Second Annual Denver Brewery Tour Weekend

Sunday, December 1, 2013

For the second year in a row, I hosted some friends from the east coast on a tour of Colorado breweries.

The long weekend begun on Thursday, November 7, 2013 and contained over two dozen check-ins at various breweries, eateries, and coffee shops around the Denver metro area (and Fort Collins).

Thursday consisted of…

• starting a late lunch at Euclid Hall, one of my favorite downtown restaurants with an excellent beer selection
• then stopping by Prost Brewing before happy hour (where a lawyer meetup was convening?)
• then Wynkoop Brewing Co. for some pre-dinner drinks
• then swung by Lucky Pie in LoDo for some pizza and, yet again, good local beer

Friday included…

• a (not early enough) start at Snooze, one of the busiest but tastiest spots for breakfast and brunch in downtown Denver
• Crema, for a quick hipster-filled caffeine pick-me-up
• a tour of the Stranahan’s distillery, some of the best whiskey made in Colorado
• then swinging by Breckenridge Brewery’s 471 Kalamath location for some unique beers
• then a stop by TRVE for some hard-core metal brews
• followed by a stop-over at Renegade Brewing to have one of my local favorites: REDACTED
• a delicious dinner at My Brother’s Bar, the oldest continually operating bar in Denver

Saturday comprised of…

• a world-class breakfast at Wooden Spoon, one of my favorite bakeries
• then a drive up to Fort Collins where we kicked the morning off with world-class coffee at Harbinger Coffee
• Equinox Brewing, a quaint brewery
• CooperSmith’s Pub & Brewing, a long-time brewery (before microbrews were trendy)
• funkwerks, one of the best, lesser-known saison specialists
• Odell, with one of the best flagstone “front yards” in town
• Hogshead Brewery, the tastiest cask-aged, English ales this side of the pond

Sunday wound down with:

• a delicious, early breakfast at Sassafras, quality southern cooking
• Crema again, for good measure
• a trip to Epic Brewing, the prettiest warehouse and tasting room in River North
• Crooked Stave at The Source, the best sour beers in the best cluster of butchers, bakers, and restaurants in River North
• Mile High Spirits, a great menu of local-made spirits
• Our Mutual Friend, with one of my favorite ‘session’ beers around

All in all, looking back at this list it was a busy weekend with a lot of quality stops along the way. If you’re in Denver, I highly recommend checking out any and all of these venues.