estes Park. The facility is in a warehouse, which contains the brewery, the restaurant, and a tasting room.

The bottom floor of the building is the tasting room, brewery gear, and brewery. They will pour samples of every beer on tap for free (a big plus). I was able to sample everything before getting food. They were selling their bottled beer as well (both cold and warm).

Along with beer for sale, they had various brewery items. A majority of the stuff was clothing: shirts, sweatshirts, hats, etc…many of the standard items in brewery gift stores. Where they did lack was bar ware. They had steins and coffee mugs; no pint glasses, shot glasses, and other typical bar ware.

The restaurant sits on the second floor, which overlooks the brewery. We were there at lunch time in the middle of the week, so they weren’t that busy. The staff was hospitable, but not all that prompt. The food was middle of the road; sandwiches and salads were just OK, but they did have good pizza.

While I didn’t inquire about a tour, you were able to see what they were doing pretty well. It appeared they did a morning brew and were starting the cleaning process.

I walked out with the Stinger Wild Honey Wheat, Estes Park Gold, Trail Ridge Red/Redrum Ale, Renegade IPA, Estes Park Barley Wine, and Blue Lake Blueberry Wheat; reviews will be coming of these later.

Overall, the brewery was a pleasant experience; the food wasn’t the worst on our trip, the beer was good, and I got to taste everything for free.