Wednesday, August 25, 2010

The Return of Fort Collins Brewery

It wasn't long ago that beers from Fort Collins Brewery had plenty of shelf space in Albuquerque beer stores: Kidd Black Lager, Chocolate Stout, Retro Red, Major Tom's Pomegranate Wheat, Z Rauchbeer...remember? Those beers more or less faded away from the area, but National Distributing is promoting FCB again, and this time around there are some new additions. Old ones too- you see the Double Chocolate Stout in the picture? Get it while you can, because this one is no longer brewed. It is an 8.1% ABV Imperial Stout that you can take home for $6.99. The Wheat Wine also is making its debut, and I believe it is the only beer of that style in Albuquerque. Wheatwines are similar to Barleywines, but with much of the malt dedicated to wheat. This version contains 50% wheat malt and is 9.2% ABV. It retails for $7.99.

During the heyday of FCB here in town, there was one beer in Fort Collins' regular lineup that was never carried here, and I could never understand why. I had the stuff two years ago on tap in Knoxville, TN, but couldn't buy it in New Mexico. Finally, Rocky Mountain IPA makes the 500 mile trip here. This 6.2% IPA has more of a caramel malt presence than many IPAs, but the 80 IBUs keep the malt from being the star of the beer, thankfully. A very drinkable IPA; $7.99 a six-pack.

5 comments:

croymarsh said...

In what store did you find the IPA? Thanks!

ABQbeergeek said...

Stupid me! Mountain Run Kelly's. I am going to get some myself later on. It should be fresh, since (you would think) they are trying to make a good impression. We shall see!

Matt said...

I am guessing that it where all of the FCB Beers are located? I was at Wyoming Kelly's yesterday and they did not have them...

ABQbeergeek said...

Matt- The Wyoming Kelly's gets their delivery on Fridays. Mountain Run gets theirs earlier in the week, so I think Wyoming will get it in on Friday.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for posting about this, I really enjoyed the Rocky Mountain IPA. Went and got me two six-packs last week, went back two days after and they were all gone..

Kelly's on 4th st doesn't have any btw, as a matter of fact, they don't have much of the good/new stuff :)