Sonic brews

Intersect is the exclusive brewery for the Fort Collins Bookfest in October, which has a music theme and will host the legendary Kim Gordon. The Sonic Youth singer has a best-selling memoir and will headline the festival.

Intersect will brew an American Blonde ale named Liner Notes in her honor.

Fort Collins brewery celebrates first anniversary by opening in-house record store

By Steve Graham

If you need some vinyl with your weisse, try Intersect Brewing in Fort Collins.

The brewery, full of concert posters and band-themed beer names, is stepping up its music game by opening an in-house record store.

The opening coincides with the brewery’s one-year anniversary. Intersect celebrated with live music and anniversary beer releases last Saturday. Some special brews are still available in Intersect’s first bomber bottles and in new anniversary glassware.

Co-owner Will Herdrick brewed some fruity spinoffs of their regular brews, including peach gose, pink guava gose, and berliner weisse beers flavored with blackberry, raspberry and mango.

He also tapped a new hoppy American wheat.

“We put our spin on it and made it hoppy,” Herdrick said. He tried a small batch back in the spring, and it was popular enough that he expects to make it a standard offering going forward.

Herdrick said opening the brewery was slower and more difficult than he expected. A year later, the family-friendly brewery has found its niche in the crowded Fort Collins brewery market

“We’ve met a lot of great people that came in and supported us,” Herdrick said.

One of those people was Ryan Dykstra, who manages boutique vintage record stores along the Front Range. He provides the inventory, and business owners like Herdrick provide the space and other overhead. They split the proceeds.

“I told him ‘thank god you showed up,’” Herdrick said. “I’ve been meaning to do this for a year, but haven’t gotten around to it. He’s been a music guy for 25 years. … He knows more than me.”

Herdrick said a record store was in his plans for Intersect since opening day, but he hasn’t had the time or energy to pull it off. Dykstra offered the perfect solution, and opened the shop with about 300 records, which will be updated weekly.

“You’re not going to find us in the flea market realm,” Herdrick said. “They are mints. They are in really good condition, and we’ve got any genre you want.”