Courtenay O.
Yelp
Our friends recommended this brewery's 90 minute tour, and we were so glad they did. We checked in for our tour at the bar in the main building at the parking lot. We had 10 minutes before the tour, so we sampled a couple of beers, looked at the merchandise for sale (hats, tees, socks, etc.), and used the clean bathrooms that had cup holders in each stall. We met outside with another couple for our tour with Lydia, who was an exceptional guide.
We were on the 2PM tour on July 9, 2024. We started at the entrance to the brewery, walking over the creek that was lush with greenery. Lydia told us about the environmentally minded founders who bought the brown site in 2012. After renovating and building on it, New Belgium opened in 2016.
First stop was the brew house, with 5 vessels for brewing beer. We each sampled one of the Voodoo Ranger IPAs. We had four different ones: Fat Tire (Tom liked this one), 1985 Mango (Husband liked this one), Domingo Paloma (really good!), and 1554, a black lager (Tom's wife enjoyed this). We looked into each Tun, and saw details about what was going on in each by looking up at the HMI video panel.
The next stop was a hallway with a cow shaped board full of detritus from the grounds when it was dug up and built upon: keys, tools, nuts, bolts and more. Letters on the wall were pictures from the past use of the area: circus folk, cars and trucks, farm animals and more. To get downstairs, we could take the stairs or slide down the slide. Guess what we 4 did?? And we loved it!!
Bicycles were on display everywhere - at the entrance, in the brew house, above our heads. After one year at the brewery, an employee receives the newest edition mountain bicycle.
We walked past a wooden heart (employees place a trinket on it after working here) to a replica bar from Brugs, Brussels, where the idea of New Belgium blossomed. We were invited to sample one of 3 New Belgium sours: Tart Lychee, Trippell, and La Folie. Our favorite was Tart Lychee. We walked the hallway - peeked inside the cooler full of New Belgium beers & walked past a room where several employees were testing and creating beers.
Our last stop was a room overlooking the conveyer belts and the employees packaging bottles (not operational on 7/9) and cans (fully operational). This was our last chance to sample Voodoo Ranger IPAs: Mango, Imperial, Juice Force, and Tropic Force. Juice Force was my favorite! Lydia posed for me with a Voodoo Ranger Bobblehead. She was an exuberant, knowledgeable, and well spoken guide!
Lydia took us outside, and we walked a path by the creek back to the entrance, and main building. The area is beautiful! We highly recommend coming here to just look around, have a beer, or take this informative & delicious tour!