Welcome Parentals...Have a beer

My parents dropped into town Friday afternoon for a quick visit. With the weather turning from (so I hear) gorgeous to gloomy we opted for some indoor entertainment. Much to the chagrin of my reeling liver after a week of Solarc Ascent, we headed up north to Fort Collins for some beer sampling and brew tours. First stop on our tour was New Belgium brewery, where we'd divide and conquer and belly up to the bar for a tray of samples as we awaited our guided tour to start.

Sarah, Yack and Jill diligently study the beer dictionary


Samples arrive, followed by happy faces


Pretty maids in a row


Cheers to family reunions


Cheers to being back at home with my lovely wife



So at 1:30, we headed back for our tour. New Belgium is an incredibly cool place, and everyone that works there seems genuinely overjoyed to be there. They are a really family type employee base, with perks ranging from profit sharing to stock in the company to a free bike (you had me at free bike!) to a trip to Belgium after 5 years on the job.

The tour was very informal, but told the story of how New Belgium came to be and turned into what they are today. They are a very green company, using 100% wind power and lots of other eco-friendly type of policies. And they give you a free bike.


More pretty maids in a row...


Sweet Trike


Tile mosaic surrounding a huge 1.5 story vat, again bike oriented


And why not throw in an alien for good measure


Yet more Pretty maids in a row


Our tour guide after serving up yet another sample



After finishing the tour and buying some New Belgium gear, we headed to old town to grab some food. After filling our bellies we hit up Odell's for another quick tasting before heading back south towards the house to watch the Rockies, which unfortunately wasn't much fun to watch.