7 Best Places to Spend a Few Hours Drinking Alcohol in Old Town Fort Collins
If you’re over 21 in Fort Collins, it’s likely that you’ve been out to the bars. You’ve gone to (or at least walked by) the absolute craziness that is the Yeti/Rec Room/Bondi scene on a weekday, and maybe that’s your thing! Maybe you like bumping into people constantly, getting drinks spilled on you, losing your friends, not being able to hear anything but the music, being awkwardly danced on by strangers who want in your pants, etc.
But maybe you just like sitting down to have a conversation with some people whose company you enjoy, listen to music or play a game while everybody enjoys some adult beverages.
We’re talking comfortable venues that aren’t too loud (okay one of them is real loud) with chiller music, and something cool about it.
I’ve listed out some of the best places to go do exactly that below. Fair warning, a lot of these are breweries.
Odell is a cool place! They’ve got a nice vibe to the inside of the brewery, and the patio is a great place to watch the sun go down over the foothills. They do not, however have the great food that Red Truck has or the free tour that New Belgium has.
So if you enjoy Odell beers (a 95 -a mix of 90 Schilling and 5 Barrell- will always be one of my favorites), go to Odell with some friends, hang out around one of the fire pits outside, and watch the sun go down!
Ace Gillett’s is a downstairs jazz bar on the North end of Old Town. It’s got cocktails on par with (or if you ask the bartenders at Ace Gillett’s, better than) Social. They usually have some local jazz musicians and occasionally a name you may have heard if you’re into jazz. They make some of their own mixes that they put in some of their cocktails, like this delicious walnut whiskey that they added to a drink I had last time I was there.
The only downside is that if you’re trying to just sit and talk with friends, the jazz is going to be a little too loud for you. I would absolutely recommend Ace Gillett’s though for a night in which you put on some nice clothes, get all made up, and are looking for a nightcap to a date.
Equinox is a small brewery off of Remington Street that has a couple of distinct areas inside of it. There’s the main couple rooms where you might catch a local band and there’s the patio. I love the patio for a nice temperate evening with some beer and good friends. Equinox has some cool beers too. Their IPAs are kind of their specialty (like a lot of Fort Collins breweries) but their darker beers are really solid too.
Equinox is just a great place to hang out and have a conversation (if it’s too loud inside, the patio is usually a little quieter).
4. Social
Social may be a bit outside of my price range for more than three drinks at $10+ a cocktail, but it’s still an awesome place to hang out. The vibe inside is pretty cool. They really go for the modern speakeasy look with all the design (the typewriter with the Hemingway quote on it- right when you walk in to the right- is a great touch). You get a handcrafted cocktail from a professional bartender. They have an absinthe menu if you’re interested in trying some of the drink that 19th-Century painters used to do. They also have one of the most expansive wine lists in Old Town.
It’s a nice place. It’s usually a stop on a night out for me, because of its convenient location (it’s on Mountain Street) and that your party gets a table, which is perfect for facilitating a good conversation. They also have charcuterie boards if you want to get all fancy on your night out!
So Red Truck took over what used to be Fort Collins Brewery and they really went for their branding! They have five red trucks to be found throughout the property and each one is pretty cool! There’s an older Ford that attracts a lot of attention, a newer racing-type truck, and a couple other older ones (the one in the parking lot almost looks like a firetruck). They use giant wrenches as the door handles. They cook out of a shipping container and have pretty industrial/minimal styling. They are just down the road from Odell and stole the fire-pit idea for the front of the building, so it’s another good place to watch the sun go down.
But the real winner here is the food and drink. I haven’t had a beer there that I didn’t like, and their food is just good pub grub. The kitchen manager is a guy I used to play softball with and he has a great grasp of what I’m looking to eat with my beer! They do smothered hot dogs, burgers, some breakfast stuff (the Sante Fe Eggs though), and even things as crazy as a burger with a hot dog and bacon on it.
New Belgium is a Fort Collins staple. Just outside of Old Town, this brewery offers a couple great experiences. You can hang out inside at some of the tables or at the bar. You can sign up for a brewery tour (completely free) that takes you all the way around the brewery with an employee there, who will allow you to pour your own beer at some of their taps. Or you can hang out outside on a nice day! Dogs are encouraged at the brewery, which is a big plus if you’re either trying to pet dogs or bring your dog out for a social situation. They have yard games out front for you to play like cornhole, but you can always bring your own!
And I didn’t even mention the beer yet! New Belgium was the first of the Fort Collins breweries to start messing around with sours (beers aged in wine barrels that have a sour quality to them) and I still think La Folie is the best sour available in Fort Collins. Their Belgian style beers like Fat Tire and 1554 (a black lager) will always be winners, but I love their IPA selection as well. Citradelic is an IPA even non-IPA-lovers can get into and the Juicy Haze version of their Voodoo Ranger IPA is one of my absolute favorite beers.
And clocking in at #1, we have CopperMuse Distillery! Even though it’s a pretty small spot (only like 5–10 tables and a bar top), I absolutely adore it. They make their own liquor (many different types of Vodka, Rum, Whiskey and Gin) that they feature in a cocktail menu that was created by one of the bartenders. They made it a place where you can just go and hang out for a couple hours. They have games, tours, and some nights, live comedy.
Last time I went in, I asked the bartender to surprise me and she made me a drink they call “Feeling Snappy” which has muddled snap peas, gin, honey, and simple syrup. It was probably the most unique cocktail I’ve ever had and I would highly recommend going in to have a couple of those and play a round of “Cards Against Humanity” with some friends.
