Wellington’s Soul Squared Brewing Experience

By R. Gary Raham
North Forty News

Mary Gray, Sales Manager for Soul Squared Brewing, said, “We pour our heart and soul into everything we do.” What they do is make excellent craft beer, often served with live music, in a rusticly elegant, wood-paneled building at 3740 Cleveland Avenue in Wellington. Sampling a few beers with friends and neighbors builds community. “ As they say on their website (www.soulsquaredbrewing.com), “Our name comes from belief in the exponential power of the local community and our farm-based approach to craft brewing.” The brewing operations all take place on a small family farm north of Fort Collins and west of Wellington.

This author and his wife, purely for the sake of research, of course, visited Soul Squared one Sunday. We sipped excellent stout and listened to live blue grass music—not usually our favorite fare—but all music sounds better when you can see the artists stroke sounds from their instruments and jam on the spot. Good beer certainly mellows the experience as well.

Gray said, “We host weekly events, with a few special events scattered throughout the month.” On “Maker Monday,” for example, anyone who brings in crafts and works on them at the taproom gets $1 off pints. Monday is also Industry Day with 20% off for anyone in the craft beer, bar, liquor store or music industry. Tuesday features bingo from 6:30 to 8:30 pm, Wednesday hosts a trivia event during the same hours, and there’s live music on Thursdays. My wife and I discovered the Bluegrass Picker Jams on a Sunday, and saw people sampling meals from a local food truck.

Gray described Soul Squared’s CSA beer club as “one of a kind in the nation.” They sell shares based on the amount of beer people want to receive each month. ¼ share garners three 22 oz. bottles, ½ share = (6) 22 oz. bottles and a full share gets you an even dozen bottles. They currently have about 75 members.

They grow many of the ingredients used in their beers on the farm. They brewed an Acorn Squash Amber Ale last November that was “a huge hit.” “We’ve done some pretty unique beers,” said Gray, “that started out as small batch and have become some of our regular flagship styles—Harvest Beet Saison, and Lost Hour Imperial Stout are good examples of that.” I believe this author lost at least an hour sipping his stout.

August 11 they will release their “Not-so-Trappist Ale,” in collaboration with Noosa Yoghurt. Check their website and visit their taproom to see what’s happening at Soul Squared. Loose an hour (or two) listening to talented musicians and admiring the décor from comfortable seats in the balcony or at the bar.