Spirit Hound Distillers

Being a Chicago native, the mountains are a bit foreign to me. I was out here on vacation headed up to the hotel where The Shining was filmed (locals will say it's the Stanley Hotel, but I still submit that it's the hotel where The Shining was filmed.)  On the way up, and already a few beers deep, our DD/mountain man tour guide/my sister's boyfriend drove us to Spirit Hound for a quick drink.

The place is very laid back and very cool.  For a Saturday afternoon, things were pretty quiet and the bartender was more than happy to talk with us city folk. Their infused vodkas are pretty good, but I'm not much of a vodka fan so I'm sure the effort was lost on me.  They do have a list of menu drinks you can order off of and the one I had with ginger beer completely hit the spot for a warm afternoon.

Plus, they have pinball.  Not much more to say about that except that pinball is awesome. And I suck at it.

If you're looking for a cool place to stop in on the way up to Estes Park, this is definitely a solid choice. It will be even more of a solid choice when they have whiskey which I believe is years rather than weeks away.  But it's all alcohol, right?

We were en route to Estes Park when I noticed a big sign that read "Distillery".  1 U-turn later we were at the font door.  According to the sign, we were 1 hour too early, but the owner invited us in, let us look around, and taste booze.  

He makes whiskey (which wasn't ready yet, darn it), vodka, infused vodkas, gin, and a coffee liqueur.  The vodka was incredibly smooth, his infused were cinnamon, hot pepper, and a couple others that I forget right now, but the hot pepper was nice and spicy.  The gin blew me away, I couldn't believe how smooth it was, something I can easily sip on with no mixer.  I ended up taking a bottle of both up to our cabin for the weekend.

The price is right too, less than $33 for each bottle.  He also sells down in Denver as well, so if I were you I'd look them up.

I wish I could remember his name, because he really was friendly, knowledgeable, and enthusiastic about his craft.  The place looks precisely like it should, a rustic, open mountain spot with the feel of the Old West.  I am very glad I discovered this place, and it will be a stop for me each time I head this way!

Cheers!

This was a random find, but a very happy one.

We were up on our way to Oskar Blues and saw "Distillery" which of course piqued the interest of our car folks. On the way back, we needed gas, and conveniently the distillery is right next door.

Two of us stayed to get gas, and the other two walked over to check it out. Once we were done with the gas, we popped on over ourselves to find our friends engaged in conversation with the distiller and bartender.

The place inside is really cool. It's like a log cabin, with cute design and old pin ball machines. I liked it. It has a second level area for bands to play which is nice so they don't get in the way. It also has a flag hanging that says Freak. Let that freak flag fly!!

I didn't drink anything. You know me. But, my friends did, and their drinks looked amazeballs. The bartender/tasting room lady did a great job making those drinks. They have different flavored vodkas (hot pepper, cinnamon, and peppermint) which all looked pretty nice.

If I lived out here, this would be a fun local to have.