The Tasty Weasel Taproom

Magic happens at this place. We wanted to see how it all happens, so we headed to Longmont with friends for a tour and some beer! Oskar Blues is the first micro-brewery to can their beer instead of bottling it. This is a good thing because it makes recycling much easier. For example, if you're hiking in the woods and you decide carry beer in for a refreshing drink, you can drink your beer, crush the can and carry the can back out to a garbage without worrying about breaking glass or even the weight of the glass. Being able to crush the can after drinking is great because it takes up less space. They've also done a great job with the aluminum, so that the beer doesn't have a tin/aluminum taste to it.

There's beer brewing in this big thing. It's huge and there are ton of them.

Our husbands were mesmerized by our tour guide Noah, who just happens to be Justin and Heather's brother-in-law. He's not really a tour guide, but an actual brewer. Is that what they're called? Anyway, he definitely knows his beer. You can ask him any beer question and he probably knows the answer. I couldn't stump him.

Here's a bucket of bubbles. I think this has something to do with the yeast and the CO2. Whatever it's doing is good because it means the yeast is working.

Here we have some malt that is used to make beer. We got a little taste. They taste like Grape Nuts in case you were wondering. If you've had Grape Nuts then you know what this malt tastes like.

But, then again, there are different flavors of malt. Some are crunchier than others and some are sweeter than others.

Now this stuff here are hops. If you know beer you know hops. Noah tried to tell us that there is a sweet smell to this stuff, but I thought it just smelled like. . .well, maybe you can guess. I did find out that these hops are cousins to that stuff that is now legal to smoke in our colorful state of Colorado.

Riding a bike in this facility makes people work more effectively, I think. Or maybe it just makes it more fun.

You also have your choice of skateboards. This makes walking seem so mundane, so grab a pair of wellies and go for spin!

I did listen to some of the things we were taught on the tour. See this big thing? I still don't know what it's called, but you can get a sense for how big it really is since our husbands are standing next to it.  It holds a ton of beer. It's estimated that all the beer in it can fill 66,000 cans. Seriously. 

Now wouldn't you just love a beer fridge this size? Yeah.

We ladies were even given beer can necklaces. I think they're for peanuts, or not. Who knows. They're fun and now you wish you had one too, right?

This awesome thing cans all the beer. It is able to can up to 280 cans per minute. Now that's fast!

It's huge and my photo doesn't do it justice. The cans get all pretty and printed here too.

Back in the taproom with our lovely husbands and Noah, the beer master. 

If you're in Colorado you really should visit this place. You can just hang out, get a tour, or just drink some really good beer.

You can even get a little skee ball in if you're up to it. They hold tournaments and you can probably join a team too.

Sadly, not all the beer passes inspection to be sold in stores because they're dented or something. We thought we'd do our part by taking some of that beer off their hands for them. Thank you, Noah! You were a fabulous host and tour guide.

After our tasty tour we headed over to Osker Blues Grill where they serve home made liquids and solids.

Now this beer here was quite tasty. It might have been my favorite. How can you not like an Old Chub? It's like Sputnik. The alcohol content was a bit high for me, so I settled for Mama's Little Yella Pils during our tour. It was equally as good as Old Chub.

Here's a fun fact for you. Whenever you purchase any Oskar Blues beer be sure to turn the can over. They like to print funny messages on the bottom. This particular batch says, "Sean Hates Chicken." Sean, what's wrong with you? Everyone loves chicken. That concludes what I can remember of fun filled brewery tour. You can check out the rest of the photos from the tour HERE.