Visited on: Wednesday 6th June 2018
Bob Thompson
Just in case you thought that a letter had dropped out of the title of this brew-pub you would be wrong. No creatures are involved in the operation or brewing of beers in this establishment.
It is actually named after the river that passes close by. In fact it has a very pleasant location on the river bank giving it a rural feel even though it’s just off the main drag.
As you can see from the photograph it is a pleasant-looking pub that has a nice terrace area underneath the trees. Inside it is a medium sized room which was absolutely packed when we called in. The bar counter is on the right side with the brewery to found at the far end. The rest of the room is occupied by a mixture of high and low wooden tables some with bench seats.
The pub opened on Saturday 27th December 2014 and was the inspiration of Scott Bickert who had long been a face on the Durango brewing scene as brewer or manager. His last position before going it alone was at Durango Brewing Co. He installed a ten barrel (bbls) plant in the building that was last used by a bird seed retailer trading as “For the Birds”.
The extensive range of beers offered when we visited was: Riverside Kölsch (5.2%), classic German style; Fisherman’s Brown (4.8%), an English brown ale; Hogsback Black (5.3%), a black lager; Box Car Red (6.1%), an American red ale; Class VI IPA (6.9%), an American IPA and Upper “A” Imperial Red (7.8%), an imperial or double version of an Irish red ale.
The list continues with All Forward Farmhouse (7.3%), a Belgian saison; Low Flow Stout (4.9%), a session stout; Purple Cliffs Porter (5.2%), an English Porter; Lost Souls Lager (6.2%), a strong lager and What’s up Wit (5.6%), a Belgian wheat beer.
We were able to taste a number of them and our thoughts were as follows: Low Flow Stout was served by mixed gas and we thought was a bit thin to begin with but it grew on us. It was in the Irish dry style and we concluded it was very good indeed.
Fisherman’s Brown was a reasonable beer, again a bit thin, but not tasting much like a brown ale. Boxcar Red was excellent because although it had the correct red ale taste it also was quite bitter in body and also in the after taste.
We continued with Upper “A” Imperial Red Ale which was even more bitter than the Boxcar Red. It was excellent with a full-bodied taste. Hogsback Black is a lager although more of a dark brown in colour than black. True to its style it wasn’t very bitter and had a roast malt taste. Class VI IPA had a slightly resinous taste and there was also citrus in the main and after tastes. Riverside Kölsch was just a little sweet for the style yet was thoroughly enjoyed by the tasting panel.
Important Information:
Animas Brewing Company, 1560 East 2nd Avenue, Durango, Colorado 81301. Tel: 970 403 8850
Web: animasbrewing.com
Sunday/Tuesday-Thursday: 11.00-21.00; Monday: 16.00-21.00; Friday-Saturday: 11.00-22.00
Durango can be reached by Greyhound Bus and by air to its Regional Airport.
