The Colorado Thread

[poonamibaxter]

All high country stuff is going to have a lot of snow right now. I don't think you can go to the top of Evans yet but I may be wrong. Rocky Mountain National Park is awesome for driving around and hiking, I doubt the road all the way to the top is open but the other areas are great. You may be able to hike twin sisters right now but be prepared for snow. Lyons, Boulder and Longmont are all pretty much on the way there.

For coffee I like Metropolis and Corvus, I am sure there are others that are just as good if not better. Denver Bicycle Cafe has beer, coffee, and bikes.

I love Great Divide and think it is the best place in Denver to get a beer. Yea it gets crowded but I still love it. I would recommend you go now before they move into their new place. Epic is also worth a visit. It is a big pretty space and has a few things on tap that they don't distribute. Both aren't out of the way and worth stopping by.

Snooze will be packed no matter when you go. Case Bonita barely qualifies as food but go to say you did. If you are coming from Texas the food here will disappoint you. Its pricey and not near as good as Texas food. I moved here from Houston and was amazed at how I spent $20 on lunch downtown no matter what I ate. If I spent $20 for lunch in Houston I had eaten somewhere nice. Masterpiece deli and Biker Jims are good, quick, not out of the way and reasonably priced.

 

[FishPondManager]

Dozens and Sam's #3 are pretty good breakfast spots that don't have as long a wait as Snooze. Rafting Clear Creek right now will be a blast, albeit quite cold. Ive always enjoyed my visits to Novo for coffee.

 

[TheMitz]

Beer - The whole River North/LoDo neighborhood has become insane for breweries. While hitting CS, I would also do Epic, Black Shirt, Ratio, and River North. Great Divide will often have special tasty offerings in the tap room. If someone said the taproom gets busy, wait until Snooze lol, but I will discuss that further down. Casey is pretty much all bought up at this point in the month, I believe. (Someone correct me if I'm wrong!). Trve is definitely worth the visit! I would also recommend Hops and Pie, great taplist and food. Small batch liquor is down the street from there if you want a good bottle shop. I can go on and on about the beer but I will leave it there.

Other things: Pretty good list so far. It really depends on what you like doing though. On the way back down from Mt Evans, hit up Beau Jeaus and Tommy Knocker in Idaho springs for lunch if you like big thick pizzas. Boulder has some decent hiking for being so close to things. Casa Bonita is the worst place on earth. (treat that info as you want). Snooze is the most popluar of the breakfast places. I really like The Universal as well for breakfast.

Coffee: Corvus Coffee further down Broadway from Trve, Novo is great (multiple locations), Huckleberry is also pretty good.

Bungee jumping? Ah hell no.

 

[ASak10]

Find a way to make it over to Comrade for some beers. While down that way you could also hit up Dry Dock and Copper Kettle, and then hit Bull & Bush on the way back to downtown.

I love Aviano, but I can also walk there from my house, so that probably plays into it. Cherry Cricket near there is a fun spot for burgers, also one of my favorite places to go.

 

[quirkzoo1]

... and at some point maybe Casa Bonita.

No. Just, no.

 

[omgeezo]

Skip great divide. Not worth it

Crooked Stave with have plenty of bottles to choose from at the source

Check out Comrade Brewing if you like hops.

Plenty of great restaurants. If you make it out to Boulder for a hike be sure to visit Avery and do Backcountry Pizza for lunch

 

[Juice1]

Mead Street Station has BCBBW on draft, two weeks before that they had Supplication. IDK who these guys are but they sure do get a nice keg every week or two, and cleaning their beer lines affords me the opportunity to scope it out on the clock

 

[Alex2]

Wow thank all of you guys for the recommendations! The only reason my girlfriend wanted to check out Casa Bonita is because of South Park and their cool pictures on the website. I'll suggest taking it off of the list because all of you can't be wrong, haha. Thanks for all the coffee recommendations, I'll try to check out 1-2 spots a day.

I think I may recommend hiking in Boulder to squeeze in a trip to Avery.

This is way better than TripAdvisor.

 

[skrip]

I'm flying into Denver early tomorrow and leaving on Tuesday and will be staying at The Sheraton downtown. CS, Trve and Falling Rock are on the for sure list to visit. Every person I've talked to about visiting Great Divide has said to pass on it since the tap room gets super packed. I wasn't expecting anything special on tap and I'm used to their regular offerings in Texas. So is it worth the visit? What about Epic?

I checked out the Casey website and I know I won't be able to visit the brewery for a bottle release and I see they mentioned a few places I may find bottles. Are there any different releases going on during my trip?

And aside from beer related things is there anything going on in Denver during that week that I should check out? I plan to do the regular tourist things like the zoo, museums, botanical gardens, Mount Evans and hopefully a coffee shop a day. Right now I want to check out Aviano, any other recommendations? And does anyone have experience with Adam's Mystery Playhouse, it's a murder mystery dinner my girlfriend wants to check out but neither of us are sold on the Harley Murder thing they have going on. As far as restaurants we plan on going to Snooze tomorrow morning and at some point maybe Casa Bonita.

And I've searched the interwebs far and wide but I guess there is no place to bungee jump in Denver or the surrounding area? The only places I found that supposedly offer it have no information regarding it on their website. So at the very least we plan to whitewater raft in Clear Creek.

TL;DR: any recommendations as far as coffee shops, restaurants, bungee jumping and hiking?

i'll be there as well! Saturday to Wed.

 

[Alex2]

i'll be there as well! Saturday to Wed.

If you want to pop some bottles or get some drinks let me know so I can pack some Jester King!

 

[Alex2]

Best burger in Denver, go!

 

[Juice1]

Best burger in Denver, go!

Grandpa's Burger Haven, but I wouldn't recommend coming down to my neck of the woods just for a burger.

 

[TheMitz]

Best burger in Denver, go!

Peanut Butter and bacon burger at the RockRest. (Biker bar in Golden)

Or Highland Tap and Burger pulled pork burger. (Great beer list here)

 

[skrip]

If you want to pop some bottles or get some drinks let me know so I can pack some Jester King!

we're not checking any bags so i don't plan on bringing any bottles but i'm definitely down to meet up for some brews!

 

[DenverBeerDrinker]

Best burger in Denver, go!

5280 Burger Bar downtown was pretty good.

 

[FishPondManager]

Best burger in Denver, go!

Cherry Cricket was mentioned earlier and I'll second that.

If you want to put down a good base before a day of drinking venture over to Toms Home Cooking. That's probably the place I miss the most now that I don't work in Denver anymore.

 

[Alex2]

Grandpa's Burger Haven, but I wouldn't recommend coming down to my neck of the woods just for a burger.

I'll have a car and that's only 4min from my hotel so I'll jot it down.

 

[Alex2]

Cherry Cricket was mentioned earlier and I'll second that.

If you want to put down a good base before a day of drinking venture over to Toms Home Cooking. That's probably the place I miss the most now that I don't work in Denver anymore.

I've read about Cherry Cricket on a few sites so I think I'll check that place out. 5280 burger bar looks awesome too. And I'm salivating at the Yelp pictures from Tom's Home Cooking, so thanks for that. That'll be a priority now.

 

[FishPondManager]

I've read about Cherry Cricket on a few sites so I think I'll check that place out. 5280 burger bar looks awesome too. And I'm salivating at the Yelp pictures from Tom's Home Cooking, so thanks for that. That'll be a priority now.

Toms opens at 11 and closes when they sell out of food. I suggest getting there at 11. There isn't much seating but it tends to turn over fast so don't sweat it if it looks full when you're in line. I believe they are cash only.

 

[Mile_High_Brewer1]

The Pint Room in Littleton (just opened) has a solid burger menu and a stupid number of taps. I think 175 beers with the majority of those coming from CO? We stopped in last Friday night and it was packed, but worth the wait. Nice list too. Had a Comrade SMaSH pale ale and Hop Savant.

 

[swivelhips1]

excited for this:

http://beerstreetjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/Odell-Brombeere-Blackberry-Gose.jpeg

 

[Steve_0]

Cherry cricket or Park Burger

 

[Alex2]

Not to turn this into my own special blog or anything about my trip but I took a lot of advice from you guys and had a blast.

Friday: Snooze, Aviano Coffee, Denver Zoo, Crooked Stave, Comida and Mile High Wine & Spirits
Saturday: Ziplining and whitewater rafting at the Royal Gorge, Royal Gorge Bridge, Buchi Cafe Cubano and Hops & Pie
Sunday: Novo, The Universal, Museum of Nature and Science, Small Batch Liquors, Metropolis Coffee, Falling Rock, Botanical Gardens and Cherry Cricket
Monday: Sam's No.3, Sweet Bloom Coffee, Brainard Lake, Biker Jim's and Red Rocks Amphitheatre for Portugal. The Man

DrLoveMD - I don't know why neither of us remembered but we definitely have traded before.

There was still a ton of things I had listed that I wanted to do but simply did not have enough time. I really didn't do too many beer related things or at least as much as I had hoped to do. So I will absolutely be back some day if not relocate because your state is that incredible. I must have been lucky with Snooze because there was just a 45min wait, unless that's terrible in Colorado standards because Austin is notorious for long lines at popular spots. That was my favorite breakfast spot from the trip, I'll upload pictures if anyone is interested.

Crooked Stave was awesome, that Reserva Cassis was so damn good. Boysenberry was a close second. So if anyone has any Cassis bottles feel free to reach out, I know it was reserve members only. I think The Source is a cool little spot and I'd go back today if I could. The tacos and quesadillas were solid! I ended up filling two 12-bottle shippers from the above bottle shops and Crooked Stave so I'm happy with the haul.

Whitewater rafting was incredibly fun and if I could make a weekly hobby of it I would. Sweet Bloom was the best coffee place I visited but they were all great. I've never had cuban coffee so the sweetness caught me off guard. Biker Jim's was great, it reminded me of Banger's here in Austin and Red Rocks was The entire trip was incredible. Thanks everyone for the suggestions.

 

[DrLoveMD]

Just so you know, the Cassis wasn't Reserve members only. I may have a bottle or two left, I'll have to look. I thought we had traded before, but I wasn't 100%.

Glad you went to Biker Jim's... sooo guud. Also, Snooze is my favorite too (although many people in Colorado think it's over-hyped and all that fun stuff). Dat pancake flight.

 

[Alex2]

Just so you know, the Cassis wasn't Reserve members only. I may have a bottle or two left, I'll have to look. I thought we had traded before, but I wasn't 100%.

Glad you went to Biker Jim's... sooo guud. Also, Snooze is my favorite too (although many people in Colorado think it's over-hyped and all that fun stuff). Dat pancake flight.

Weird. The guy at Crooked Stave told me it was. I thought that was odd when I saw it for sale for $20 at Falling Rock.

Worst part of the trip: paying $34 per night to park at Sheraton, wtf. I couldn't find any other options. There were surface lots but none were overnight or I would have had to pay again at midnight. I asked around at the hotel but wasn't helpful. Was that my cheapest option or was I royally screwed?

There's some restaurants in Austin that I hear some people say are over-rated but have long waits as well (like Hopdoddy), so I understand the divide when it comes to places like that. I ordered a ridiculous amount of food at Snooze but sadly only 1 pancake.

 

[DenverBeerDrinker]

Weird. The guy at Crooked Stave told me it was. I thought that was odd when I saw it for sale for $20 at Falling Rock.

Worst part of the trip: paying $34 per night to park at Sheraton, wtf. I couldn't find any other options. There were surface lots but none were overnight or I would have had to pay again at midnight. I asked around at the hotel but wasn't helpful. Was that my cheapest option or was I royally screwed?

There's some restaurants in Austin that I hear some people say are over-rated but have long waits as well (like Hopdoddy), so I understand the divide when it comes to places like that. I ordered a ridiculous amount of food at Snooze but sadly only 1 pancake.

Assuming that was downtown? You can park in most surface lots from 6pm-6am for the one price.

 

[Ispeakforthetrees]

Worst part of the trip: paying $34 per night to park at Sheraton, wtf. I couldn't find any other options. There were surface lots but none were overnight or I would have had to pay again at midnight. I asked around at the hotel but wasn't helpful. Was that my cheapest option or was I royally screwed?
.

Surette Reserva Cassis was released into CO markets, dunno about elsewhere.

I too would like this question about parking answered, I'm going to a show at Comedy Works thursday...

 

[DrLoveMD]

Weird. The guy at Crooked Stave told me it was. I thought that was odd when I saw it for sale for $20 at Falling Rock.

Just so you know, Falling Rock had 2 or 3 CS:CR memberships at one time (I think I'm not pulling this out of my ass, other CO boys will have to correct me if I'm wrong). Regardless of that, yes the guy at The Source was wrong (GASP). It was most certainly available at stores and not CR only.

 

[Alex2]

Assuming that was downtown? You can park in most surface lots from 6pm-6am for the one price.

Yeah the couple of surface lots I drove by was near the Sheraton. I think next time I'll shoot for an AirBnB and hope for free parking. I don't even know why I didn't consider that the first time. It's completely possible I misread one of those signs too considering I was driving when I read them.

Surette Reserva Cassis was released into CO markets, dunno about elsewhere.

I too would like this question about parking answered, I'm going to a show at Comedy Works thursday...

Find free or cheap parking and catch an Uber. I used that for the first time to get to the airport in Austin and back home. It's free for the first ride and it's easy to find codes for free rides (up to $20). If you need a code let me know.

Just so you know, Falling Rock had 2 or 3 CS:CR memberships at one time (I think I'm not pulling this out of my ass, other CO boys will have to correct me if I'm wrong). Regardless of that, yes the guy at The Source was wrong (GASP). It was most certainly available at stores and not CR only.

Bummer. I bet I could have made it around to a few more shops and found a bottle. Next time!

 

[themill1]

Hello all - I'm a new member as I was banned the other day from BA for being a "****** and troll", according to Grand Emporer Alstrom. Anyway, ASak10 directed me here and I hope to keep up the trolly doucheness on another forum! Just kidding but hello to all - some of your avatars I recognize from the other boards, but thanks for having me and let's talk some beer!