A few weeks ago, I had a post on the brewpubs of Steamboat Springs. (Click here to see that entry.) At the time I included a microbrewery we visited in Georgetown, CO, about an hour's drive west of Denver. Then I realized after the fact that it probably needed its own entry. The brewpub was fun and fascinating, and the back story of how it came to be was also pretty interesting.
Situated at just over 8500 feet above sea level and a few miles east of the Continental Divide off I-70, Georgetown is a historic, yet touristy town that reminded me a lot of Galena, IL. My wife and I stopped in Georgetown to look around and we found a brew pub near the downtown area called Guanella Pass Brewery. The brew pub takes its name from the high mountain pass of the same name located about 10 miles south of Georgetown on a scenic road that is open from Memorial Day to the end of November.
Steve Skalski got his start in the business world working for EchoStar, the Denver-based company that operated Dish Network. Skalski was in charge of EchoStar's interests in China for a number of years before moving back to the U.S. in 2011. He eventually became the head of a company that designed and installed interactive entertainment and business systems in Hyatt hotels across the country before going to work for another communications company in California.
One thing that Skalski loved was craft beer. He started to brew his own beer at home and became friends with his neighbor Jon Strother who also brewed his own beers. The two would brew beers together before Skalski decided that he wanted to get serious about it. With the blessing of his wife, Skalski quit the corporate world, grew his hair long and grew a beard. He then enrolled at the Siebel Institute in Chicago and their prestigious brewmaster course. In the meantime, Strother got some advanced brew-training at Regis University in Denver.
Skalski and his wife, Stacey, began to look for a building that would house their microbrewery. But they found real estate around Denver to be cost prohibitive. However, one day Steve found a building for sale in Georgetown - it was built in 1943 as a gas station, but had been an antique shop for a number of years. The building was in a sad state of disrepair and the price was right. The Skalski's bought the building, rehabbed it into a brewery and brought in Jon Strother to help with the operation. They opened Guanella Pass Brewery in the late summer of 2017.
As we were driving back to Denver from Steamboat Springs, we stopped in Georgetown to use the restroom. My wife wanted me to drive toward the downtown area to check the place out. We found the main street through the heart of downtown was closed off. We were guessing they did that for the loads of people who come out from Denver - 45 miles to the east - on the weekends. We walked around to a few shops, but I became quickly bored seeing knick-knacks, trinkets, and figurines. My wife dangled the carrot of finding a brewpub after she was finished going through some of the stores.
Getting back to the car, we did a quick search for breweries in the area. The first one that came up was Guanella Pass, just a block off the main shopping street in town. We pulled into a parking lot across from the brewery and went in. (see map)
Guanella Pass Brewery is not a big place. It sort of reminded me somewhat of Storm Peak back in Steamboat, only much more cozy. It seemed that we were right in the middle of the brewery operation enjoying a fresh beer. There was a small bar area where you placed your order for their beers. They had 12 beers on tap and we decided to taste 4 of them to start out.
There is a patio off to the side of the building, but it was pretty brisk in the mountains that day so we ended up at a bench near the window. We're glad we came in when we did because they got pretty busy. The place seated - maybe - 18 people inside.
We tried four beers - the Clear Creek hazy New England IPA that was delicious, a wheat and rye IPA that was all right, an Oktoberfest Märzen that I liked, and the Liquid Gold double IPA that was also very good. I decided on getting a pint of the hazy IPA. My wife took a half pint of the same beer.
They also had pizza by the slice at Guanella Pass. They opened a second location with a pizza kitchen in the town of Empire about 7 miles away from Georgetown in April of this year and they would ship their Detroit-style pizza over to warm up in a pizza oven. My wife thought she should have something to tide her over until dinner in Denver that evening and we both got a slice of their pepperoni pizza. It was thicker than Detroit-style that I've had in the past - more like the crust-less deep dish pizza that we both love from Pequod's in Chicago. But it was very good. The pepperoni was salty and spicy, which went well with the beer. And the sauce was sweet and tangy. I would have been happy having a couple more pieces along with a couple more beers and not eating dinner that evening. But we needed to move on to Denver.
It turned out that Guanella Pass Brewery was a great find on our trip to Colorado earlier this year. Their New England-style hazy IPA was a great beer, their Detroit-style pizza - although made in the kitchen of their sister brewpub and brought over to the Georgetown location - was very good, and the small cozy atmosphere with the seating within the brewing was a nice touch. We never did venture out to the patio, but if we would have been dressed for it better, it would have been a great place to hang. If you're headed west from Denver and have the time to stop into Georgetown, don't forget to stop in to Guanella Pass Brewery.
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