Last week, three of us in the Crew headed to Northwest New Mexico and Southwest Colorado for a quick vacation, which of course included quite a few brewery stops. We already covered the breweries in Aztec and Farmington, so now we move on to day two of our trip, which took us up to Telluride, followed by the beginning of day three, which took us down the “Million Dollar Highway” through Ouray and Silverton.

For those who have yet to visit Telluride, it takes a bit of zig-zagging through Colorado. You take Highway 170 north from Farmington to the Colorado state line, where it becomes Highway 140 all the way to Hesperus. From there, take Highway 160 west to Mancos, then head north/northwest on Highway 184 to Dolores. Once there, you connect with Highway 145, and head northeast all the way to Telluride. Confused? Google Map it.

Anyway, it was a rather charming, scenic drive. The rivers along the roads were raging, there was still snow on the high peaks, and there was little in the way of wind or rain. We lucked out, basically.

Upon arriving in Telluride, we were able to check into our hotel early, park the car, and head out. We luckily located right next to the gondola that took us up the mountain to the ski village, where Telluride Brewing now has a taproom. The main brewery is located in an industrial park on the outskirts of town, but the taproom has a kitchen, so that settled the decision for us.

The gondola ride, which is free, by the way, was an epic trek up the mountain. It gives quite the perspective looking down upon the town below.

We arrived at the village and made the short walk to the taproom. I ordered a cheeseburger and a pint of Face Down Brown, a past multiple-medal winner. It was a good brown ale, smooth, a little roasty/nutty, and a good way to wash down the burger. After that, I probably could have/should have stuck with more sessionable brews, but there was Barley’s Wine on tap, so I snagged a goblet of that. It was big, boozy, and about everything you would expect from an American barleywine, for barleywine is life.

Luke ordered a flight with Face Down, Cash Money (Pale Ale), ALTitude Adjustment, and Hefe. The brown and hefe were his favorites, though he did give props to the altbier’s name. Andrew stuck with Closing Day IPA, the house hop-forward ale.

While we could have wandered the village a bit more, another brewery back in town was calling our name.

StrongHouse Brew Pub

Set in one of the only original buildings of Telluride to survive a fire many decades ago, StrongHouse was created back in 2020. It has evolved into a favorite among locals and tourists, with a definite German influence in its brews and food.

Luke and I both ordered flights, which had six beers each, and man, were these things beastly. I went with the StrongHouse Lager, Schwing! Helles, Dynamo Dunkel, Irish Red, Coldfire Pale Ale, and Okilly Dokilly IPA. I’ll admit, the last one was for The Simpsons reference.

The lager and helles were both classic, clean representations of the style. I’ll give a slight nod to the helles, which thankfully wasn’t overly sweet. Does it rival Bierstadt? No, but it more than held its own in this day and age of great lagers.

I actually wanted more sweetness from the Irish Red, which seemed a bit thin in comparison. The pale ale was good, with a little hoppy bite at the front and solid flavor throughout. The weakest beer on the tray, sadly, was the IPA. It honestly had less of a hop presence than the pale. I also got a separate small pour of the Vaccinator Imperial Stout, but it was far too thin of a beer to really earn the title of imperial stout. Basically, lagers and pale were good, the rest need a recipe reevaluation.

The highlight was the dunkel, and when we returned for the final hour of the night, it was the group selection for pours in Das Boot. Yup, we went full Beerfest, and it was worth it. More and more breweries are really hitting all the right notes in their dark lagers, and this was a great example of the flavor and mouthfeel you want in such a beer. We highly recommend StrongHouse on your next (or first) visit to Telluride.

Other highlights from our visit included Brown Dog Pizza and the rooftop patio at Last Dollar Saloon, where I enjoyed a pint of Mountain Beer (Kolsch) from Telluride Brewing, while looking up at … well, you get it.

We did miss out on Smuggler Union Restaurant and Brewery, which for some reason closes at 9 p.m. There is always next time.

Ouray Brewing

The following day, we swung around the mountains to Ridgway, where we (re)connected with Highway 550. We headed south towards Ouray, and the beginning of the stretch known as the Million Dollar Highway, so named because of all the once-prosperous mines in the area.

Ouray was a pleasant little town, rustic and modern at the same time. The wide main street area is pedestrian friendly, with plenty of free parking. There were a lot of summer adventure types, with kayaks and mountain bikes, or climbing equipment for the nearby sheer rock faces of the canyon.

We are not those people, so we parked and walked over to Ouray Brewing. We were in luck that the rooftop patio was open, so up we went. You order from the bar at the top, where there were a handful of house beers on tap, and they take your food order, as well.

Below the blue skies and towering mountains, and above the rest of the town, we each enjoyed our lunch and a pint. I wanted something simple to go with my BBQ chicken wings, and Million Dollar Amber hit the spot. It was your standard malty sweet amber, with a smooth mouthfeel and no bitterness of any kind. Sometimes, that is all you need in a beer. Andrew also went sessionable, enjoying a Camp Bird Blonde.

Overall, we enjoyed Ouray, both the brewery and the town. On another trek to Southwest Colorado, we may just have to make sure to park it here for a night.

Avalanche Brewing

Though we wanted to get to Durango in a reasonable amount of time, Andrew convinced us to stop in Silverton, which basically marks the end of the super windy, up-and-down part of the Million Dollar Highway. Situated just off the highway, it aims for the same Old West theme as Ouray, but for whatever reason, it just didn’t have the same upbeat vibe (at least in my opinion, Andrew rather liked it).

Part of the reason we stopped was to see where local stalwart Avalanche Brewing moved to on Main Street. Previously tucked away on a side street, it now sits smack dab in the middle of town. We found a (free) parking spot and walked over. It wasn’t terribly busy in the late afternoon, so Luke and I both ordered flights. They are served on these clever miniature skis.

Andrew ordered a pint of the San Juanderer (Helles) while he watched us go through the rest of the beers. Both Luke and I had that on our flights. It lacked the clarity of StrongHouse’s helles, and was a bit sweeter than either of us wanted. The Snow Melt Dortmunder Lager was a bit better, both in flavor and appearance. The Geier Eier (Dunkel) had a slight off flavor, but it was nothing like the Ph’Delicious Oatmeal Stout. Something went very wrong with the beer, and after consulting the beer dictionary, we realized it was butyric, which as Luke noted gives it an almost “dirty diaper” flavor. Yup, it was bad, real bad. Considering the beer has a decent Untappd rating overall, we will just chalk that up to a batch that went very, very wrong and a leave it at that.

Avalanche has some work to do to match up to its brethren in the mountains, but we will give it another shot the next time we pass through Silverton.

The Durango breweries, which one of us (me) had not visited in many years, are up next. Until then, as the temperatures start to climb here in Albuquerque and the rest of New Mexico, start planning that next mountain getaway.

Cheers!

— Stoutmeister