I am going to visit some friends in Denver next weekend and I will have a little time to myself to visit some breweries. Any recommendations for places I must hit while there?
I know all the locals will come in and give good recommendations but I have done 2 trips to the area looking for the same thing you are. I tried hitting different ones each trip but among my faves were:
Great Divide, just because the quality of beer, not so much the atmosphere and a descent tour
Avery, again quality beer and a descent tour but also not in Denver if that matters
Renegade is a stop I wish I made and I am sure I will next time
Breckenridge is a nice stop for dinner and a beer, tour at 4 I believe. They have several locations too
Most of my favs were actually outside of the Denver city limits though check out this thread for quite a few suggestions too
Whenever my dad goes to Denver for business he and his engineer buddies always go to a few. He seems to really have liked Oskar blues of all the ones he's been to there.
There is also a place I remember reading about (I think in BA magazine) called Bull and Bush that has this French press looking contraption called a hop inciter 3000. Might be worth checkin out.
I went last october and I suggest - Renegade, Strange, Crooked Stave, Avery, Wit's End (nano), Prost! and near by Left hand/oskar blues. Though I'm not a fan of oskar blues and the soured ten fidy didnt help me to like them. Worst beer of the trip but a fun place to visit. There are a bunch more around and definitely try to go to fort collins for odell/funkwerks/fort collins/new belgium/ plus a bunch more
If you are staying strictly in Denver I would definitely recommend checking out Great Divide, down the street across from Coors Field is Breckenridge good for beer and food. Head to the south side of Coors Field and you have Wynkoop <- great place to hang out and play pool. That's 3 within walking distance. Strange and Renegade are also worth checking out if you have time.
If you make it to Boulder (which you should), Avery's has an amazing selection of beers. Boulder Beer has quality beers. Oskar Blues north of Boulder in Longmont is also one of the best places to go on the Front Range. These are my top picks. There are many many more.
Breweries in and close to downtown: Great Divide, River North, Breckenridge, Renegade, Strange, Hogshead, TRVE, Black Shirt, Prost ------Beer bars in and close to downtown: Freshcraft, Falling Rock, Amatos, Rackhouse, Cheeky Monk.