Pop Quiz:
What do you do when you finish a long, hard hike?
If the answer is, “find the nearest brewery and grab a craft beer,” then we should be friends. And as friends, we feel we should let you know that you can do both of these things (hike and craft-beer-it-up, that is,) in Estes Park.
Long famous for the epic scenery in Rocky Mountain National Park, Estes is a fantastic destination for all things outdoorsy…but what do you do post-adventuring? When you’re all sweaty and have bug bites, and drank all your water, and just want to sit down and give those hiking boots a break?
Swing over to Avant Garde Aleworks, of course!
A sweet little brewery located just outside of downtown, Avant Garde was founded by the rarest of rare humans in that tiny tourist town: an Estes Park (and therefore Colorado) native!
Owner Christian Newendorp founded Avant Garde with the goal of making all the beer he wanted to drink, but could never find in Estes. For the most part, this included Saisons, Belgian Abbey Styles, and older and less popular European beers. A longtime homebrewer, Christian worked with these styles of beer, gave them his own unique twist, and finally, on July 4th, 2019 he made the leap to commercial brewing, opening Avant Garde with the help of family members. Before doing so, however, he did his commercial brewing homework, shadowing and learning from well-established brewers including Jim McCann from Tommyknocker, Charlie Hoxmeier from Gilded Goat, and Shaun Salyards, who is now with Snowbank Brewing.
The best part about it? The other brewers were welcoming and encouraging, something that only reinforced Christian’s belief that he had made the right decision in joining the craft brewing industry.
It’s this tight-knit craft community that we, here at Root Shoot, have to thank for sending Avant Garde our way! Industry friends, including another local Estes Park craft beverage producer, Elkins Distilling, recommended Root Shoot to Christian, he tried us out, and the rest is happy, beer-drinking history. We go hike, mountain bike, and explore RMNP, then we swing by Avant Garde to rest our weary legs and enjoy a Farmhouse Saison…made with local malt that we produced before bailing on all of our work duties to go hike, bike, and have fun.
Avant Garde is so invested in learning about their local ingredients that they brought the whole staff to the malthouse and it’s been a mutually beneficial and educational experience. We’re able to show them how we grow grain and turn it into malt, all just 45 minutes from their brewery, and they have helped us grow (as so many of our brewers and distillers do) by working with them to refine and re-think recipes with our malt.
And the recipes are coming out killer! Their French Pilner ranks among Malthouse Manager Mike’s favorite beers of the year (a designation that Christian lists as one of his “proudest moments so far.” Maltster Mike knows beer!) That French Pilsner is also one of Christian’s favorite beers (we love it when brewers actually admit to having favorites!) along with the Altbier currently on tap. But they’ve got it all: light, dark, hoppy, saison-y - try a few of your standard types…then maybe branch out and try them all.
You just finished a hardcore hike.
You’ve earned a good beer in good company.
Cheers!
