There’s a corner of Bayfield that feels as much like home as anywhere in Durango. It’s the only brewery in this quaint mountain town and, well, it’s one of our favorite weekend cold beer hot spots.
Bottom Shelf Brewery is a three-and-a-half-barrel brew house with six beers on tap year-round, and two seasonal rotating taps. Aside from their beer menu, the brewery also has extensive options when it comes to sandwiches, burgers, and brats – a classic American eatery.
It’s a Bayfield necessity that you visit this rustic beer heaven. It’s got a decent wide range of beers like the Broken Bridge IPA for those who are in love with hops, or if you’re in the mood for something lighter there’s the Bear Necessity Blackberry Wheat (our personal favorite). Other options include their Poor Boaters ‘Murica Lager, Rockwood Wheat, Boatman’s Breakfast Oatmeal Stout, and the Redwall Cavern Irish Red.
We swung by there one sunny afternoon after a few visitors were in town for the week. We couldn’t resist bringing them over to one of our favorite Bayfield haunts. We knew none of us would leave disappointed.
One of the great things about Bottom Shelf is that you have the option to sit inside or outside. The brewery is complete with patio seating and a view of downtown Bayfield.
We started off with a few beers, of course, and got the Bear Necessity because we were there to forget about our worries and our strife. Yeah, man! Our companions ordered the Boatman’s Breakfast Oatmeal Stout and the Poor Boaters ‘Murica Lager.
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We put in an order of BSB house chips – hand cut and house fried morsels perfect for scooping up the thick artichoke dip it comes with – to pair with our beers and fill our carb cravings until the rest of our food came. Those house chips never last long, especially when we’d been thinking about them the entire drive from Durango.
From there, it went uphill.
We picked out a plate of BSB dip – thinly sliced beef brisket stacked on a roll with horsey cream, straw onion, and au jus on the side; The Bomber – pulled pork drenched in maple bourbon BBQ sauce with peach chutney served on a toasty roll; a grilled beer brat with sauerkraut slathered in tangy mustard on a hoagie; and a Rancher Platter stacked full of pulled pork, beef brisket, grilled chicken, and beer brat with peach chutney, spicy mustard, and a dinner roll.
Our table was a smorgasbord of delicious, juicy meat, thick bread, and crisp beers. We shoved plates together on the crowded table and bumped elbows as converged on our food.
Bottom Shelf remains one of our favorite Bayfield haunts and as long as it keeps us fed and watered with its usual overflow of suds and carbs we’ll be coming back. So, if you haven’t yet, find your way down to this corner of Bayfield. It’s a stack of carbolicious food and drink you won’t regret.
Amanda Push
