(Fort Collins, CO) – Fort Collins welcomes its newest brewery, Funkwerks.

[11/23 Update: Per the Facebook page, Get some Funkwerks for Thanksgiving. The tap room will be open for bottle sales of our Saison and White Tuesday and Wednesday between 4 and 6. Cash only. $11 for the Saison and $10 for the White.”

“Embracing the unexpected.” That is the title of the first blog post from the team at Funkwerks, Brad Lincoln and NHC-winning Brewmaster, Gordon Schuck. As with many other breweries that start at a nano scale, they’ve blogged about their journey along the way: development of recipes, setting up the brewhouse and going through the red tape of getting a license to brew professionally.

A few months into their project, “unexpected” is just what they got.

In May, Schuck and Lincoln got their license to brew as a nano. A month later, they signed paperwork to take over the old Fort Collins Brewery facility with plans to operate a 15-barrel brewhouse.

What a difference a month makes.

Says Lincoln, “We started out with a plan to be a nano brewery for a while, build up a name for ourselves and start building a brewery from the ground up in about a year from now. But when the old Fort Collins brewery location came up we couldn’t pass up the deal. It had a lot of the infrastructure that we needed and it was also the fastest way to a tap room so we jumped on it. More than anything, opportunity knocked and we invited it in.”

With a new license in tow, the brewery is preparing for a grand opening of sorts next month though a few beers have already been released off of the nano system. Similar to Stillwater Ales on the East Coast, Funkwerks will be a Saison-focused brewery. Why saison? Good question, one the brewery asks itself and answers on its blog here. They are aiming to provide a local alternative to their Belgian counterparts whose beers have the disadvantage of to travelling a long distance.

“I love how many Saisons age but sometimes a fresh saison is what I am looking for. For example, Saison Dupont out of the keg is incredible but Saison Dupont out of the green bottle is often at bit skunked (Gordon doesn’t mind this as much as I do). Also, sometimes I get bottled beers and they are a little oxidized. They are still incredible beers but not as good as they could be.”

In addition to focusing on Saisons, the brewery is also focusing on “Organic” and hopes to become certified next year.

If all goes to plan, the taproom should open for good on (or by) December 9th. They will have their two core offerings, Saison and White Saison, ready to go as well as Cherry Saison (only 100 bottles) and their light saison (yet to be named). The light saison is likely to be a taproom staple along with other new beers down the road, a dark saison and hoppy saison.

Funkwerks will start self-distributing bottles (750s) and kegs in January or February in Fort Collins and in February or March to Denver.