Denver CO trip

All,

I am heading out to Denver CO for a ski trip from Wed 2.15.12 to Monday 2.20.12 = that is the upcoming President's Day weekend.

That Thursday, 2.16, I have most of the day to hang out in Denver.

I was wondering if i could feedback or recommendations for any breweries in the Denver area to visit.

I was hoping to take advantage of the extra time i had to kill on Thursday.

Any advice would be great.

thanks,

Well I have no brewery's or pubs to recommend I'm sure you will get plenty of the CO crowd with plenty of suggestions. But if your a guy who likes IIPA you can find Pliny the Elder on tap a a number of bars.

Nice,

Appreciate the tip bad67z.

I cannot turn down an IPA. Will have to give the Pliny the Elder a go if/when i come across it.

thx

Cheeky Monk is my go to spot between GABF sessions for good food and beers, and they seem to get a lot of brewing "celebrities" there at certain times.

supe_kitchen said:

Cheeky Monk is my go to spot between GABF sessions for good food and beers, and they seem to get a lot of brewing "celebrities" there at certain times.

Click to expand...

Really, really try to go during the early happy hour (11-1p I think), it's 50% drafts. When they are $8-9 a pop, it can add up very quickly, so the only way for us to go without breaking the bank is to go for happy hour.

Breckinridge Brewery

Bull & Bush

C.B. & Potts

Copper Kettle

Del Norte

Denver Beer Co.

Dry Dock (Aurora)

Great Divide

Strange

Wynkoop

Yak & Yeti (Arvada)

Also the Sandlot at Coors field (Blue Moon)

All of these from the GABF Breweries list. There's a map at the bottom of the page so you can find all of them.

Also, you can walk in downtown and hit Wynkoop, Breckenridge, and Great Divide very easily.

Falling Rock is good, but expensive.

If you go to Wynkoop, go upstairs for pool and shuffle board. Have fun, Denver is awesome and the mtns are finally starting to get some snow

There are good spots in just about every part of town. Where will you be staying/hanging out?

If you are coming to the Napa Valley of beer, what are you doing wasting your time skiing?

Like all have said, there are a bunch of sweet places to hit out here. Drydock in Aurora is a cool place, and they have a real nice homebrew shop attached to the tap room that you can walk around in with your beer. If you have time to do some traveling, Boulder has a couple of nice places, Oskar Blues and Lefthand are in Longmont, and Ft. Collins has O'dell's, Funkwerks, and FCB. We even have a couple of places down here in good 'ol Ghetto Springs that aren't too bad. Have fun!

Where are you skiing? Many of the ski towns have good brewpups. Gunnison and Crested Butte come to mind, but I know there are a ton more than that.

Cant miss Great Divide.

Also add to the list Renegade and check out their peanut butter stout. On the way up to the slopes, stop in Silverthorne and stop by the Dam Brewery.

Falling Rock. Pliny is usually on tap there, as well as like 70 other beers.

Wow, where to start...

I am in the area every couple weeks and IMO a trip up to Boulder would be worth it, Avery, Mountain Sun (Feb is STOUT MONTH!!!), Twisted Pine, Upslope, Redstone Meadery, Backcountry Pizza has an unbelievable number of awesome beers on tap, and too many other great brewpubs to mention.

While in the ski towns don't miss Breckenridge Brewery's happy hour (starts at 4) $2 pints and $6 pitchers. Dillon Dam Brewery is another great one.

Hope this helps!

Dry Dock Brewing Company. The other half of that business is the Brew Hut home brew shop. Elk Mountain Brewing down south in Parker. Oskar Blues Brewery in Longmont. Strange Brewing Company. In Boulder there is Avery Brewing and north in Fort Collins is New Belgium Brewing.

You could also try to hit Fort Collins, an hour from Denver. New Belgium, Odell's, FCB, Funkworks, etc.

If you can make it all the way up to Ft. Collins, visit Odell's for sure, and probably New Belgium. If you only stay within Denver, Dry Dock is pretty good. There is a new one that opened up about a month ago down in Lone Tree (south Denver) called Lone Tree Brewing Co. I haven't been in there yet, but their beer list sounds pretty tasty.

What part of Denver are you staying?

If you have time to get a little out of Denver Longmont, Boulder and Fort Collins would all be great places to go.

If you're only hitting Denver and the mountains right there you might pass Dam Brewery near Breckenridge but in Denver proper all the suggestions above are good but I would also recommend a stop by Copper Kettle. They may a Mexican chocolate chile stout that is really incredible. It's pricey but worth a try. I had it at Wynnkoop so you might find it there.

If you're into the funky beers you can find some of the Russian River stuff out there but if you look around you might be able to find some of the Crooked Stave beers on tap or in bottles. Definitely worth trying.

Yes renegade is a good one to add to the list as well as wit's end.

While you are out there...Left Hand Milk Stout on Nitro is incredible.

The Cheeky Monk is Phenominal however word of advice.. your lucky if you get out of there with a tab lower than $50. They have 5or 6 of the 7 trappist ales there, and their mussles are awesome! Falling rock is one of my fav places to go to have a beer off tap. Thats also one of the hang outs of the GABF after hours.. I met Sam (DFH) there last year. Ill be making another trip up there when I return stateside from this deployment. I love it up there!

what ski resort are you going to? you will be a 1.5 hour drive to denver pretty much. There are brew pubs on every street corner near all of the ski areas.

Alright, the ultimate Denver beer tour. Ahem.

Assuming you're coming in on I70 to 6th ave eastbound ....which dumps you into the city a block from breckenridgebrewery ...from there, it's three blocks to renegade. From there, it's about a mile to strange brew. From there, you can jump on I25. Head down to lone tree brewing by I25 and C470, it's been open since Thanksgiving. Great new place. From there, hop back on I25 to 225, UP to dry dock. From there take Parker north to copper kettle brewing. From there you can hit the bull and bush, and by then you'll be back near downtown. From there, it's the great divide, then a few blocks to the Denver beer company. Then you can jump Right back on 25 to 6th ave to I70. Stop at Tommy knocker in Idaho springs on your way back up.

That's about a 20 mile radius, all close to major highways.good luck.

WOW, this great.

Getting a lot of feedback and I am liking it. I think I need to move Denver.

I got a lot of info and going to take me a while to digest it all. Many thanks to everyone.

I fly into Denver late night Wed, and I am staying with a friend near the Pepsi Center. I think that is pretty much downtown Denver.

I got the most part of Thursday 2.16 to kill.

I am not going to have a car, so whatever I can manage on foot the better.... Or, with short taxi rides.

I really do appreciate everyones advice. This place sounds like the mecca of good beer.

Forgot to mention this too.

Planning on skiing FRI, SAT SUN in the breck, vail, and copper areas

Gotta hit up Great Divide.

I concur with Great Divide and Falling Rock Taphouse downtown. I would add Wynkoop and Breckenridge.

Short taxi to Strange Brewing, Renegade, and a second Breckenridge location (which I prefer - it has BBQ).

I would try to hit any bar in lodo. They will have a good range of local brews. The bar Jax is not more than a stones throw from coors filed, will have good local brews and a great happy hour. When you are at Copper Mt. Follow the super bee lift to the bottom and there is a bar in the lodge there that will have good stuff. Backcountry brewery is in off I-70 and is good beer. If you have a day free make your way to Fort Collins, but there is good beer in the high country. Have fun and I have been doing snow dances because there is not too much snow.

I second the vote for Great Divide. It's at 21st and Arapahoe downtown - five blocks off the mall. In my opinion, they make the best beers in Denver, plus give four free samples. Try Hades.

I go to keystone and breck every year and I really like dillon dam brewery...ill be there in 4 weeks!

Friday, Saturday and sunday along the corridor is lift line hell. Do yourself a favor and go 7 miles past Vail to beaver Creek, no crowds. At least hide in the back bowls of Vail, but you couldn't pay me to be near Breckenridge on a weekend.

Vine St. Pub is also associated with Mountain Sun and does Stout Month all through February. Definitely worth checking out, they usually have 10+ stouts on tap, most of them their own but some guest stouts as well.