Denver, Colorado, home to life at 5280 feet, the air is thin and the sun shines bright more than 300 days a year. The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. The Denver downtown district is located immediately east of the confluence of Cherry Creek with the South Platte River, approximately 12 miles (19 km) east of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Denver is nicknamed the "Mile-High City" because its official elevation is exactly one mile (1.6 km) or 5,280 feet (1,609.344 m) above sea level, a round brass cap embedded in the western entrance stairs of the State Capitol marks the exact elevation. The 105th meridian west of Greenwich passes through Union Station and is the temporal reference for the Mountain Time Zone.
Denver is probably the second best US city for beer (after Portland OR that is) and is home to the Great American Beer Festival, Denver Beer Festival and the OktoberFest Denver. Fittingly enough, the first permanent structure in Denver was a saloon (bar).
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Great Divide Brewing Company - 2201 Arapahoe Street.
Located in a somewhat seedy part of downtown, this place is directly in the brewery building. The tap room is extremely small, with a bar near the taps and around the side walls. I bet no more than 30 people could fit and that would be pushing it. But it has a coll vibe to it. The available beers are listed on a chalkboard. Samplers are $1 each and pints or 10 oz. pours are $4 depending on how "fancy" the beer is. The Yetis and Old Ruffian (2 of my favourite GD Beers) on tap were 10 oz. for $4 for example. Overall, I recommend hitting this place up and then heading down the street to Breckenridge
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Breckenridge BBQ & Brew Pub - 471 Kalamath Street.
What a great place, almost a dive really, not located in the best
part of town, but a rather interesting part of town, kind of industrial, blue
collar perhaps, south of downtown. Interesting place as well, seemed like they
had the brewery in place and just decided to add on a little bar area. Upon
entering, guests encounter a portion of the bar, the take-out portion of the
restaurant (left), and cooler with bottles for sale (hard right). Turn right to
enter the main dining area, which winds around a bit further to the right.
Decor is wood with beerania and beer poster/pictures on the walls. Seating is cosy
and the BBQ smell wonderful. In the back, past the bathrooms is a room for
private parties. Good
music playing and some interesting characters/regulars hanging around. Seven
taps and one nitro, nice variety, they ranged from light to dark beers and high
ABV to low ABV.
Bartender was good, chatty, and very friendly. The
atmosphere was very laid back. The food is good, but kind of typical pub grub. Note; Wednesday
is Happy Hour, the beers are only $2.50 a pop, now that is value. Overall, for
the beer and entertainment value, it is a must stop.
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Bull & Bush Pub & Brewery - 4700 Cherry Creek Dr. South.
There are only a dozen or so bars or restaurants in Denver that have been around for four decades under the same ownership. Founded by twin brothers Dale and Dean Peterson in 1971 when the area around it was nothing but shrubs and vacant lots, the Bull & Bush is now run by Dale's sons, Erik and Dave Peterson, who added the brewpub designation to the bar in 1997 Great olde English pub, dark rich mahogany wood look with dim lighting make you feel like bellying up and having a few, also an indoor patio, multiple rooms, fireplace, couches, etc. The bar is small and cramped, not a lot of head space. The servers are great and unpretentious, they know their stuff, and treat you well. The selection of beer is very impressive because they brew a large variety of styles,they even make their own root beer, and have an insane vintage beer list. With the likes of '02 La Folie for $33!!! And that’s just the tip of the iceberg? Vintage lambic’s from 3 Fonteinen, Boon and Oude Beersel. In addition, they had old vintages of several De Dolle beers, JW Lees and some other nice rarities. These beers were slightly expensive but pretty reasonable considering the rarity. Just awesome!
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Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery - 1001 16th Street.
Located in the heart of the Santa Fe arts district, the place fits the neighbourhood well, faux-dingy, a lot of exposed brick, hardwood bar, concrete floors, a nice, chill vibe in the place, really. Patrons are about what you would expect for the neighbourhood; twenty-something hipsters and artsy types, the staff was welcoming and attentive The beer selection here is ever-changing as they are always introducing new releases/seasonal for folks to try. Their regular beers are nothing to write home about, but they aren't bad while their one-offs are kind of hit-or-miss. Sometimes they really surprise you with a good hop bomb or barrel-aged stout. You either love or hate Rock Bottom, but if you are in the area I would not walk passed this place, give it a go you never know what you will find.
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Copper Kettle Brewing Company - 1338 South Valentia Street, Unit 100.
This
is a new brewpub the location is a little be off the beaten path on the
ground floor of a commercial building just off of Parker Road. It’s very
nondescript on the outside. When you walk in, it has a really open, welcome and
comfortable feel. Windows wrap around and the small bar/taps sit in front of a
window looking out on to the brewing floor. They have a dozen or
so tables, an L-shaped bar and some couches surrounding a coffee table that
looks almost like someone’s living room. There are beer lists and decks of
cards on every table, and there are several large TV’s as well. Looks like
they’re definitely planning ahead as the atmosphere feels very home -like
already.
On to the beers. There is an emphasis on German
brews at the moment, with helles, dunkel, spiced wheat (American-style),
altbier, copper pale, and a saison. The alt was spot-on, the American spiced
wheat was surprisingly good. They also have some more ”extreme” offerings on
the way including a Belgo-Roggen and a DIPA, too. The atmosphere is about as
good as you could want.
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1330 Zuni St, Unit M. A brewry with a Tasting Room that is open Monday through Friday 3-8 pm and Saturday 12- 8ish pm. New brews are tapped regularly. A really cool little place in a crappy looking part of town. Lots of hard work and love put into making it look nice. Not much space, but it’s never too crowded. Beer wise most of the selection is average. There are couple of standout brews, but they run out fast so be early. Nice people, especially the head brewer. |
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Wynkoop Brewing Company - 1634 18th St. At Wynkoop.
What a marvelous brewpub that was founded and is owned by the new Denver mayor, John Hickenlooper. The place is friendly, cozy, inviting, and has excellent food and house brews. Located in the enjoyable part of northwest downtown called LoDo (for "lower downtown" because it's downhill near the river), Wynkoop is housed in a large, restored warehouse with pool tables upstairs and brewroom, bar, and dining area downstairs. Each year Wynkoop runs the "Beer Drinker of the Year" competition where beer geeks from all over the United States compete for the top honor that would entitle the lucky winner to free beer for life at Wynkoop. Be sure to try the full sampler of their beers. A must do visit while in Denver.
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2161 Blake Street. Located on one corner of the attractive Coors Field baseball stadium.The Sandlot Brewery and Rounders Pub is a test brewpub for Coors (which is located nearby in Golden, CO) and also produces all the Blue Moon that is sold at the stadium. The pub is only open from 11 am to 2 pm Monday through Saturday, and during Rockies games it is closed to the public and only accessible from inside Coors Field for attendees of the baseball game not worth buying a “ball” ticket to go in here! Pretty cool that they had a brewery at the ballpark, but besides that, nothing too special. |  |
Denver Beer Co. - 1695 Platte Street, Denver
Another new Brewpub opened 2011. Located in a nice little area, directly off the highway, and with no other bars in sight? Looks like a large converted auto garage. There are several picnic tables out front, about 15 or so smaller tables inside, and a large L-shaped bar on the inside. The garage doors can be rolled up and down to make the whole place as indoors or outdoors as needed depending on the weather. All of the decor is pretty new, and is a combination of wood and metal. Looks kind of like the neo-industrial look you see in a lot of the fast casual places. They have some amusing goat and chicken paintings on the walls, too. Atmosphere was nice. Lots of room, with a bar for about 20 people, plenty of tables and chairs, and a nice porch. Bartenders were all friendly, and they know about their beers. Beer selection has a capacity for about 15 I think. All of the beer tasted good though, particularly the Graham Cracker Porter, The flight of 7 beers was $7...not a bad deal. Each beer was $5 except the session which was $4.
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925 W 9th Ave, Denver Yet another new brewery; Located in the middle of the Santa Fe art district. Looks like a converted garage. Within the tasting room there's a normal sized bar with room for a dozen people as well as 10-15 smaller tables. You can see all of the equipment and kegs via a window to the back and it looks like they have a ton of room. A quick glance at the roof and walls and you can see that they've re-built almost everything in the building. It's a really nice looking place. They have a pretty large line-up of beers, especially the, Rye IPA, Amber, Coffee pale, Imperial Porter and Barleywine. Tasters are $1 to $1.50 for a pretty big pour and pints were $4-5. Friendly service, too. Another excellent new brewery with a cool atmosphere and beers worth seeking out. Note: It can added into a small “pub crawl” along with the Rackhouse, Breckenridge, and Strange which aren't too far away. |  |
ChopHouse and Brewery, 1735 19th St, Ste 100.
Denver Chop House is located on 19th Street not too far from Coors Field. As with other Chop House locations, the interior is dark with an upscale feel. The bar runs along the right side and affords a clear view of brewing equipment behind glass. The rest of the space is devoted to table seating. The beer selection consists of around 11-12 taps, several of which are German themed (Vienna, Dortmunder, Munich Lager, Doppel Bock), plus the standard brewpub fare. There is also one specialty tap (Wild Turkey Stout). Overall the beers are average to above average. The beers are all available in a sampler. Service was decent, although the place was absolutely packed on a weekday evening. Overall this spot is worth checking out on a Denver beer trip, but it wouldn’t be at the top of the list.
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Pints Pub Brewery & Freehouse, 221 W 13th Ave. A nice location south of downtown, near the main branch of the library and the art museum. A smallish, all-wood interior space makes for a very comfy British style pub, the vast array of scotch hanging from the ceiling is a sight to behold! Beer there are about 10 available, with two on cask, which is rare for this part of the country for some reason? All session ales of every style, representing mostly British and German ones, though; the cask ale was nice, The bartender was friendly and knowledgeable. |  |
1700 Vine Street. Vine Street Pub is located coincidentally enough on Vine Street on the east side of the city near the Denver Zoo. The interior has funky art and plants and wood, and has table seating in almost the entire space. The bar is in the rear. Vine Street features Mountain Sun beers ranging from Amber, Golden Ale and Kölsch to Doppelbock, Scotch Ale and Doppelbock. They also carry around 8 guest taps from regional microbrewers like Deschutes. Service was pretty good , the bartenders were quick and helpful. Note; Cash only, they do not accept credit cards. Great place to chill out and quaff a few cold ones. |  |
Some great multi tap beer bar to check out while in Daver are;
Falling Rock Tap House - 1919 Blake St., Denver
Cheeky Monk Belgian Beer Café - 534 E. Colfax, Denver
Freshcraft - 1530 Blake, Suite A, Denver
Rackhouse Pub - 208 South Kalamath Street, Denver
Uptown Brothers Brewing Co - 320 East Colfax, Denver
Cherry Cricket, The - 2641 East 2nd Avenue, Denver
Old Chicago - 1415 Market St, Denver
Hops & Pie - 3920 Tennyson Street, Denver
Breckenridge Brewery Blake Street Pub - 2220 Blake Street, Denver
Blake Street Tavern - 2401 Blake Street, unit #1, Denver
New Belgium Hub - 8500 Pena Blvd, Denver
Note: A more indepth review of the above bars will follow shortly when time allows.
cheers Otto.
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