Venue Spotlight: City Star Brewing, Berthoud, CO

City Star Brewing, photo Blair Wacha

I started playing at City Star Brewing not long after it opened. It was immediately a favorite place to both play and visit. John and Whitney Way decided to open their own brewery in the heart of downtown Berthoud in 2012. Their building is in the location of the old City Star Barn, a livery stable that served the town early in the last century. Over the past year, they've expanded the space, adding a couple of new indoor areas, and office space, and they're putting the finishing touches on their brand new outdoor beer garden.

This is a fine small town pub, with a beautiful rustic taproom, and some of the best craft beer you'll ever find. City Star is a small batch brewery, and I can't begin to imagine how John manages to get so much out of the barrel system he has. My favorite on tap is the All American IPA. I'm a hop head, and I find this one most pleasing. In fact, it's the one for which I'll drive all the way to Berthoud for a growler fill.  Other standouts are the award winning Bandit Brown, Red Necktar, and Cowboy's Golden. Honestly, I've never met a City Star beer I didn't like. They have a number of seasonals, too, among them Chili the Kid, which is the best spicy beer I've ever tasted.

As far as music goes, City Star is a sweet place to take in Bluegrass and Americana from all over the country. Whitney knows so many great musicians, and City Star has become known as a place where its possible to see musical pairings that it would be hard to find anywhere else. Bands like Woodbelly, South to Cedars, aka Laserbunny, and songwriters like Mike Finders of FY5 and Danny Shafer have played there pretty regularly. Up until now they've been having music in the window of the main taproom, but the new beer garden will feature a stage and an outdoor seating area with wonderful lighting. It's going to be a sweet place to enjoy a cool summer evening.

City Star has made Berthoud a definite craft beer destination. They often have a local food truck serving up out in front, and there are a number of take out restaurants close by. They also host a number of fundraising events throughout the year, most notably Hops and Harley, which benefits the National Mill Dog Rescue. All in all, five stars isn't enough to rate my love for this place. It's at the top of my list. Come for the beer, stay for the music. You will not be disappointed!

Taggart & Silas consider City Star to be our home base. We'll be playing there this Thursday, July 27th, 2017 from 7-9:30PM. We invite you to try City Star out for yourself. We'll play all the songs you love to hear. 321 Mountain Avenue in Berthoud.