Trinidad Brewing Company, Trinidad, CO - Shamrock Brewpub, Pueblo, CO - Phantom Canyon Brewing, Colorado Springs, CO

Santa Fe

Taking a tip from my future wife, Rachel Ray, we stopped at Cafe Pasqual's in old Santa Fe for breakfast. It was delicious, but if Rachel only spent $40 on food in Santa Fe, she skipped lunch! We each spent $20 on breakfast!

Trinidad

We drove through the desert of New Mexico, across the plains of Northern New Mexico and into the mountains of Colorado. We stopped at Trinidad Brewing Company for lunch. This is the smallest brewpub I have ever seen. They only had two beers on tap. Satan and I had their Mexican Lager, a cloudy, golden beer that was light a crisp. A slice of lime dropped into the beer made it special.

At a window table, I noticed a couple using sign language. We didn't know it at the time, but, they were conference attendees, too. We met them in the hospitality room on Thursday, and compared notes about the place.

Long story short, TBC is a nice restaurant, and probably a lively night spot. And I will stop by again.

Pueblo

We stopped at Shamrock Brewery and Restaurant in Pueblo. This is a nice neighborhood pub. We were there around 2 pm, so the crowd was light, but the bartender was friendly. I chose a witbier that was nice and light (something that wouldn't weigh me down on the way to Colorado Springs. The bartender offered us a sample of their Imperial Porter. Nice. The alcohol was balanced nicely by the hops. But we declined another pint, and got back on the road.

Colorado Springs

Phantom Canyon Brewing Company is located in a 1900s building on a corner in downtown Colorado Springs. Plate glass windows wrap around the bar area, giving you a great view of Pike's Peak and downtown, as well as the hot blond in the short black skirt that worked for a local radio station.

We had two pints here. I had John's Mild Bitter and a blonde ale. Satan had two pints of Blueberry Ale. He offered me a sip. I shoulda had the blueberry!

Lyle, the bartender, was from Chicago, and we shared jokes with him. He even carded the hot blonde from the radio station, and said, handing her ID back, "I think I got all the information I need to stalk you." Then we were off to Denver.