Ouray Brewing (Ouray, CO)

Making your way from Durango to Ouray through Red Mountain Pass, you will be able to see one of the largest creatures on Earth: the giant amalgam complex of aspen trees that paint the mountain sides.  Aspens are all clones of themselves, putting up new trees from the roots of another nearby aspen.  In this way, aspen trees are all connected to one another, and are arguably the same tree, or the one of the largest complexes of living organisms on Earth.

Seeing them in early October, as their leaves turn from green to yellow, orange, and red, you might even think the forest around you was on fire.  But before I start hopelessly describing its grandeur and beauty, remember the ratio of words to pictures of beauty, and that pictures really don’t do it justice anyway.

Making it out of the pass just ahead of an incoming snow storm, we ponied up to the Ouray Brewing Co. in (Guess! Guess!) Ouray, Colorado.  Though Ouray Brewing has only been open for a year (2010) they’ve still managed to make a name for themselves as purveyors of finely crafted brews.

Blonde: Really good, and to date, probably the best yet.  Way better than that valley-girl from Ska.

Brown:   See, I told you brown ales could be good!  This beer stands out as the best brown ale to date.  If given the choice between drinking this beer or a glass of Hepatitis-C, I’d way rather drink this beer than that glass of poison.  Duh!

IPA:  Fruity, citrusy, and exceptionally hopped.  Either this beer’s just really good or that orange/brown water in the river from all the copper tailings has melted my taste buds.

Rating:  1 out of 1.2 serrated tourist traps.