Drinking Royal Gorge Brew Pub (@RGBrewPub)

My sister and her family were recently visiting Colorado and one of the things they wanted to do was check out the Royal Gorge. We headed down to Cañon City with them for a couple of days.

The first night we were there, I mentioned to my wife that I wanted to go to the Royal Gorge Brewing Co. As far as I know, this is the only local brew-pub. I actually did not intend for this to be a suggestion for dinner, but no one else had an idea on where to go, and my wife brought it up to the other adults.

So we ended up going. My sister has a weird psychotic hatred of beer. My brother-in-law is a BMC ... fizzy yellow beer sort of guy. He tries to be open to flavorful craft beer, but is just not quite there yet. Obviously, the 5 boys don't drink beer. I am not sure this is the right group with which to eat at a local brew-pub.

The service left much to be desired. They were clearly understaffed that night. We were seated right away, but even though we clearly had lots of children were not given any children menus. When we asked for some it took a long time for us to get any. It took a long time to get our drink order in. It took even longer to get our food order in.

But I sure thought they had a good line-up of beers.



I started with a Territorial IPA, which was great. It is has that nice American citrus hop flavor without being too bitter. The malt bill was great. It was a wonderful IPA. My wife and brother-in-law both made nasty faces when they tasted it.

Territorial IPA

My brother-in-law ordered a Red Ryeder, which is an American Red some rye in the grain bill. He made a comment that it was "dark". He also made a comment that it was malty. It was. It was a nice, almost sweet, very malty caramelly beer. The rye gave it a bit of spicyness, but was not in anyway overpowering. It was another great beer.

My wife had a Petite Fleur Saison. This farmhouse ale had a bit of the barnyard funk, but not too much. It was very floral with lots of lavender. It tasted to me and my wife like it had a fair amount of coriander as well, although the description did not mention it. The saison yeast gave a slight peppery character as well. This was an awesome tasting summer saison IMO.

My sister had water. No, not Bud Light ... actual water. I thought their water was fantastic as well.

I got a "flight" of sample tasters as well. In addition to the beers mentioned already, I had:

Big House Brown Ale ... nice rich chocolatey yummy and smooth. It might have been my favorite of the night.

Blanche De Colorado ... A witbier brewed with a high percentage of flaked wheat. This was my wife's favorite. I thought it was good too. Not too much belgium funk. Just an nice light colored smooth well done wit.

Oatmeal Stout ... Nicely balanced creamy beer with just the right amount of coffee / stout flavor in it. Another great beer.

I had a chicken-pot-pie which I thought was good. Overall, the food was good, but certainly not great.

We saw this in the park we went to after dinner.

I am glad I went, but considering the company, I wish I would have gone with just my family where a higher percentage of the people would have enjoyed the beer, which was, as it should be, the best part of the experience. I have no idea if the slow service is in anyway typical. It certainly could have been a complete anomaly. 

If I am in the area again, I will be sure to stop by to try more of their beers.