FORT COLLINS -- An Internet-based travel information source has picked Fort Collins among its Top Five Offbeat Towns, a list the company inaugurated this year and plans to release annually.

"We thought it was time," Neala Schwartzberg, publisher of OffbeatTravel.com, said in a statement announcing the list. "We had all these interesting, unusual, quirky towns and wanted to let travelers know about them. We like the small gems, the places fewer people have experienced but many would enjoy."

The list describes Fort Collins as "a town with five breweries including the award-winning New Belgium brewery, and the quirky found-metal sculptures of Bill Swets, situated in the foothills of the Rockies. Beer, folk art, and natural beauty make this town a winning combination."

The four other towns on the unranked list include Dahlonega, Ga., with gold mine tours, an excellent community theater, and kangaroos among its draws; Hanalei, Hawaii, on the north coast of Kauai, offering "a friendly, hippie feel" and "breathtaking views of Hanalei Bay;" Moline, Ill., the home of John Deere & Co., where visitors find "unexpectedly good fun, especially climbing up the metal behemoth farm equipment;" and Taos, N.M., "a small, walkable town with some of the most innovative art in New Mexico and some of the spiciest  history."