Fort Collins’ Newest Brewery: The Jessup Farm Barrel House [Pictures]

You may have driven by The Jessup Farm thousands of times over the years, in east Fort Collins. Have you driven by recently?  They’ve turned into the Jessup Farm Artisan Village, and it includes a new microbrewery and taproom!

I’ve been driving by the Jessup Farm (off of Timberline near Prospect) lately and wondering, ‘What’s going on there, now?’ You see what looks like and old settlement: There’s a farmhouse, a large building, some outbuildings… it’s weird. ‘We need to stop in there, and see what’s going on sometime.’

‘Sometime’ came this past Sunday. I was hanging out with my brother, who lives in the area, and we decided to finally make a point of it to explore what’s happening at Jessup Farm.

The near 130-year-old Jessup Farm is being reconditioned into The Jessup Farm Artisan Village, as part of the Bucking Horse housing community. It does look like a scene from little house on the prairie: A baker, a coffee house, a barber, a watchmaker, and… a brewery: The Jessup Farm Barrel House, which opened just before Thanksgiving 2015!

We were driving around within the parking lot, and my brother says ‘Look- ‘Jessup Farm Barrel House.'’ ‘I’m parking the car’, I said.  We got out and ventured up to the place. You can’t really tell if it’s busy or not from the front door, as the tap room is upstairs. On the main floor- the barrel house- you see the brewing equipment and a bunch of barrels that they use to age some of their beers. We could hear the sounds of lots of people coming from up in the taproom.

We went up the stairs to find the room pretty full with folks enjoying themselves; which seemed weird, because we’d never heard of this place.  They explained that they've only been open a few months, at the most.

We got a couple of seats at the bar and settled in. Others around us mentioned that it was THEIR first time at the Barrel House too. You look around and it really feels like you’ve stepped back in time. I’m guessing that’s how it feels at most of the artisans/businesses at the Artisan Village, as they have refurbished many of the old Jessup Farm buildings.

They brought us a list of the beers they have: It’s straight forward, for the most part: They have a blonde, an IPA, a red, a brown and a black ale. I had the IPA, and it was delicious!

What they do at the Barrel House – is use distillery barrels to age their stable of beers. By doing so, you could say they ‘infuse’ the beers with the taste of whatever that given barrel had been used for. Rum-aging, red wine-aging, whiskey and bourbon-aging, etc.  It’s a great concept!

So, you can have a regular IPA, or you can have a TEQUILA barrel-aged pale ale- it’s SO good!

Great beers, great people, great seating, great history.  Barrel House rocks!