Fort Collins’ Finest:
The Top 7 Beers From Odell Brewing
Fort Collins is known for it’s great beer culture and the numerous breweries that inhabit it. New Belgium, Horse & Dragon, and Black Bottle Brewery come to mind. However, the best pound for pound brewery in Fort Collins is Odell Brewing Co, located at 800 East Lincoln Ave near Old Town. You don’t need a golden ticket to visit the Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory equivalent of breweries, just don’t fall into the beer tank (unless you really want to).
7. Loose Leaf
Odell’s Loose Leaf is a perfectly balanced, light American Pale Ale with an ABV of 4.5%. The session ale is crisp and extremely refreshing, with a slight hoppiness and fruitful aroma that smells of pine and grapefruit. Perfect for a sunny summer day, the session ale has a citrus lemon feel with a light touch of hops towards the end, however the hops are quickly diminished and do not overpower the light, watery taste. The beer is great with a lemon and perfect for somebody who enjoys a hint of hops without wanting to overdue the flavor, but for a seasoned beer drinker, Loose Leaf has a mild and rather unexciting taste. The light beer ranks as number 7 due to its timeless and classic style, as well as its year-round availability, but fails to capture that certain excitement that other Odell beers can provide the palate.
6. Easy Street
Easy Street is an American style pale wheat ale that is perhaps one of the most easy to drink beers out there, maybe that’s why it is one of Odell’s best selling beers. For somebody who doesn’t prefer the bold flavor of hops and is looking for something milder, this is the perfect beer for you. The extremely relaxing and crisp citrus flavor is perfect for a day at the beach or out on the boat, but the mild taste fails to satisfy that hop craving that so many of us beer fanatics have at the end of a long work day. The popularity of the wheat beer along with the classic taste that this ale provides (especially accompanied with an orange) gives this beer just enough credit to grab the number 6 spot.
5. Lugene Chocolate Milk Stout
The number 5 spot on our list is Odell’s Lugene Chocolate Milk Stout. This 8.5% ABV stout is only available in the winter, which makes it a perfect beer for a cold day in front of the fire, or in the lodge after a long day of skiing. Right off the bat, the chocolaty flavor from the stout melts in your mouth and is followed by a hint of lightly roasted coffee. A hint of hops can be detected towards the end of the sip, but doesn’t overpower the milk chocolate flavor. The alcoholic taste is masked surprisingly well for a beer with an 8.5% ABV and the creaminess of the beer makes its mouthfeel one of the smoothest from Odell. The Lugene Milk Stout is certainly the best chocolate stout I’ve ever tasted, and easily secures the number 5 spot on our list due to its uniqueness and distinctiveness.
4. Mountain Standard
The Mountain Standard Double Black IPA from Odell Brewing provides a creamy, incredibly smooth palette experience that forcefully distinguishes itself from any other beer put out by the brewery. The beer’s midnight black body with its silky, creamy head emits odors of coffee, dark chocolate and pine. The pour certainly has one of the more enticing appearances from Odell and leaves a thin ring of creamy foam around the glass as the beer is drank. The beer is not nearly as hoppy as one might expect from an imperial IPA, but still provides the palette with enough hops to sting the taste buds, and then calm it down with a warm, chocolaty, roasted flavor. The Mountain Standard tastes like a bittersweet chocolate espresso latte mixed with hints of subtle, grapefruity hops and is surprisingly smooth and easy to drink for an IPA with an ABV of 9.5%. The Mountain Standard is a fan favorite from Odell and takes the number 4 spot on our list.
3. Piña Agria
Perhaps one of the most exciting trends in brewing is the rise of the sour beer at breweries all over Colorado. Odell’s Piña Agria is a sour pineapple flavored American Wild Ale with an ABV of 6.5%. Though expensive, the Piña Agria’s unique and adventurous taste makes it one of the most interesting and addicting sour beers around. The taste and sourness from the pineapple is not overwhelming and pairs perfectly with a crisp and light flavor that leaves the drinker with a lingering sweetness. The beer is a great segue for people just beginning to get into sours, however, the underwhelming flavor of the pineapple makes the beer taste almost like champagne or sparkling cider. The beer is certainly one of Odell’s best sours, and pineapple is the perfect fruit for the job. The refreshingness and surprising addictiveness of Odell’s Piña Agria sets it about from the rest of our list and projects it to the number 3 spot.
2. 95 (90 Shilling & 5 Barrel)
Two of Odell’s most popular and profitable beers are the 90 Shilling and 5 Barrel Ales. These two classics are available from Odell all year round and while great by themselves, nothing can beat a 95; a combination of the two. The bitter and piney flavor from the 5 Barrel combined with the earthy, caramel flavored 90 shilling combine to form a mildly sweet, creamy, and crisp taste. The combination of the two beers improves the drinkability and the marriage of all the flavors combine to create a palette experience that neither of the beers could create by themselves. The dark and mildly hoppy combo tastes like it could be its own beer, and many wish it were, but there’s something about the reaction that occurs when the two beers are joined from separate taps that makes it taste the way it does. It’s not often when two beers have such perfect harmony and chemistry, but the 95 does the impossible and blends the two worlds together. The 95 is a fan favorite from Odell and due to its popularity and timelessness, it secures the number 2 spot on our list.
1. India Pale Ale
Odell Brewing’s crown jewel and number one beer on our list is the 7.0% ABV India Pale Ale, the quintessential IPA from Odell and perhaps one of the best IPAs on the market. The beer is perfectly balanced and provides a substantial amount of crisp, bitter hoppiness and finishes with an undeniably smooth pine-citrus flavor. This is the classic Coke of Odell Brewing and is drinkable in any situation, it even holds up in flavor as its temperature rises. Compared to other IPAs from Odell such as St. Lupulins, Myrcenary and Runoff Red, this classic IPA is the most balanced and delivers the perfect amount of bitterness, freshness and punch. The IPA’s classic delivery and the timeless enjoyment it provides takes the cake and grabs the number 1 spot on the top beers from Odell Brewing, but at the end of the day, they’re all fantastic, so head to your nearest watering hole and grab a cold one!
