Verboten North Brewpub — Local services in Fort Collins

Updated Review 2/25:

Tasted the pizza white sauce. UGH! Weird and gritty; awful. We always order the pizza with NO sauce (or in the side) and extra garlic. That way, it’s delightful. We eat a lot of that.

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Previous review: I’d been waiting a long time for one of my favorite breweries to open in Fort Collins: Verboten. Because they brew, mostly, in the German style of rich, very flavorful smoothness (the opposite of bitter IPAs).

We visited on July 4th, 2024. It was a beautiful day, and not busy since everyone else was apparently floating down the Poudre. Yea Poudre!

They bought the old Black Bottle building, expanded the patio, and (thank you!) brought their brewmaster up here to produce beers you can’t get in Loveland.

I tasted an 8-glass flight today, out of which 5 were outstanding to my taste, which is pretty sensitive and refined (living here, I’ve become an inadvertent beer snob). My god, I love good, smooth beers. To me, IPAs taste like bitter dirt, so please consider that while reading this review.

The Scottish ale was among the best I’ve ever had, and that’s saying something. The Czeck lager (which, oddly they call a Pilsner though it’s dark) was also excellent. I’ll be drinking lots more of that. I hope it becomes a signature beer.

Killer Boots, a wonderful Porter, is a mainstay of theirs, and one of my favorite porters anywhere. Hard to find in a store, but Pringles liquors carries it canned. But, of course, it’s better fresh on tap.

They’re currently brewing a nitro milk stout that’s quite nice though not a standout. Though, with a brewery this good overall, it’s pretty hard to stand out among such excellence.

Cons: The saison (barrel aged) was strange and moderately unpleasant to my, and my partner’s, palates.

The whiskey barrel aged barley wine was extremely disappointing, as I love barley wine. But this one was undrinkable. I dunno what the brewmaster was thinking. Notes of cough syrup and mud. But hey, more alcohol than wine.

Food. The little pizzas are good, if you specify very little sauce. They’re “Detroit style”, meaning a specific method of cooking, which we liked. We thought the sauce tasted cheap, and it was too much—hiding the speck flavor (same as prosciutto but smoked—it’s good). Next time, we try the white sauce and limit its volume. BTW, I love speck. And it’s unsmoked cousin.

Otherwise, I can’t say anything about the food since one pizza was more than enough for two. And, pretty tasty after we scraped most of the sauce off.

Ambience: they brightened up the place from when it was Black Bottle and (thank you!) bought the building. The patio is about doubled in size, though the added seating is picnic tables, and I much prefer seats I can lean back against.

Otherwise, they haven’t changed much. Why fix it if it ain’t broke? It wasn’t the building layout that made Black Bottle close.

Now, again, please don’t disparage Verboten for my dislikes. I’m a tough critic. It is to me, the finest brewery in town (along with Zwei). Verboten will now very likely become my fave in town—especially if they brew a good dopplebock come the cold seasons (hint...

I worked here for 3 1/2 months, and during my time, I watched the owners slash hours without notice twice, the entire kitchen staff quit as well as almost every single bartender they hired originally. Verboten takes 35% of the bars tips for operating expenses and while I was there the kitchen did not receive any of those tips. They would staff employees from Verboten South on lucrative CSU game day shifts. As of late the original brewer gave them an ultimatum to return to Loveland or he would quit. Instead of promoting the staff that stayed through all the cuts they hired the new brewers' wife as the bar manager. They fired a bartender because she couldn't work weekends (hired on knowing she couldn't work weekends). Again, undermining the staff and ultimately hiring someone who hasn't endured all the bs they put them through. I watched the owners buy thousands of dollars of decor and booze yet tell staff they are not making enough money to cover payroll. This place likes to drown their employees with minimal hours until the employee can't pay bills or rent and then forced to look for another job or quit.

Fort Collins is a great city to support local businesses, but when those businesses treat their employees poorly, take tips that should go to the bartender and overall run a business sheepishly as they do, you should know. There are plenty of restaurants and breweries that care for their employees and their well-being. Verboten Brewery does not care about the employees. Ask anyone who has worked at the North location. The owners only care...

Edit: the staff addressed this, and the owner even came back to talk to us. They were cleaning up and didn’t realize the statement made by doing so. I know it takes courage to come back personally and explain mistakes. I’m happy to know this isn’t one of the only places in Fort Collins that isn’t open to all. Thanks crew and management.

Good beer but I’m here in June, trying to get stamps for BrewPawPaw and I noticed someone, who indicated that they worked here, throw some pride flags in the trash can. For context, when we arrived, there were two pride flags on the stand up menu board. The person who threw them away came out while one of my party members was putting the flags back and told her that she wasn’t allowed to put them there. She tried to explain the situation, the lady wouldn’t budge. Just confused because there seems to be a pride event here and the beer glasses say “Beer for All”. My question is, Verboten? Is this your stance, or was this a rando acting like they...