Going to Colorado. What are some hidden gems?

I'll be going to Colorado in a few weeks and I want to know what I should be drinking. I already have drank enough new Belgium, left hand, Fort Collins, and Odell's. So what are the hidden gems? Anything Colorado exclusive/brewpub only stuff that I can't find in Michigan? P.s. I'll be in the Littleton area south of Denver.


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I think Bristol in CO Springs only distributes within CO. Love their Laughing Labs Scottish Ale and Compass IPA.

Crooked Stave is a can't miss.
Mountain Sun is an awesome brew pub in boulder(draft only) if you make it up that way
Funkwerks
Avery and Great Divide are both widely distributed but will both have interesting stuff on tap at their breweries/brewpub if you visit
Ive never been, but heard good things about dry dock which is close to you.


Bonus:
Get a burger at cherry cricket, it's not far from where you'll be

Some of my favorite CO breweries in no particular order are Crooked Stave, Paradox, Twisted Pine, Oskar Blues, Funkworks, Avery, Strange brew, Epic, Wyncoop, Great Divide, Elevation, Upslope, Trinity... The list goes on but these are some of my favorites.

Oh, and I can't believe I forgot Black Fox... If you love saisons and other belgian beers you must seek them out! You will find them at some of the larger tap houses but I'm not sure if they have a tasting room since they moved up to Denver or not.

Well, Colorado is pretty big and with hundreds of breweries and brewpubs just in the Denver area, you should find some great beers to taste. You could spend a whole day just pub hopping in LoDo, Wynkoop, Breckenridge, and plenty of others always have something new on tap that they don't bottle. Dry Dock in Aurora always has about half dozen experimental or seasonals on tap as well as their full-time excellent offerings. And then you got Arvada Brewing and Yak'n'Yeti straight north of Littleton. That's just priming the pump!
I live in Aurora and work in downtown Denver, so if you need a guide and our schedules line up, let me know!


http://www.denver.org/dining-nightlife/bars-clubs/beer-aficionado-guide

Pastorken said:

Well, Colorado is pretty big and with hundreds of breweries and brewpubs just in the Denver area, you should find some great beers to taste. You could spend a whole day just pub hopping in LoDo, Wynkoop, Breckenridge, and plenty of others always have something new on tap that they don't bottle. Dry Dock in Aurora always has about half dozen experimental or seasonals on tap as well as their full-time excellent offerings. And then you got Arvada Brewing and Yak'n'Yeti straight north of Littleton. That's just priming the pump!

I live in Aurora and work in downtown Denver, so if you need a guide and our schedules line up, let me know!





http://www.denver.org/dining-nightlife/bars-clubs/beer-aficionado-guide

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Is Black Fox brewing out of Dry Dock these days do you know?

mcwilcr said:

Is Black Fox brewing out of Dry Dock these days do you know?

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Hmmm, not that I know of. Their website says they were working with Trinity on a project but I have never seen them in our area.

I would agree crooked stave has some awesome sours and other barrel aged products. If you are heading north loveland is actually putting out some really good beer. I would recommend High Hops, Grimm Brothers if you like German beers, and Verboten. High Hops is real fun in the summer grow their own hops in a few acre field next to the brewery. Sit on the back deck with a cold brew and the smell of fresh growing hops can't beat that. Guess you will need to make another trip in July haha. If you come to foco again hit up Black Bottle and Funkwerks for sure always good stuff.

kf

If you go to Boulder hit up BRU its a smaller brewery but good food and good beer. There are a good amount of other breweries in Boulder you can visit while your there to make the drive worth it. My preferences are Avery and Mountain Sun which have already been mentioned.

kf

Oh and wherever you end up going let us know where it is and what you think.

kf

I agree with FoCo. Al of the Loveland breweries are good. My favorites are Grimm Brothers, Loveland Aleworks and Crowhops. Verboten and Big Beaver are decent, too. Haven't had the pleasure of high hops, yet.


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Coors in Golden Colorado. I'd go, but I'd pass on samples.


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So looks like I'll try crooked rave for sure since a few of you recommended it. I made a list of the others mentioned and if I see them at any stores I'll try and get them. Hopefully I can get a few mixed packs so I can try as many as possible.


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Went in the summer and it sounds like a missed a few places! Avery's taproom is absolutely phenomenal. 20 taps of the craziest and best beer you're likely to have. My #1 favorite brewery.

timrox1212 said:

So looks like I'll try crooked rave for sure since a few of you recommended it. I made a list of the others mentioned and if I see them at any stores I'll try and get them. Hopefully I can get a few mixed packs so I can try as many as possible.


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Depending on where in Littleton you'll be there are some great liquor stores to check out. If you're on the western side of town, go to Tipsy's Liquor World at Bowles and 470. East side of Littleton go to Davidson's at County Line and Holly. When they were building Tipsy's I thought it was a Bass Pro Shop, the place is HUGE. Lots of great local selections at both places.

For breweries, there are a ton opening up soon too. Grist just opened in Highlands Ranch just south of Littleton, 3 Freaks and Blue Spruce are scheduled to open within the next couple months as well. Lone Tree is good, but not omgwow good.

Lots of bars with big local selections too. Downtown Littleton there's Jake's Brew Bar, nice little hole in the wall spot with a good tap selection. Parry's Pizza (one in Highlands Ranch, another in Greenwood Village) have 50 taps at each location with a lot of Colorado beers. If you make it downtown, Falling Rock and Star Craft are both excellent spots.

Dry Dock out in Aurora is always worth stopping by. Copper Kettle Brewing Company is out kinda that way too.

If you to go down to "The Source" where Crooked Stave is, make sure to check out Denver Beer Company nearby in the Lower Highlands neighborhood. The Source is in River North, and Epic has a new facility there, as well as a bunch of other breweries, but Denver Beer Company is one of the best in the city IMO.

Basically, you can't go wrong no matter where you go in Denver.

Xpertskir said:

Crooked Stave is a can't miss.
Mountain Sun is an awesome brew pub in boulder(draft only) if you make it up that way
Funkwerks
Avery and Great Divide are both widely distributed but will both have interesting stuff on tap at their breweries/brewpub if you visit

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I agree with this guy.

Crooked Stave is awesome.

My personal three favorite breweries at the moment are probably Avery, Great Divide, and Oskar Blues.

Mountain Sun/Southern Sun in Boulder actually has a location in Denver called Vine Street Pub. Before I moved up into the mountains I could be found at The Southern Sun almost nightly. Man, I miss the Junk Burger.

I eat at the Breckenridge Brewery in Breckenridge a lot, and they have a location in Denver also.

I've been wanting to check out Yak and Yeti's (beer plus Himalayan food) in Arvada for a long time but don't make it down the mountain much these days.

Let me know if you're gonna make it up into the mountains and I can recommend a bunch more.

Ska Brewing Euphoria Pale Ale is a gem.

Upslope Brewery is great and pry not known unless your from Colorado. Tommyknocker is great in Breckinridge, Imperial Maple Nut is ridiculous on draft. Oskar Blues is awesome, when we were there a bunch places were flooded out last Sept (lefthand was under a few feet of water) so we went to the Oskar Blues bar/restaurant, they had various Nitro tapped versions of their regular beers which was cool. Great Divide is right downtown Denver but damn does it get packed. Otherwise lots of good recommendations in this thread. Tommyknocker has a cool map when you walk in of breweries around the area, there was something like 230+ I think? Others I said are known, but Upslope is a nice hidden gem. We did a massive brewery tour for my bachelor party in CO.

Off topic but if you like spirits etc too check out Mile High Spirits in Denver. They only sell what they make and distill there, I don't care for vodka, or gin etc, but damn were drinks good there lol.

Renegade.

Well I finally made it to Colorado. Got in to late to go beer shopping but my father in law had some Odell's. Going out tomorrow to get some more beers and I'll be visiting breweries all week. Pictures to come.


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Welcome! Don't mind the snow, it will be gone and sunny in 48 hours. Fort Collins alone just opened its 12th brewery, so there are loads of options all over the state. I wouldn't say there is a group of must try things (although if I did, crooked stave would be on that list), instead you should visit a few places and get taster trays and sample as much as you can. Odell's, Great Divide, and New Belg have great limited release stuff if you can take bottles home.

Yea everyone pretty much says crooked stave is the place to go. Do they have a restutant? Like food? Me and the wife are going out one night and I wanted to know if we should eat at the taproom as well.


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Crooked stave is located inside the source building so you have several food options while you are there.

Here is a newer place just south of Littleton that is my go to brewery, mainly because they are on the way home from work, but they also make some pretty good beers.

https://www.facebook.com/GristBrewingCompany

Also, not breweries, but jakes brew bar in old town Littleton has around 25 taps of craft beer. Another tap house in Littleton is high plains tap house at wads & chatfield.

timrox1212 said:

Yea everyone pretty much says crooked stave is the place to go. Do they have a restutant? Like food? Me and the wife are going out one night and I wanted to know if we should eat at the taproom as well.


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Oskar Blues has a good restaurant, separate from the brewery. Hit it up last year but that was Sept when they had the floods so couldn't go to a lot of breweries.

Me and the swmbo at new Belgium. She loved the yuzu Berliner weisse surprisingly.


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Made it to crooked stave. Allot smaller then I thought but awesome beer.


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Sweet!

Its the small ones that are the real gems. Crooked Stave has the best sours and barrel aging programs in the area.