Denver microbrews?

I'm heading to Denver in a few weeks for a convention and would like to check out the beer scene. Any great micorbrews in the downtown area by the convention center? I looked online and the Wynkoop Brewery looked pretty sweet.

Great Divide taproom is my favorite downtown. I don't really drink downtown much because of the frat bro vibe. City 'o City is usually where I go to drink, which is on capitol hill a few blocks from downtown. The free mall ride on 16th st. will drop you off within a few blocks of City 'o.

If you're into whiskey, Stranahan's has a tap room a little south of downtown, but you'd probably need a car or a B-cycle to get there.

Also, not beer-related, but if you like meat you should definitely go to Biker Jim's dog cart.

Falling rock taphouse (doesn't brew but has the biggest menu)
Breckenridge brewery
Strange brewing (very small)
Rock bottom

And pints pub which just serves English cask conditioned ale

After Wynkoop, I'd recommend:
1st Great Divide (greatdivide.com)
Its kind of northwest of downtown, but still downtown. Very very close to the light rail (but I wouldn't ride the light rail there from the convention center, not worth the fare).
(18 minute walk from the convention center according to google maps)
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2nd Strange Brewery (http://www.strangebrewingco.com/)
Denver’s newest and smallest microbrewery.
From the convention center I would grab an bcycle
http://denver.bcycle.com/
ride down the cherry creek trail and then out to the south platte to make it a nice 4.1 mile bike ride, or a 1.8 mile walk as the crow flies on city streets (if using google maps, make sure you click the pedestrian option and not driving).


and 3rd you can easily stop at Rock Bottom brewery (more of a commercial chain restaurant atmosphere, but they still brew) on 16th street on the way to Wyankoop.
http://www.rockbottom.com/denver-downtown


and if you are coming after mid june, you can hit up
http://www.denverbeerco.com/
which is down my REI on the corner of the two bike paths.

and and the sandlot brewery is at Coors Field

I consider Rock Bottom aggressively mediocre. If you've ever been to a brewpub before, you don't need to go to Rock Bottom.

I have to second Nateo on Rock Bottom. I had forgotten about the Tap House. I'd recommend Tap House over Rock Bottom. You have a good chance of getting something on your wish list (not necessarily local) at the Tap House.

Usual suspects have been mentioned. Go to Great Divide, Wynkoop and Strange if you can. Another option for a late night snack and happy hour is the new Yard House location. I know it's a chain and all but the selection is vast and it's just a couple blocks from the convention center if you want to grab a quick one or four. I work a block away and it's been trouble.

At Wynkoop the other day I tried two so-so lagers and an IIPA with insidious levels of diacetyl. I don't get the love. Maybe I caught them on a bad day.

Falling Rock is the best beer bar in the country. In the distant second category are Cheeky Monk (not quite downtown) and Great Divide.

Vine Street pub, which is part of the Mountain Sun Brewery, is worth checking out.

http://www.mountainsunpub.com/

Oh man I forgot about Cheeky Monk. That place is great too.

Breckenridge on Kalamath is great, my favorite brewery in Denver. I'll echo Falling Rock as a premier beer bar. If you can make it out a little from Downtown, Golden has Golden City Brewery (The second largest brewery in Golden) or Dry Dock in Aurora, both have a great selection.

Thanks for all the great input guys. I plan on bypassing Rock Bottom because there is one in Iowa I can go to. What do you think of Uptown Brothers Brewing Co.? Also, is Flying Dog Brewing Co. still there or did they move?

Flying Dog moved their brewing to MD. They still have offices here, but nothing to see. It's even pretty hard finding their beer in the liquor stores here. Well, harder than it used to be.

Uptown is just a bar. Nothing particularly great about it. Okay selection, but it would be pretty low on my list of places to go, if you're looking for something more unique.

Scherrman said:

I'm heading to Denver in a few weeks for a convention and would like to check out the beer scene. Any great micorbrews in the downtown area by the convention center? I looked online and the Wynkoop Brewery looked pretty sweet.

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Wynkoop is the best! they have a beer called Patty's Chili Beer.... YUM! great food too.

I was excited to visit Flying Dog until I found out they moved. I got some of their beer in my beer of the month club and thought it was excellent. I think I'm going to check out Wynkoop for sure and one of the others you guys suggested. Great information. I've only been a member on here for 2 days and I love it already.

Great Divide really is an amazing place. You should definitely go there. That would be my first suggestion (over Wynkoop), but Wynkoop also has some good beers.

I also second the Vine Street pub. You won't find their beer (Mountain Sun Brewery) outside of Boulder/Denver and they have some really solid selections.

I wouldn't recommend Strange Brewing. They need to work on their water chemistry, the beers I tasted there all had issues with chlorophenols, which makes sense b/c our water in Denver has tons of added chloroamines.

For bottles, definitely head to Falling Rock, and Fresh Craft is also very good for a huge selection of craft bottles and really dank food.

GD as everyone has said is amazing. I'm going in a couple of hours before the Rockies game tonight. Skip Rock Bottom, nothing exciting there.


Breck near Coors Field is good.
Cheeky Monk Sat morning (11a-1p) Happy Hour is the best deal around. 1/2 price draft beers and they've got an amazing Belgian selection
For Wynkoop I would suggest going upstairs, much chiller/calm, pool and shuffle board tables. My fav beer from them are B3K, but MileHiPA is good and Railyard is solid.

All 3 of these places are in walking distance of eachother and Brek/Wynkoop serve food. Have fun, Denver is amazing

moti_mo said:

I wouldn't recommend Strange Brewing. They need to work on their water chemistry, the beers I tasted there all had issues with chlorophenols, which makes sense b/c our water in Denver has tons of added chloroamines.

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Other than a ton of diacetyl in one of them the 10 beers I sampled there last weekend were pretty clean.

I'll be in meetings/classes most of the day while I'm there so I hope to be checking out some of these places at night. The entertainment at the convention for us isn't really my thing this year so I figured it would be a great time to try some brews.

+1 to Falling Rock Taproom. Best bar I've been to in Denver!
-1 to Breckenridge on Kalamath. Atrocious service and doesnt brew on site.

Definitely the Dry Dock...2009 GABF small company brewer of the year a little out of the way from downtown, but well worth the ride.

Try the 7 Seas DIPA, best pint in the world

Acoma said:

+1 to Falling Rock Taproom. Best bar I've been to in Denver!
-1 to Breckenridge on Kalamath. Atrocious service and doesnt brew on site.

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Breckenridge at at 471 Kalamath?

I just judged there and they had a brewhouse and tanks and grain and hops and a bottling line and a canning line. Not sure I actually saw them brew, but I do believe that it happens.

Dry Dock sounds awesome but it's too far for me. I'll be sticking to the downtown area.

Their is a new nano pub at colfax and grant. The restaurant was open but not the brewing equip. Last I was there mid Feb.

What's the name of the pub?

Scherrman said:

What's the name of the pub?

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The wife has a better memory then I've got...
It's Uptown Brothers Brewery http://uptownbrothers.com/

It sounds like they are targeting late May to be serving their beer. They are waiting on uncle sam.

remilard said:

Other than a ton of diacetyl in one of them the 10 beers I sampled there last weekend were pretty clean.

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They may have fixed some of their problems, this was back in October when I went. It was very obvious, and definitely chlorophenols.

Definitely not immune to the chlorophenol problem in my own brews, it took me a while to identify that's what was giving me a persistent off flavor in several brews. Now I always treat for it, and its not a problem.

There are two Breckenridge locations near downtown, one by Coors field and the one on Kalamath. They DO brew at the one on Kalamath. If you're here on a Friday check out the Friday night wings at the Kalamath location - yummy yummy in the tummy.

I don't think the Rack House was mentioned. They are next door to Stranahans (actually the same building). It's also on Kalamath just south from Breck. They do not brew there but feature almost all Colorado beers - including some taps from Dry Dock. You can take the Stranny tour then grab a beer at the bar. Food is good there too.

If you can catch it open during a ball game (I believe you need an actual ticket to get in) the Sandlot at Coors Field is a legit microbrewery that has some really great german style lagers. The beers are a little spendy because of the ballpark, but if you can grab a cheap ticket from a scalper there's not much better than a good beer and baseball.

If Dry Dock is too far, this will probably be too far as well but Bull and Bush in Cherry Creek is also worth a vist if you leave the immediate downtown location.

Alright everyone, I have my notes on where I plan to go. There are a good 4-5 that are close enough. I prefer places that are in walking distance but I am willing to take a cab if I really feel the need to go. Seems if I head over by Coors Field there are plenty of places to check out. I may even head the other direction and check out Uptown Brothers. Thanks for the help everyone. Only 2 more weeks till the trip.

Well I got back from Denver last week. I was not able to make it to any breweries due to my schedule but I was able to drink some of their beer at the hotel's bar. My favorite was Great Divide's Douple IPA. Breckenridge's Avalanche was pretty good also. There was a wheat beer I had that was pretty good but I can't remember the name. Overall, Denver has some awesome beer.

I'm sorry to hear you didn't make it to any of our breweries. Glad you had a good trip and were still able to enjoy some brews in the hotel. I was thinking about this discussion as I rode my bike into work today (my route is rather close to Strange Brewery which brought it to mind).

You live in Englewood, that's where DISH Network's headquarters are. That's why I was in Denver actually.

Well this thread is long dead and im sure your back from vacation but for others reading...

I spent a year in Denver, CO drinking brews, hiking mountains, and livin life. Here is my personal opinions of the CO breweries.

Wynkoop is not the best brewery in CO... the only decent beer there is rail yard ale. Even then mediocre.

I've never been a fan of Breckenridge either. Mediocre IMO. If you want to try it I recommend driving up TO Breckenridge to drink at the "real" brewery.

Now for the positives

Denver
1)Great Divide brewing. Excellent beer on tap and the people working there are really nice. Highly recommended.

If your willing to drive....
Ft. COllins 1) Odells makes many tasty beers. Their self titled IPA is amazing. 2) They are located next to New Belgium if your interested in going there too.

Boulder:
1)Avery makes a plethora of great beer. Highly recommended.
2)Boulder Brewing. About 1/2 of their beers are really good. The other 1/2 are so so in quality.
3) Upslope makes a tasty IPA and rumor has it their brown is good although I can not comment directly on the brown.

Longmont
1)Left hand brewing - pretty decent assortment of beers on tap. Also has a nice patio.

Golden
1) Golden city brewing - well known for their IPA. The IIPA is also excellent. Its a great atmosphere brewery. They are basically a shack with picnic tables outside and a canopy tarp. Go on a nice day and just enjoy the atmosphere. Its great.

Colorado Springs
1) Trinity brewing makes a few good ones.
2) Phantom Canyon was ok... but I didnt like the bartender, or the guy sitting next to me when I went there. Maybe thats why im remembering it as "ok". It might be really good.

Idaho Springs
1) Tommy Knocker is a great place to go post hiking/biking. The beer is decent and the buffalo burger is amazing.

edit: How could I forget?
Lyons
1) Oskar Blues. I'm personally not a huge fan of their staple "dales pale ale" but they have many many good beers on tap. The game room is sweet.


There are more good breweries in the CO area. From the above I reccomend Odell's, Golden City, Avery, and Great Divide as "must try" breweries.

To add to a few more

Aurora: Dry Dock

Longmont: Oskar Blues has a tap room in Longmont.

Boulder: Twisted Pine

I personally agree with GoHawks on the must try and would add Twisted Pine & Dry Dock. I love their beers.

Dry Dock is super good. They've just expanded and now (finally) have a good amount of seating as well as heaters for the patio outside so we can go out there in the winter......BrewHut is next door as well

Just got back from a week long trip to Colorado - Denver to Colorado Springs, then back up to Estes Park. Downloaded a beer app that finds local breweries. Colorado is a microbrew center of the world! Never would have guessed there were so many. Here are the ones I visited:

Denver - Wynkoop - first ever microbrew I visited decades ago so I had to visit again. Decent beers, but not as great as I remembered - Chili pepper beer was good.

Castle Rock - Rockyard Brewing - all solid brews and nice building. Wildcat Wheat was my favorite.

Boulder - Twisted Pine - Small hole-in-the-wall brewery with AWESOME selection. Their sampler was 15 brews on tap! Chocolate Stout worth the trip alone IMO.

Longmont - Pumphouse Brewery - Nothing to see here, move on...
Left Hand Brewery - Nice bar atmosphere, solid brews. No food.

Lyons - Oscar Blues - Very good brews - surprisingly so. Old Chub was my favorite, but all good.

Estes Park - Estes Park Brewery - Worthless IMO. Warm beer, all low carbonation, not even very good. Very dissaponting.

Grand Lake - Grand Lake Brewing Co - Nice little storefront with offsite local brewing. Nice selection of brews, all had a "salty" feel to them I guess due to the water supply, but not enough to blow the beer. The Wooly Buger Brown was very tasty.

Colorado Springs - Bristol Brewing - Very small brewery - nothing special except their distributed Laughing Lab.

Woodland Park - BierWerks - Little storefront with decent outdoor patio. Nice brews all around but I liked the Weissbier the best.