You’re probably overdue for a road trip.
We know…summer just ended, families are trying to get back into the school/work routine, and life feels busy.
But it’s fall y’all. The air is crisp, the evenings are cool, and pumpkins and aspen leaves are in season. Fall is for sipping on some fine beers on fine patios with spectacular weather, and if you haven’t experienced fall in Southwest Colorado, well…
You are, indeed, overdue for a road trip.
Southwest Colorado is one of our state’s lesser-trafficked gems. From Durango to Cortez, Mancos to Dove Creek, and through many small towns in between, fantastic scenery meets perfect weather, and stellar mountain biking is made all the better when followed with small-town craft beer.
Admittedly, most of the breweries and distilleries we serve here at Root Shoot are in the Front Range corridor, but we’re always honored and excited when other Colorado (and beyond!) businesses seek us out and choose our malt. And the prize for the brewery in the furthest reaches of our glorious state has to go to Wild Edge Brewing Collective in Cortez, Colorado.
Owned by Tucker Robinson and partners, Wild Edge sits in a remodeled warehouse in downtown Cortez and specializes in craft beers with an emphasis on sours - both kettle and barrel-aged. They also serve up some mean IPAs, Saisons, and Belgians.
An anthropologist by schooling and an archeologist by trade, Tucker spent 10 years working in the archeology field in the history-rich Southwest Colorado area before making the leap to professional brewing. From studying ancient communities to building new ones, people remain Tucker’s focus. Although he’s proud of the beer Wild Edge produces, he’s even more proud of the community space the brewery provides.
“On any given night, it never ceases to amaze me the diversity of people that are in the brewery,” he says. “People of all ages, political leanings, genders, beliefs, and economic standing, all enjoying the same space over a pint of beer. The power of beer to build a better and more inclusive community always impresses me.”
Cheers to that.
Despite the geographic distance separating our two businesses (NoCo meets…SoCo? SoWeCo?) companies that beer together, conserve together. Isn’t that how the saying goes?
We had the pleasure of working with Wild Edge on the Colorado Strong Ale of 2020, the proceeds of which went to the victims of the Cameron Peak/Troublesome Fire twin disasters, and we bonded over a common interest in land conservation and doing good with beer.
Three of the founding partners of Wild Edge met through their work on the board of directors of the Montezuma Land Conservancy, and if you all don’t know how we feel about Land Conservation yet, well…you should do a little digging through our social media feeds. All of which is to say that once Tucker, Emily, and Todd got in the same room and enjoyed some barrel aged sour beers together, a wonderful land-conservation-inspired, beer-infused partnership was born.
Case in point? The recently-released Juniperus, a beer that even Tucker admits to be one of his favorites (and brewers so rarely claim to have favorites!) It’s a Root Shoot beer made with local juniper, one of the primary native plants of Southwest Colorado, and the proceeds from it go to support the Montezuma Land Conservancy.
Juniper not your thing? We can’t understand that, but there are some other fantastic beers coming on tap this fall and winter, like a rye whiskey barrel aged stout with berries and vanilla bean (in collaboration with Telluride Distilling Company,) and a barrel aged sour beer with quince grown by Wild Edge’s friends at Sutcliffe Vineyard
Quince! How many quince beers have you ever had? Do you even know what quince is? No? Here’s a little help.
Have we convinced you, yet? To live on the Wild side? To live on the Edge? To at least take a road trip south (or north, depending on where you may be!) and go check out this badass little brewery in an absolutely gorgeous part of the state?
And while you’re down there - if we might ask - could you bring us back a barrel-aged sour or two? We promise we’ll share.
No, we don’t. We’ll probably drink it all immediately and realize we’re overdue for a road trip, then head south and buy more. But that wouldn’t be all bad.
It would actually be pretty great.
Open roads, small towns, artisan breweries, good people.
You’re killing it in Cortez, Wild Edge! We’re proud to have you as part of our family.
