New Brewery Series: Fossil Brewing

With the flourish of breweries opening up in Colorado Springs, the west side is poised to make an impact on the beer scene here in 2014. With Paradox setting the precedent just a short drive up the canyon, and Manitou Brewing quickly getting ever closer to opening, another outfit is readying themselves to help draw you towards the mountains in search of your next frothy beverage. If you've driven on Hwy 24 westbound, you may have already noticed the unassuming sign above the door of a building just a stones throw from Rudy's Country BBQ. 

Manitou Springs is Getting a Brewery!

Photo courtesy of Manitou Brewing

As you all might have heard (or not!), Manitou Springs is getting their first brewery! I stopped by to get a preview tour of their space, and I am super excited for their opening later this year! Owner Kevin LeGrande said the brewery should be open by the end of the year. Manitou Brewing Company is going to be located in the back portion of the Promenade building at 725 Manitou Ave, while the front part of the building will continue to host Kevin's wife's LeGrande Accents.

New Brewery Series: Lofty Brewing Co.

The most recent addition to our New Brewery Series is Lofty Brewing, who will dethrone Great Storm Brewing as the smallest brewery in the region. Yes, this 1bbl nano-brewery is the same size brewery as GSB, but Lofty will operate out of a 150 square foot space and will sell their beer to different accounts in town without a taproom of their own. Compare their operation to the soon-to-open Red Leg Brewing, who will start with a 15bbl brewery with four 30bbl fermenters in a 5,000 square foot space and you get a picture of how nano this nano-brewery will be.

I like the idea that "Lofty," which means tall, high, comes in the smallest and humblest of packages. We caught up with Matthew Tussey, the brewer, and asked a few questions about his plans. Here's the interview we conducted by email:

New Brewery Series: Red Leg Brewing

Want a sneak peek at the largest local brewery start-up coming to the Pikes Peak Region? We visited a couple local breweries-in-planning about a week ago. We wrote about Ute Pass and we've got a couple more to highlight as part of our New Brewery Series. Today we're focusing in on the biggest and perhaps most ambitious upcoming operation, Red Leg Brewing. In the coming months, Red Leg will open up a decent sized production brewery just a mile or so down the road from Trinity Brewing, and not far at all from Great Storm Brewing. This trifecta of craft beer goodness has been named "The Beermuda Triangle."

Red Leg's branding and identity will focus on the military. Founder Todd Baldwin and brewer Jeff Lockhart have both served in the military and everything that happens at Red Leg will have a military-based theme. The five mainline beers will be geared toward each branch of the military. For example one beer will be named after James Doolittle, an aviation pioneer during WWII. The Devil Dog Rye Stout references the Marine Corps. We were able to sample some of this beer, made on a small pilot system batch, and it was tasty, with some added spice from the rye. We also sampled the Witbier, which also is going to be a good addition to the lineup.

New Brewery Series: Ute Pass Brewing

Over the next two weeks we plan to showcase a few new breweries that are opening up in the Pikes Peak Region. You can check out the whole series, including previous breweries featured in our New Brewery Series.

We'd like to start the new batch off with Ute Pass Brewing in Woodland Park, which just opened last Saturday. Ute Pass marks the third brewery to open in this little town in the last three years. Bierwerks is literally kitty-corner, and Paradox Beer Co.'s new beautiful taproom is just a hop. skip, and a jump away. The three breweries will make the already-picturesque town even more appealing as a place to stop while heading into the mountains.

Paradox - New Brewery to Open in Woodland Park

We are excited to report that there will be a new brewery in Woodland Park called Paradox Beer Company, a brewery that will specialize in barrel aged beers. The brewers are not new to the area by any means, Jeff Aragon and Brian Horton are the former brewers for both BierWerks and Trinidad Brewing Company. Their business, Independent Brewing Consultants, have been contracted by Paradox to make the beer.

New Brewery Series: Steampunk Brewing

This week we are showcasing some new breweries that are set to open soon in the area. We are very happy to welcome three new breweries to Colorado Springs and one in Poncha Springs, just outside of Salida. This is our final post of the series and will be dedicated to Steampunk Brewing...See the whole New Brewery Series here.

We don't have a ton of information about Steampunk Brewing. I sent Jeff Adkins, one of the folks behind Steampunk Brewing, a few emails and got a response but we never fully connected. My thoughts are that they are perhaps not as advanced in their planning stages as the other three breweries we've mentioned so far. For now, we'll simply tell you what we've found on their website and then we'll be sure to update you if/when we hear anything.

New Brewery Series: Elevation Beer Co.

This week we are showcasing some new breweries that are set to open soon in the area. We are very happy to welcome three new breweries to Colorado Springs and one in Poncha Springs, just outside of Salida. We'll post one or two a day for the first couple days of February. This post will be dedicated to Elevation Beer Co...See the whole New Brewery Series here.

We just heard about Elevation Beer Co.'s plans this week and decided we needed to add them to our New Brewery Series. They will be located in Poncho Springs, just five minutes from Salida, they've got a big warehouse space (as you can see in these photos), got their TTB license, and plan to brew up their first batch in the next few weeks. The people behind Elevation have some good experience in the industry and have some nice plans to really focus in on barrel aging beers. Read what they're up to and stay tuned for more information from these folks. This interview was conducted via email with Xandy Bustamante, the sales and distribution manager.

New Brewery Series: Great Storm Brewing

This week we are showcasing some new breweries that are set to open soon in the area. We are very happy to welcome three new breweries to Colorado Springs and one in Poncha Springs, just outside of Salida. We'll post one or two a day for the first couple days of February. This post will be dedicated to Great Storm Brewing...See the whole New Brewery Series here.

I am pleased to announce what seems very likely to be Colordado Springs' next brewery - Great Storm Brewing. This will be a little place to start out, a true mom and pop shop. The folks behind the scenes are Lynn and Jeff Jacobs. They've got a location picked out and it looks as if they'll be opening up before you know it. I'll let you read what they're planning to brew and how they've gotten to this point. We'll definitely keep all of you posted on when they open up officially. The questions below were just a series of questions I fired off to Lynn and Jeff in a couple emails.

New Brewery Series: Fieldhouse Brewing

This week we are showcasing some new breweries that are set to open soon in the area. We are very happy to welcome three new breweries to Colorado Springs and one in Poncha Springs, just outside of Salida. We'll post one or two a day for the first couple days of February. This post will be dedicated to Fieldhouse Brewing...See the whole New Brewery Series here.

We met Travis and Niki of Fieldhouse Brewing at our anniversary party but we had been in touch via email in preparation for this New Brewery Series. They both were very nice people and have invited us to come out and try some of their beers. We haven't been able to try any yet, our schedules never quite lined up, but we plan to as soon as possible. It turns out Niki has Celiac's disease, so she can't have gluten. She's holding one of Fieldhouse's gluten-free beers and Travis is holding the IPA in the above photo. We interviewed them, see what they're up to, what beers they'll be making, and what they're going to do about gluten. These questions were a series of questions I just kind of listed off in an email.

Another new brewery quietly opens today

Just found out last night that there's a new brewery in town and it's opening is tonight! Compared to the louder efforts of Pikes Peak Brewing, this brewery has taken a very quiet approach. It was a real suprise to me and to all the people I've talked to. So, please help welcome to town Kevin Beity Kraft Beer (KBKB). I believe they may also just go by 'Kraft Beer.' A few of my friends and I will be heading there around 5pm to check the place out and celebrate the new beer.

According to their website, they've got a Wheat, Porter, Pale, and a Lavender beer ready to go and there's a Lavender Lager that's currently still fermenting. Other than that, we don't know a whole lot about the place. Come on out tonight!

Grand Opening of KBKB
July 1st / 5-10pm
KBKB is located at 3668 E. Bijou St. Colorado Springs


Special thanks to the Beer Drinker's Guide for pointing this out.



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