What's in Boulder?

Mountain dreams more often than not become reality in this little corner of the front range Rockies.  A sort of beer meets trail ethic has taken shape in Boulder since the very beginning of the microbrew

revolution that is still being carved out of the culture as we speak.  Many stories begin by the chemistry major tinkering with the bold concoction of yeast and hops in a single vat out in the garage; stories now unfold in which the micro connoisseur hand picks local ingredients only for small

batches of Saisons that are distributed small scale, but capture a region.  In Boulder, the vast sky is the limit.  For every hiker who has ever mentioned off-handedly that, as they cross over the summit of a long and arduous alpine trail, that they fantasize that this would be a perfect location for a small brewery – out in the woods itself, the beer drawing on not only the surrounding flavors, but that

utterly chill moment when horizons merge to happy hour, well, Upslope Brewery has done it.  There is such a thing as the backcountry "pop up" tap. That is to say, not a trail mirage, but look, along that trail that you have been hiking up to 8,000 feet to Vance's Cabin, a member rental of the 10th

mountain division, has an Upslope makeshift tap shack offering you one free beer (introducing Fresh Hop IPA), and then offering purchase of only two more cans of any kind (they do want hikers to have

the wherewithal to get back "downslope."  Across the trail, one would hope, someday anyway, that the pop-up gourmet pub food bistro will someday devise a way to lure those beer drinkers over a flatiron rock for an Alpine tapas or two.