Where Fort Collins drinks local: brewpubs, taprooms and the new wave.
Fort Collins calls itself the Craft Beer Capital of Colorado with a straight face, and the numbers back the swagger. This city of under 200,000 people supports more than a dozen working breweries, anchored by two 1989-vintage pioneers: Odell Brewing on Lincoln Avenue and CooperSmith's Pub and Brewing on Old Town Square, joined by the basement startup that became New Belgium Brewing, whose Fat Tire amber ale carried the city's name across the country. The clustering is what makes Fort Collins special for a drinker. You can walk from Old Town Square to the River District and pass CooperSmith's, Equinox, Salt Road, Hello Brew and New Belgium inside twenty minutes on foot, then follow Lincoln Avenue out to Odell without ever needing a car.
The scene splits into three tiers. The big two, New Belgium and Odell, run polished campus taprooms with tours, lawns and food trucks. A middle generation, Equinox, Horse and Dragon, Zwei, Maxline and Gilded Goat, holds down neighbourhood rooms across Midtown and the west side. And a newer wave, Purpose Brewing and Cellars under former New Belgium brewmaster Peter Bouckaert, Salt Road with its all-Colorado ingredient sourcing, and Czech-lager specialist Hello Brew Co, keeps the city's brewing honest and experimental. Bring a bike: most taprooms sit on the city's flat grid of cycle lanes, and the beer culture and bike culture here are the same culture.
Start at CooperSmith's on Old Town Square, brewing on site since 1989, then cut through Old Firehouse Alley to Salt Road Brewing, opened in 2023 with ingredients sourced from Colorado partners. Two blocks south, Equinox Brewing on Remington Street pours balanced ales with Postcard Pan Pizza operating inside the taproom. Walk north on Linden Street into the River District for Hello Brew Co's Czech-style lagers in a 1904 bungalow, finishing at New Belgium's mothership at 500 Linden Street for a tour and a Fat Tire at the source.
Odell Brewing at 800 East Lincoln Avenue remains the local's choice among the big rooms: 90 Shilling amber ale has been the city's default pint since 1989, the patio hosts live music on Wednesdays, and the adjacent OBC Wine Project shares a patio and pours Odell's own wines. New Belgium, a few minutes west on Linden Street, counters with brewery tours, La Folie sour ale and the Tour de Fat costumed bike parade, a Fort Collins institution that returns every August.
South College Avenue and Mason Street hide a second brewery district. Zwei Brewing pours German-style lagers and weissbier, Maxline Brewing rotates food trucks beside its West Coast IPA, Gilded Goat brews under a CSU microbiology PhD, and Purpose Brewing and Cellars releases four or five new small-batch beers every weekend. West of the university, Stodgy Brewing on Laporte Avenue and Mythmaker Brewing on South Taft Hill Road serve their own neighbourhoods, both walkable from the City Park area.
Time a visit to Fort Collins Beer Week in late June, when the Fort Collins Brewers Association programmes tastings and events across the city's taprooms, or New Belgium's Tour de Fat bike parade in late August. Horse and Dragon runs Ciao, Summer!, a session-beer festival where every pour comes in at 5.5% ABV or below, in September. CooperSmith's and the downtown breweries also anchor Great Plates of Downtown Fort Collins each March, when brewpub menus run multi-course deals.
New Belgium Brewing pours Fat Tire and La Folie at its Linden Street mothership in Fort Collins, with tours, food trucks and the Tour de Fat bike parade.
Tip: Book the 90-minute brewery tour ahead; it ends in the foeder hall where the sour programme lives. Tour de Fat returns 29 August 2026.
Odell Brewing has anchored Fort Collins beer since 1989; 90 Shilling and Lagerado pour at the Lincoln Avenue taproom with live music every Wednesday.
Tip: The OBC Wine Project shares a patio at 824 East Lincoln; run club meets there Tuesdays before discounted pints.
CooperSmith's Pub and Brewing opened on Old Town Square in 1989 as Fort Collins' first brewpub, pouring Punjabi Pale Ale beside its own billiards hall.
Tip: The billiards room at 7 Old Town Square reopened in March 2026 with its own taps; pub food runs until close on the main side.
Equinox Brewing has poured balanced ales on Remington Street since 2010, a block off Old Town Square in Fort Collins, with Postcard Pan Pizza in the taproom.
Tip: Postcard Pan Pizza operates inside the taproom, so you can eat properly without leaving your pint. Beer garden out back.
Horse and Dragon Brewing pours small-batch beer on Racquette Drive in Fort Collins and hosts Ciao, Summer!, a festival where every beer stays sessionable.
Tip: Ciao, Summer! lands 20 September 2026 with twelve session beers; the taproom closes early most weekdays, so check before a late run.
Purpose Brewing and Cellars is Peter Bouckaert's tiny Fort Collins taproom on South Mason Street: four or five new beers a weekend, barrels and sours first.
Tip: Bouckaert spent 21 years as New Belgium's brewmaster; whatever barrel-aged beer is on this weekend is the order. Closed Monday to Wednesday.
Maxline Brewing keeps Midtown Fort Collins in West Coast IPA, Liquid Disco hazy and an award-winning Irish red, with food trucks and patio live music.
Tip: Food trucks rotate nightly, from The Schnitzel Wagon to Pig Pickin' BBQ; check the calendar to match dinner to your pint.
Zwei Brewing brews Fort Collins' German-style lagers, weissbier and helles on South Mason Street, open daily with Vienna lager usually on the board.
Tip: The name means two in German. Order the helles first; the lager programme is the whole point of the place.
Gilded Goat Brewing runs a Midtown taproom and an Old Town satellite on Mountain Avenue in Fort Collins; the head brewer holds a CSU microbiology PhD.
Tip: The Old Town satellite at 132 West Mountain Avenue keeps its own shorter week: closed Mondays, open from 15:00 Tuesday and Wednesday.
Salt Road Brewing opened in 2023 in Old Firehouse Alley in Fort Collins, brewing from Colorado-grown ingredients with a 2026 Brewers Cup medal already.
Tip: Tucked behind Illegal Pete's off Old Town Square; the beer garden is dog friendly and Young Dukinfield, its UK-style amber, took 2026 gold.
Stodgy Brewing pours beer made with Colorado-grown ingredients on Laporte Avenue in west Fort Collins and runs the DeTour de Stodgy ride each August.
Tip: There is no phone; the brewery answers email only. The DeTour de Stodgy on 29 August runs 09:00 to 20:00.
Rally King Brewing turns a founder's 80-plus homebrew competition awards into the taplist at this South Lemay Avenue taproom in Fort Collins, since 2015.
Tip: Surfer Girl IPA and the blood orange sour are the regulars' picks; the room is small, so weekends fill fast.
Intersect Brewing pours West Coast and East Coast IPAs, goses, lagers and stouts on West Drake Road in Fort Collins, a west-side taproom since 2016.
Tip: The taplist updates weekly on the site; west-side locals treat it as their default room, so parking is easier than Old Town.
DC Oakes Brewhouse and Eatery brews its own IPA and Mexican lager on the Harmony corridor in Fort Collins, with burgers, brunch and a late kitchen.
Tip: Weekend brunch runs 09:00 to 12:00; the kitchen closes an hour before the bar, which stays open to midnight on Friday and Saturday.
Hello Brew Co pours Czech-style lagers and hazy IPAs from a 1904 bungalow on Linden Street in Fort Collins' River District, a 2022 arrival on the scene.
Tip: The bungalow is tiny and the patio does the heavy lifting; no phone, so check the site for tap updates before you set out.
Mythmaker Brewing keeps an ever-evolving small-batch taplist on South Taft Hill Road in west Fort Collins, a neighbourhood taproom open every day.
Tip: The small brew system means the board changes constantly; whatever you liked last visit is probably gone, which is the charm.
The city supports more than a dozen operating breweries and brewpubs, from the New Belgium and Odell campuses down to one-room neighbourhood taprooms like Mythmaker Brewing and Hello Brew Co. Most sit within a short bike ride of Old Town.
Odell Brewing's Lincoln Avenue taproom is the consensus first stop: 90 Shilling at the source, a big patio, food trucks and the OBC Wine Project next door. Pair it with New Belgium's tour on Linden Street for the full 1989-vintage origin story.
Yes. CooperSmith's, Salt Road, Equinox, Hello Brew and New Belgium all sit within a twenty-minute walk of each other across Old Town and the River District. Odell is a further fifteen minutes east along Lincoln Avenue.
Fat Tire amber ale from New Belgium and 90 Shilling from Odell are the two flagships that built the city's reputation. Beyond those, look for Zwei's German lagers, Purpose's barrel-aged and sour beers, and Hello Brew's Czech-style pilsners.
Fort Collins Beer Week runs in late June, organised by the Fort Collins Brewers Association across the city's taprooms. New Belgium's Tour de Fat follows in late August, and Horse and Dragon's Ciao, Summer! session-beer festival lands in September.