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Passing the first restaurant liquor licence, 1969. Courtesy of the Fort Collins Museum of Discovery.

The first drink legally served in a restaurant, 1969. Courtesy of the Fort Collins Museum of Discovery. 

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Fort Collins enacted Prohibition Laws in 1896. Colorado ended prohibition along with the rest of America in 1933, but Fort Collins still didn't allow full strength alcohol. Citizens continued to drink alcohol illegally in restaurants, clubs, and speakeasies.

This proved to be a problem for Fort Collins businesses attempting to compete with nearby towns, especially as automobiles made travel easier. Fort Collins had legalized the sale of 3.2% beer but prohibition continued to hurt businesses. 

Finally, in October of 1969, Fort Collins City Council fully repealed prohibition laws. The first liquor license was granted to Les Ware, owner of the Top Restaurant on the top floor of the now-closed Rocky Mountain Bank and Trust Building. 

The end of prohibition in Fort Collins attracted attention from across the town and surrounding areas. Ware paid photographers to commemorate the event and cement the Top’s place in history. Reporters joined the celebration as well. According to a Coloradoan article covering the event, “The first legal drink of spirituous liquor sold in Ft. Collins since 1896 was served about 5:00 p.m. August 8.”

The Top Restaurant

Instructor

This short tour through central and northeastern Fort Collins was created by selecting Clio entries created by Thomas Cauvin and his students at Colorado State University. The tour includes numerous current and former breweries as well as sites connected to the history of prohibition. 

<div>Equinox was started in 2010 by Co-founder Colin Westcott and his wife Shannon. The idea for the brewery happened when one day, Colin was relaxing at a river with his children on the first day of fall. While enjoying his time, his wife suggested that they name their brewery after the equinox that also marks the start of spring. When Colin heard this, he liked the concept of looking forward to a new season and reflecting upon the past, which captured his brewing philosophy of creating both traditional and non-traditional style beer.</div><div><br></div><div>One of the aspects that makes Equinox unique compared to other breweries is its emphasis on creating a community through a public house style bar. Pubs which originated in Europe, were used as central locations for workers to meet with the community and form bonds with their neighbors. At these locations, people didn’t just drink, but they engaged in community-oriented activities such as music and dancing which fostered a sense of interconnectedness. However, the U.S. does not have a long tradition of this, and for much of American history, traditional bars dominated. In these bars, people who are underage are not allowed inside, and much of the focus is highly on men looking to get drunk. It wasn’t until the craft revolution began in the 1980’s that the idea of exclusionary bars started to lose popularity.</div><div><br></div><div>Equinox noticed this emerging market and capitalized on it quickly. They do this in a couple of ways that make them unique to bars or other breweries. First off, they “focus on the social aspects of beer, bringing people out of their homes into a public house to enjoy good beer and good conversation.” To accomplish this objective, they don’t allow things like TV’s, and instead, they provide free live music on Friday and Saturday. Along with entertainment, Equinox limits their hours in an attempt to attract a more family-oriented crowd by closing their doors at 8 p.m. on weekdays, and 10 p.m. on weekends.</div>

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Equinox is one of the newest additions to Fort Collins’s rapidly expanding brewery market and opened in 2010. Their philosophy of making beer is to capture the essence of both traditional and non-traditional styles while providing a pub house location to socialize within the community.

Equinox Brewing

Established in 1989, Coopersmith's is the longest continuously operating craft brewery in Fort Collins1. Over that time period, the&nbsp;brewery has produced 150 recipes and consistently&nbsp;carries&nbsp;15 selections for patrons to choose from2. Their success has set the standard for companies like it in Fort Collins.&nbsp;The area where the brewery is settled was not nearly as bustling as it is today. The establishment of the pub allowed other businesses to flourish and create Fort Collin's staple district: Old Town2. Old Town Square was largely considered out of the way and mostly barren. The draw of locals to the spot gave other businesses a crowd to market to.&nbsp;

The oldest pub-brewery in Fort Collins, Coopersmith's has rich history with the community and the craft beer culture of the town. Although Fort Collins has over 15 breweries today, at the time of Coopersmith's creation in 1989, Fort Collins only had six breweries. The pub is named after the founder, Scott Smith's, son Cooper. Scott sold off a majority of his ownership in 2014 to long time employees, keeping the rich tradition of the venue alive. 

Coopersmith's Pub and Brewing

Named after a commonplace to water horses, the Town Pump opened its doors February 26, 1909, making it the first bar (not saloon)&nbsp;to open&nbsp;in Fort Collins, CO. Saloons were old-timey and Western in setting, while bars began to emerge as a modern hang-out for individuals.&nbsp;While Fort Collins experienced its own Prohibition period from 1896 to 1969, the Town Pump was one of the first bars given an alcohol license for 3.2%-or-less in the 1930s. During the Prohibition, the popular dive bar had a speak-easy in the basement and a drugstore on the main floor.&nbsp;&nbsp;With its underground speak-easy, Town Pump was able to be a main courier for bootleggers throughout Prohibition. <br>The Town Pump was also the first bar in Fort Collins&nbsp;to serve New Belgium's Fat Tire beer in 1991 when distribution methods for the Brewery began to form.&nbsp;<br>Today, the bar is widely known for its historical significance within Fort Collins' history (and the armadillo watching customers walk through its entrance!). Within the past year, the bar has collaborated with the first organic distillery in Fort Collins,&nbsp;Old Town Distilling, to produce "Town Pump Special Stock Whiskey". The bar also has its own beer, collaborated with Odell Brewing, named "Town Pump Pail Ale". Along with its own personal creations, the bar is has created its own unique community within Fort Collins' bar scene.&nbsp;

Town Pump, the first bar to receive an alcohol license during the city's Prohibition, remains a significant historical landmark in discovering the rich past of the Fort Collins' beer and brewing history. 

Town Pump: The First Bar

Fort Collins Bottleworks was a business in Old Town run by Robert Miller. The store bottled soda and beer through the late 1800s until prohibition was enacted. During prohibition, Miller continued to bottle soda and other soft drinks, but police were suspicious of Miller when they found that alcohol was still being shuttled in tunnels around the area of the Bottleworks. In 1905, the police came into Miller's store with a search warrant and began seeking out possible bootlegging. Miller became enraged and threw a glass bottle at one of the officers. Startled, the officer turned around and promptly shot him in the heart. Miller was a beloved member of the Fort Collins community who had been a businessman in the city since its inception, and was grieved by many.

Fort Collins Bottleworks

In 1989, Joseph Neckel, a certified German Brew Master, joined the micro-brewing revolution by starting the Old Colorado Brewing Co. Inspired by old brewing styles in his family that date back to the early 1900s, Nickel used his recipes to thrive in the craft beer scene.&nbsp;Located in the ground floor of the Northern Hotel, it eventually closed during the early 1990s.&nbsp;<br><br>However, the brewery was picked up again by Nickel's grandson, Brandon Nickel. In doing so, the brewery was brought back to life in 2015 in Wellington, approximately ten miles north of downtown Fort Collins.&nbsp;<br><br>Presently, the brewery resides in a five-story grain mill on the west side of the town. The mill, which was built in 1922, still contains its original walls, floors, and ceiling. To accommodate for brewing, Nickel has the space with the capacity to brew up to twenty beers. <br><br>While it no longer resides in the Northern Hotel, the brewery still offers a unique selection of beverages that tap into its historical roots.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Opened in 1989, the Old Colorado Brewing Co. was the first microbrewery in the city of Fort Collins. Located on the ground floor of the Northern Hotel in Old Town, it served as one of the forerunners during the micro-brewing revolution of the 1980s. While it is no longer running in Old Town, it is operational in nearby Wellington, Colorado.

Site of Old Colorado Brewing Co.

Opened in 1905 as the Northern Hotel, the hotel on the corner of Walnut Street and College Avenue has long been a staple in Fort Collins hospitality. Parties and galas have been frequent throughout the years at the Northern Hotel and its&nbsp;seen its fair share of distinguished guests as well. Even&nbsp;President Franklin Delano Roosevelt spoke at the hotel on one occasion (although he was running as the Democrat's vice-president candidate at the time). Naturally, with social events and gatherings comes the demand to consume alcohol as well. There was just one problem however. In 1896, Fort Collins started a city wide ban of alcohol which would last until 1969.&nbsp;<br><br>Ace Gillett, one of the Northern Hotel's more well known owners,&nbsp;would seek to get around that roadblock and tapped into the underground scene of drinking in Fort Collins at the time. Described by his daughter as a man who enjoyed a party, Gillett began selling alcoholic drinks to local residents and travelers alike secretly in the dining room of the hotel during the 1950s and 60s. Most authorities simply&nbsp;looked the other way and the service of alcoholic drinks continued through Fort Collins' eventual redaction of the liquor ban . <br><br>While the Northern Hotel certainly wasn't the only speakeasy in Fort Collins, it's still in operation today and visitors can still go inside and get a sense of what it may have been like to sneak a drink in the past.

Ace Gillett's Northern Hotel used to serve alocohlic drinks during the city and eventually nation-wide prohibition under the table to travelers and Fort Collins residents alike. 

Northern Hotel Speakeasy

During the late 1890s, temperance movements in Fort Collins took shape to make the sale and purchase of alcohol illegal in the city. By 1896, the movements got their wish when Prohibition came into effect. However, not everyone was supportive of the action. To continue the sale and purchase of alcohol, many individuals found a way around the new laws.<br><br>While some successfully bootlegged throughout the city, others were not as lucky. Offenders who were found bootlegging or being publicly intoxicated were arrested and taken into custody. Those who were arrested were detained in the Fort Collins city jail, but by the turn of the twentieth century, the jail became over-populated.&nbsp;<br><br>The drunk tank itself was constructed sometime between 1917 and 1925. Its original purpose is unknown, but it proved to be valuable to the city of Fort Collins. It served as an outflow cell for non-violent offenders. This structure offered a solution to the over-crowding in the city jail, and also provided separation between mild offenders and hardened criminals. It served its purpose&nbsp;until the end of the city's Prohibition&nbsp;in 1969.<br><br>Located at 244 Old Firehouse Alley in Old Town, Fort Collins, the drunk tank still stands as a memorial to the dry years of the city. Today, it looks a little different, as it was painted over and slightly renovated during the late 2000s. Visitors are free to look around. It is also a stop on numerous tours.<br><br>

Built between 1917 and 1925, the drunk tank in Old Firehouse Alley was used initially as an overflow cell for the city jail of Fort Collins, Colorado. However, its original purpose remains unknown. Yet, the tank proved to be valuable to the city, as the city jail became over-populated. During Prohibition, which lasted between 1896 and 1969 in Fort Collins, it was used to detain drunks and non-violent offenders. By the mid-twentieth century, the tank became a perfect solution to the filling city jail, as it separated mild offenders from hardened criminals. Though its history after Prohibition is vague, it continues to stand this day as a monument to Fort Collins' dry years. 

Old Town Drunk Tank

<div>Frank Stover, the first druggist in Fort Collins, opened his drugstore in 1884 at this location, 261 Linden Street, before moving to the later location, 209 N College Avenue, in 1909.</div><div> <br></div><div>When prohibition was first established in Fort Collins in 1894, one of the only ways left to “legally” obtain alcohol was through drugstores. Drugstores during the time still commonly gave alcohol as a medical treatment for everything from diabetes to old age, but only with a written prescription from a legally practicing doctor. During prohibition, only alcohol used for medical or sacramental purposes was still legal. As a result, the number of prescriptions for medical alcohol increased, as did the fortunes of druggists and pharmacies both in Fort Collins and across the nation when national prohibition was established in 1920. <br></div><div><br></div><div>We know that Frank Stover’s drugstore supplied medical alcohol to Fort Collins residents based on articles written in the Fort Collins Courier in 1907. The first article, written October 30, reports that F.P. Stover was fined $150 for selling alcohol, as the sale of alcohol as being for medical purposes was questionable. Frank Stover was sent to jail over the matter. Later articles mention doctors’ opposition to an ordinance that requires them to state the ailment which requires the prescription for alcohol, youth societies opposition to an ordinance which allows more freedom in sale of liquor at drugstores and a liquor selling fee for druggists to be set at $500/annum. The Stover drugstore continued to sell alcoholic medicines until they fell out of favor with the repeal of prohibition in 1935, which made alcohol more widely available once again.</div>

Frank Stover was the first man to open a drugstore in the city of Fort Collins in 1888, but he sold more than just medicine. During the prohibition era, the Volstead act allowed the purchase of alcohol for medical or sacramental purposes. Stover's drugstore became the most common method for 'legally' obtaining alcohol during prohibition.

Stover Drugstore

In May of 1878, Thomas J. Wilson opened the first saloon in Fort Collins just west of Collins House on Jefferson Street. He named it Bon-Ton Billiard Hall. This establishment sold wines, liquors, cigars, and the choicest brands of beer. It also had 3 Brunswick and Balke billiards tables for the entertainment of its customers. Due to anti-saloon and anti-alcohol sentiment, Bon-Ton Billiard Hall eventually had to close its doors. 

Bon-Ton Billiard Hall: The First Saloon in Fort Collins

In 1978 craft brewing became legalized in the U.S. causing a wave of craft brewing to spread. In Fort Collins, Jeff Lebesh and Kim Jordan began their homebrew. By 1991 they had founded New Belgium brewing; famous for its Fat Tire Ale. New Belgium represents the growing trend of craft brewing in Fort Collins, and that trend only grew from then on. Now Fort Collins is widely known as the Napa Valley of craft beer while boasting 23 breweries.

New Belgium Brewery

<div>Odell Brewing Company opened in Fort Collins, Colorado in 1989. Odell was the second self-packaging craft brewery in Colorado, the first in Fort Collins.</div><div><br></div><div>Doug Odell, Wynne Odell, and Corkie Odell started the brewery in a 1915 grain elevator just down the street from their current location, after deciding to start in Fort Collins due to all the factors that contribute to its thriving craft brewing industry today. It is a prime location for a brewery because it was near Old Town which was a place where college kids and locals came to enjoy their leisure time. It also had access to the Poudre River, which helps to the breweries lucrative business.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div>

This is the current location of Odell Brewing Company. Odell started in a 1915 grain elevator just down the street from this location. 

Odell Brewing Company 

Fort Collins Brewery was founded in 1992 and originally named H.C. Berger Brewery. The brewery was originally owned by Sandy and Karen Jones. Four years later, in 1996, the Joneses sold the brewery. For the next 6 years, the brewery went through a string of new owners until being purchased in 2004 by Tom and Jan Peters. Although it had started as a lager house, the brewery eventually added other beers styles such as ales. In 2010, the brewery expanded considerably, including moving to a 50-barrel brew house space and adding a restaurant called Gravity 1020. The brewery prospered for a few more years including adding a new beer lineup and a canning line. At its peak, the beer shipped to 17 states and employed 50 people. In 2017, the brewery sold yet again to Red Truck Beer Co. its current owners. Red Truck, founded in 2005 and based out of Vancouver, Canada, recognized that Fort Collins was the “epicenter” of craft brewing and therefore there was a market for them within the city.  

Fort Collins Brewery

Opened in 2014, Horse &amp; Dragon Brewing Company is one of the more recent craft breweries to open up in Fort Collins. Started by husband and wife team&nbsp;<span>Tim &amp; Carol Cochran, Horse &amp; Dragon was born out of their combined passion for craft beer. On their honeymoon in Napa Valley, CA, the newly weds went to a brewpub for dinner every night instead of the more popular wineries around that area. Tim also home-brewed&nbsp;and has worked in the beer industry extensively throughout his professional career before they decided to make a run for it on their own.&nbsp;<br><br>One of the most stand out features of Horse &amp; Dragon is how they have taken an initiative&nbsp;to promote women through brewing (historically a male-dominated profession). When first organizing their brewery in 2013, the Cochrans decided to go with ex-Odell brewer&nbsp;</span><span>Linsey Cornish as their first head brewer. Also, one of their most talked about small batch beers is the caramel ice cream beer they brewed for Temple Grandin, CSU professor, livestock expert, and Autism advocate. Likewise, half of Horse &amp; Dragon's employees today are also women. To them, beer is simply for everyone.&nbsp;<br><br>You can visit Horse &amp; Dragon Brewing Company any day of the week from 12-6pm.</span>

Horse & Dragon is one of the more recent additions to Fort Collin's craft brewery scene.

Horse & Dragon Brewing Company

<p>From 1962 to 1982, Fort Collins musician Bob Swerer was the owner of the Safari Club, a supper club and popular night spot for residents of the city. Live music and dancers played every night, and apparently, the club sold hard liquor “under the table” during Fort Collins’ dry years. The club, in addition to a few other bars including Ace Gillette’s and Ladd’s Covered Wagon served alcohol secretly until the repeal of prohibition in Fort Collins.</p>

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The Safari Club was a night club in Fort Collins from 1962-1982 that apparently sold liquor under the table during Fort Collins' dry years. 

The Safari Club

Founders Gordon Schuck and Brad Lincoln first opened their doors in December 2010 introducing Fort Collins to an experiential brewery specializing in Saisons, Sours, and Belgian Ales. Prior to even opening the doors to Funkwerks, Schuck was already winning national recognition for his home-brewed Saison:&nbsp;Saisons are known for their dry, fruity profiles that originated from farmhouse ales created in the summer.&nbsp;"Werks" translates to "industries" in German, and "Funk" refers to the funky characteristics of the beer that Schuck and Lincoln sought to create. Together, it creates Funkwerks: the funky beer industry in Fort Collins, CO.&nbsp;<br><br>Funkwerks is&nbsp;nestled alongside the Cache La Poudre River, and is one of the many breweries in Northern Colorado to contribute to the Colorado Water Trust (CWT)&nbsp;to support the River's restoration in the North Shields Ponds area. Partnered with Odell, New Belgium,&nbsp;Pateros Creek and Zwei&nbsp;Breweries, the beer moguls contributed $37,000 towards the Colorado Water Trust.&nbsp;<br><br>Funkwerks started off on a great foot, already making a name for themselves within the Fort Collins community.&nbsp;Located just&nbsp;down the street from Odell and&nbsp;Horse &amp; Dragon, Funkwerks makes for a great stop on your next brewery tour.<br>

Nationally-recognized craft brewery in Fort Collins, CO known for its saisons and sours. Small, but packs a punch! 

Fort Collins Beer, Brewing, and History Tour

The Top Restaurant

Introduction

Images

Sources

Additional Information