Wibby Brewing, brewing lager-style ales in Longmont, CO

It’s always an adventure going to a new brewery. We heard many rave reviews about Wibby Brewing but were hesitant because they brew lagers.  I have enjoyed a hefeweizen and dunkels on many occasions but those are usually my go to beers. Wibby Brewing really surprised us with the quality of their beers and the versatility of style.

Ryan Wibby, founder and head brewer has a nice resume of beer brewing. He started working in the industry on the bottling line at Ithaca Brewing, brewed for Iron Hill Restaurant and Brewery, then trained at the VLB Berlin for a year including a 4 month internship in their research lab. Coming back to the State's, Ryan worked at Deschutes Brewing for 2 years. He told me that after working at Deschutes, he realized that an automated brewery wasn’t how he envisioned his own brewery. He met his partner, Ted Risk at the university in Ithaca. Ted is from Chicago and worked at a local health club. He and Ryan met up at a concert in California where they discussed the possibility of their own brewery. When they decided that they would open a brewery in Colorado, Boulder was their first choice but they changed their minds with a welcoming tour of the city of Longmont and that's where they are today. Skip forward and in Sept of 2015, WIbby Brewing opened to the public.

Ted Risk, founder and all around brewery guy,
he wears many hats.

Ryan Wibby, founder and brewer.

We started with a taster set of all their beers year-round and seasonal. Our favorite was the Double Dunkel, a 7.6% ABV that was brewed with 79 pounds of chocolate nibs and then lagered on Madagascar vanilla beans. This lager is so rich and flavorful that I actually bought a pint.

Brewery tour was similar to most other breweries except that these beers are fermented at a lower temperature.

The ales in these fermenters were at 1 degree at the time
of our tour, they were brewing an Eisbock.

Ryan Wibby brews lagers that non-lager drinkers would like, I highly recommend this brewery.