brewery tours in fort collins

Saturday morning we met up with jacq & andy and drove up to Fort Collins to visit breweries. We started with the biggest - Budweiser. We took the hour long tour of the facilities which were impressive for the sheer volume they can produce. They also let us keep one of the used beechwood aging chips. We tried a few brews afterwards, and determined that the best brew from the Anheuser Busch family was Michelob.



Here's the canning filler, which unfortunately wasn't running today.



Giddy-up!



After we were through at Bud, we headed down the street to the smallest brewery, Fort Collins Brewery. The tour there only took about 10 minutes because their yearly output is about what Bud can produce in an hour. Luckily they will be moving to a larger facility sometime next may. Left with a pair of bombers - Double Chocolate Stout & Big Shot Winter.

Some heady casked brews:



Our multitude of samples:



After cruising by andy's old hut, we came upon the last two breweries in town. I was excited to go to Odel's, but there was a line out the door and we were getting hungry and didn't want to rush through their sample offerings. We did drop into New Belgium for a couple quick samples, but did not take the tour. Then we swung by the skate shop to say hi to Chris, had dinner at this great burrito place called La Luz, and headed home.

thanksgiving

Met up with the fam at the nook for a continental breakfast before heading over to Mount Sanitas for our t-day hike. The weather was beautiful, but there was still some snow and ice on the trail making for a challenging hike.





After the hike, we all regrouped and met up back at hillside for aps & dinner. Another great spread this year. Watched the Broncos game after dinner, then headed home. This morning we went back over to hillside to eat leftovers & watch the CU/Nebraska game, which ended in a disappointing loss this year - we were SO close. Oh well, it capped off an unimpressive 3 win season.

ed edwards and the big pink

Sunday we met up with Jacq & Andy at the Lazy Dog to watch football games. Steph got a bowl of ranch dressing poured on her brand new coat by waitress error, luckily she was able to clean it up without much incident. Post games, we strolled pearl street and did some shopping. We had all of t-day week off, so we chilled most of monday before heading into denver for a show later that night. We had dinner at this great homestyle diner place called Stuebens, walking distance from our hotey, then caught a cab to the Larimer Lounge.

It was a late show. The opener, Crystal Antlers, finished their set just after 11, then we had to wait around for over an hour while the Big Pink keyboardist and roadie tried to figure out which of the any one of the dozens of effects boxes/pedals hooked up to the keyboard was preventing it from producing sound. When they finally got it all sorted out, the Big Pink came out in a fog of smoke and strobes and crushed their short but sweet set.

It was pretty late so thank goodness we had a hotey room and did not have to work the next day. We cabbed it back and were watching Firestarter when we got a call from the front desk letting us know that Ed wanted to come up. It was 2.30am at this point, Steph was fast asleep, and we certainly were not expecting any guests. So I asked the desk clerk what Ed's last name was and he responded 'Edwards'. Ahhhh, sure thing - send Ed Edwards right on up!



Set:
Too Young to Love
Frisk
Velvet
At War with the Sun
Crystal Visions
Count Backwards
Tonight
These Arms
Dominos

walked the sand with the crustaceans

We originally hadn't planned on going to the Pixies playing Doolittle in its entirety at the Fillmore because tickets were kind of pricey. But I guess they were having trouble selling out the second show because I was able to score a wicked good deal on tickets. I'm sure glad I was still paying attention because, although short, the show was fantastic. Sandwiching Doolittle between handfuls of b-sides and capping it off with a second encore, the Pixies came correct.







Set:
Intro Film (Un Chien Andalou)
Dancing The Manta Ray
Weird At My School
Bailey's Walk
Manta Ray
Debaser
Tame
Wave of Mutilation
I Bleed
Here Comes Your Man
Dead
Monkey Gone To Heaven
Mr. Grieves
Crackity Jones
La La Love You
No. 13 Baby
There Goes My Gun
Hey
Silver
Gouge Away

Encore:
Wave Of Mutilation (UK Surf)
Into The White

Encore 2:
UMass
Bone Machine
Gigantic
Vamos

twisted

Friday night we picked up some burrrrritos from Big City, and watched su’in or other on the dvdtron (I have since forgotten what it was). Saturday morning I slipped out of the house early to score some cheap tix for the Pixies show to surprise Steph. Later that afternoon we met up with Jacq & Andy and headed over to the Twisted Pine brewery for a nice afternoon tasting. I was particularly their Oak Whiskey Red and the Northstar Imperial Porter. After our whistle was wet, we had lunch at the Sink. That night Steph had girls night in denver and stayed home and watched two awesome rockumentaries - The Story of Anvil and Fugazi's Instrument. Sunday morning steph returned with mimosa's and we partook in usual sunday fair including the premier of the new Prisoner.

neon indian / tigercity

Steph had to study for an exam last night so I decided to check out the new buzz band du jour, Neon Indian, at the Larimer Lounge. It was a late show, and I got there pretty early. The first opener was a local denver band - Achille Loro and they were pretty decent. Next up was Tigercity from brooklyn who looked like they were ready to rock out, but played real mellow 80's friendly jams like a glossier version of MGMT. I dug it.



The lounge was filling up quickly by the time they were done, that place can become a cluster in no time. I kept bumping into this guy who was just like Jason Schwarzman from Bored to Death, or actually any of his roles. Funny stuff, one minute we're chatting, then him and this girl get all flirt-zone, and the next time I see him he's hiding from her. Neon Indian's one man act was was fleshed out live with a bassist, drummer & cutey purple-haried keyboardist. The full band treatment gave the songs a bit more dynamic range and the now over packed crowd was way into it. I was also enjoying the spectacle, but had to bail before it ended because I was exhausted and still had to drive back to milo.

not richard, but dick

Friday evening we headed to denver and spent a lot of tim in traffic, it seemed like everyone was taking advantage of the temperate weather. Battled the crowds and had some great belgian brews & grub at the Cheeky Monk. Walked over to the Ogden with just enough time to spare to catch the delightfully surprising opener Joe Jack Talcum, of the legendary Dead Milkmen fame. He performed solo acoustic material along with some Johnny Cash & Bob Dylan covers and a few requisite Milkmen classics, including 'Punk Rock Girl'.



Pinback was the headliner of the night and it had been a while since I last saw them. They were as awesome as ever even with no recent album to support. After the show, I watched the latest Sunny in Philly.



Saturday we kind of vegged out most of the day, passing up offers to go to the Airforce/Army game down in CO Springs with Steph's sister, and the CU/TX A&M game here in town. Later on Greg came over with DJ Hero, which is way cooler than guitron hero, or at least I'm better at it. We went to Beef O Brady's for dinner and to watch the Clemson game, then came home and played more DJ Hero.



Sunday was pretty casual as well, Lauren came over for a bit later in the day, then we had dinner and watched the Mad Men seaon finale - wicked!

hacking halloween

All last week I had a dry hacking cough which was massively annoying. Thursday night I went to the Dinosaur Jr. show at the Boulder Theater because I had slept most of the day and was feeling a bit better. Lou Barlow & the Missingmen opened - I'm pretty sure the guitarist, Tom Watson, slept on my couch at the compound after a Mike Watt show at the Echo Lounge. Dino ripped it, touching on material from most every album (No love for Hand it Over). The first time I saw the reunited Dino Jr. a few years ago, they stuck to the first three albums that Lou had played on. I braved a bunch of drunken idiots slam wrestling around the soundboard and pulled a solid tape of the performance. I messed up the transfer the first go around, but hope to get it up on COtapers & Dime very soon here it is on DIME!!!

Staying out until 2 am in the cold snowy weather did not help the cause of my throat very much, but I managed a belated 1/2 day at work friday hoping to again rally for halloween festivites later. Steph & I had dinner at Half Fast then a couple of drinks at the Sink before heading over to the Glen Miller Ballroom on campus for the free Tapes n' Tapes homecoming concert. The opening band was the suck, but Tapes were festive enough for the massively underattended show. We left right before the end because I could not stop coughing and it was driving me nuts. We were supposed to head to a party but I could not function so we headed back to milo instead. Along the way I got one of those obnoxious photo tickets for running a yellowy red light.



Saturday I slept a lot while Steph whipped up delicious foods for our dinner party we were hosting later that night. She also carved a mean boognish pumpkin.



The dinner party was a success, and we handed out a ton of candy while feasting on autumnal themed food such as pumpkin raviolies. Lauren & Renn made an appearance on their way to the festivities on Pearl.