Welcome to Out on the Town: The chronicles-adventures of two super heros, Kristi and Brian Buss.  In November of ‘09 we packed up our Lincolnville home, created room in the moving van for our two dogs, LA (Little Agnes) and Gigi and drove away from the humidity, sunburns and mosquitos of Florida in search of four seasons,skiing, open minded people, and good micro brews.  Fort Collins bound, we arrived 4 days later thanks to “Claire” our GPS navigator. Colorado greeted us with a hard rain which turned to sleet which turned to snow.  Ah, snow at last.

We traded this:                                                   For this:

I intend to use the Out on the Town portion of my blog to give praise to all of the above-average people, marvelous places, and extraordinary things we experience in Fort Collins.

Our first outing in Fort Collins was the free tour of New Belgium Brewery. It’s really the talk of the town and you can’t visit here with out stopping by to see their waaaaay out of the box operation.  I’ve been a long New Belgium Brewery fan having tried Fat Tire only once when my mom gifted me a 6 pack after returning from a vacation out west.

The New Belgiumites really love their jobs and it shows.  Our spunky tour guide said she had been applying for a job with New Belgium for three years.  Employee owned, it’s the ideal place to work.  Friendly, and informed, the crew here work as if tomorrow does matter.   Their beer is efficiently brewed, the building is green designed, and in 1999, New Belgium became the largest private consumer of wind-power electricity.  In my opinion, no one has done more for biking in Fort Collins than New Belgium Brewery.  This community is pedal powered and laid out for bikers.  New Belgium even got me excited about biking again.  I sold my car and bought a used bike from the Fort Collins Bike Co-Op.  I wanted to feel a part of this community and I did just as soon as I greased my chain and coasted down the road.  I even joined New Belgium’s Team Wonderbike and pledged to ride 50 miles a month.

Bike riders at New Belgium park near the front door.  Gas guzzling SUV’s park at the far far end of the lot.  The more fuel efficient and environmentally friendly your vehicle is, the closer you are allowed to park.  Nice idea.

Oh, I haven’t mentioned that New Belgium has really, really excellent brews too.  My favorite today is Mothership Wit.  My wife swears Mothership Wit is brewed with bananas.  Beats me.  You get a lot more than just beer at New Belgium.

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