Recently we got the opportunity to spend the day with the good folks at Oskar Blues Brewing and it was quite fun. This company is more than just a brewery, they are embracing a sustainability model that their owner calls "the triple lindy". They started with the brewery (obviously), added a FANTASTIC restaurant that not only features all of there beers, but 40 tap handles exclusive to craft brews, and then, most recently, started a farm! So lets start with the farm.
Meet, Pancetta, Pork Chop, and Bacon. I was a little creeped out that they came to sniff my pork breakfast burrito and really wanted me to share. These guys are fed with the prep scraps from the restaurant and will, eventually, be main courses there. Our guide told a funny story about being the lucky one chosen to don these guys in Oskar Blues shirts for a beer dinner hosted at the farm, he said it took 4 people and 45 min. The pigs were still wary of him.
Black Angus cows, don't they look delicious? These beauties are fed with spent grain from the brewery (among other things to make them tasty) and will, like their pigs friends, be main courses some day.
About the time we were drooling over the cows, these little guys came for a visit after busting out of their pen. I chuckled that they didn't run for freedom, but rather just wanted to hang with us. We herded them back to their home, they made me smile.
It wouldn't really be a farm if they didn't also grow things. Unfortunately, March is not the best time to see the bounty. They do have a vegetable garden in the summer that supplies the restaurant. And they grow hops.
Hops grow vertically on these poles and wires, I really hope we can come back in the summer to witness them in all their glory. This part of CO isn't the best climate for hop growing, so the brewery still supplements from other sources and saves their hops for special release brews in the fall. Now on to the brewery!
We've seen our fair share of breweries but it is always a good time. This brewery also has a small tasting room, Aaaaannnddd....
Skee Ball!! Craft Breweries sure do know how to have fun! They even have a league night. After a few rounds we had a "sensory experience" (aka., tasting) with the head brewer, Dave.
A very delicious experience indeed. Then we headed to the restaurant, no photos taken on this day, since I was too busy eating. Here's a photo from a previous visit though,
Thanks for a great day, Oskar Blues! And if you are out at your local liquor store (they have a pretty wide distribution net) and come across a six pack of Dales Pale Ale (it'll be in a can), go ahead and pick it up, you won't be disappointed.
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