It Begins!!!!!

So we are off. On January 28th, 2012, Jason and I visited our first trio of breweries. I will be reviewing them one at a time. That fart knocker J can do it however he likes. While the format may change, I plan on giving an overview of the trip, a bit of history of the brewery and a link to their website. The first brewery on our Magical Beer Adventure, was Equinox Brewery in Fort Collins www.equinoxbrewing.com
Equinox was originally a beer and wine making store. I am assuming that at some point they figured they already had the shit laying around to make beer and they were smack dab in the middle of the beer drinkinist city in the world, so they figured why not start making and selling it. So in April of 2010, that's exactly what they did. Equinox, to me, is where locals in the know go to have their beer. The tasting room is fairly small and their beer is not as well known around the country as places like New Belgium's or Odell's. This means that even friends of mine in Fort Collins have not had the pleasure of having their beers. They do not widely bottle their beers and you can only get it in a select number of bars around town. Their policy, which I love, is that they will only take their beer to places in town that are within walking distance as they deliver everything with a hand truck. The tasting room is nice, if a bit small. The servers were friendly and helpful and they made available cheese danishes from a local bakeshop that are amazing.
A bit on the trip. This first brewery day almost did not happen as I was driving up from Denver and hit the mother of all traffic jams on I-25. I am a patient man, but I almost said "fuck it" and turned around. After seemingly 73 days of travel to cover the 45 miles or so to J's house, I picked him up and we ventured to Fort Collins. After a pit stop to pick up essential Girl Scout Cookies, we met up with some very good friends that will probably be joining us for many trips. It was lovely to have Kim Carlson and Bill and Jen Kohler join us for the day.
Ze Beers!
All of my notes for the first brewery are written on a servers check because, showing the full extent off our dedication and preparation for this trip, we had forgot notebooks. I got a sampler of 6 beers and will review them in the order I tasted them.

Sunrise Golden Ale 5.25% ABV
One of their more popular beers. It is a golden colored, slightly murky beer. The initial taste reminded me of some pilsners I have had but with a more hoppy and floral finish. Easy to drink and enjoyable.

I gave it a 6/10.

Orion Irish Red 5.25%ABV
An interesting Red. I am not normally a big fan of Red's, but this one is very enjoyable. There is a nice but subdued toffee smell and flavor to this beer. I finished the sample quickly. I gave it a 7/10.

Eclipse Brown Ale 5.25% ABV
Probably the beer that people talked about the most. This beer won the bronze medal at the 2010 Great American Beer Fest. I love this beer, it was my second favorite of the offerings at Equinox. It has hints of coffee and is a very smooth drinker.

I gave it an 8/10.

Inertia English IPA 6.1% ABV
I am a very recent convert to IPA's. I generally find them too hoppy, floral and bitter for my taste. It was with great surprise then, that I found this to not only be my favorite beer that Equinox makes, but it was y favorite I tried all day. It is smooth and not overly hoppy, great aromas and hints of fruit. The aftertaste was amazing which I don't often find in IPA's .

I gave it a 9/10.

Enjoy the good ones, cause it goes downhill.

Zenith IPA 6% ABV
Everything I said I hated about IPA's was true about this beer. WAY too hoppy, very bitter and the aftertaste made me take huge bites of my cheese danish to cleanse my palate. Worst of the brewery,

2/10.

Mr. Delicious Oatmeal Stout 5.25% ABV
Did not enjoy this either. It tasted like they had burned the oatmeal while making this. I renamed it Mr Below Average Oatmeal Stout.

3/10.
 
So there you have it. My first reviews. Feel free to comment below on what you thought of my taste in beers or in my use of the English language. I look forward to mocking you for disagreeing with me.