Denver Microbrew Tour

This is a belated post, but that's what happens when school takes over your life.  For Christmas Kiki got us a trip to Denver and we stayed with our friend Blake.  Part of the idea was to visit New Belgium Brewing in Fort Collins, CO, but apparently you need reservations to tour their brewery and they were all booked up.  Blake had heard about this Denver Microbrew Tour so we decided to check it out.  Luckily even though it was January the weather was in the mid to high 40s so we couldn't have asked for better winter walking weather.

Great Divide Brewing Company

The tour met at Great Divide Brewing Company.  While we waited I tried the Hoss Rye Lager (its a marzen type beer and it was probably my favorite of the day) and Kiki tried the Wild Raspberry Ale.

After awhile the tasting finally began and they took us from the small taproom to the back where they store barrels and kegs.  The guide had everyone in the group go around and introduce themselves and say where they were from.  It was surprisingly a good mix of people from all over the country.  Everyone was given a card to rate the beers.

After the introduction and handing out of cards we tried four beers: Wild Raspberry Ale, Hoss Ryle Lager, Hercules Double IPA, and the Yeti Imperial Stout.  When we tried the first beer the guide gave everyone some instructions on beer tasting: looking at the color, smelling it, swirling it, smelling it more, tasting it and letting your taste-buds absorb the flavor.

 Blake (I believe that is the Raspberry Ale)

 Kiki

Then we got a tour of the brewery.

After Great Divide it was a short walk over to Breckenridge...

Breckenridge Brewery

Breckenridge originally bought this location just to have as a manufacturing location, but right after they bought it they found out that Coors Field was going to be built.  They lucked out, and now its a stop for many people going to Rockies games.  We tried the Vanilla Porter and the Agave Wheat.  The Vanilla Porter tasted great at first.  Lots of vanilla and a great flavor.  But the more I drank it the more I realized it really lacked body.  Someone at our table remarked, "Its dark beer for Coors Light drinkers" which I think is very appropriate.  The Agave Wheat was interesting.  The agave makes it sweet so its a very unusual beer, but it was pretty great tasting.

And we walked by...

 Blue Moon at Coors Field.

 I am told that Falling Rock is amazing and next time we're in Denver we need to go.

It was a bit of a walk to our next stop...

Wynkoop Brewing Company

The founder/owner of Wynkoop if the former mayor of Denver and just got elected governor of Colorado so his campaign sign was proudly displayed.

Wynkoop bills itself as "Denver's oldest brewpub" which isn't really that old because it was founded in 1988.  We only tried two beers at Wynkoop, but we just walked a mile while full of beer so everyone was ready to just sit for a while and take their time.  First, was the B3K Schwarzbier which is a dark lager, which was good but I was kind of ready to take a break before I even tried it.  Second, was Patty's Chile Beer, which is an English mild and really smells like chilies, as in the hot pepper.  I didn't even know they made beer with peppers.  It was OK tasting, nothing I'm going to want to drink all the time, but I do have to give Wynkoop props for being creative and original.

Rock Bottom Brewery (the original)

 

Denver is quite proud that this is the original Rock Bottom Brewery, and with 35 locations across the country I can't blame them.  It was a busy place.  Rock Bottom, however, does not have a very interesting history because it was started as a chain concept by CraftWorks Restaurants & Breweries based in Chattanooga, Tennessee.  Its the same company that owns Old Chicago and Gordon Biersch.  Anyway, we tried two beers here too.  First was the Red Rocks Red, which was a very well balanced red.  Then we had Molly's Titanic Brown Ale, which was a really dark brown.

Unfortunately the tour does not make a loop so we had a good couple miles to walk back to the car.  Oh well, it was a fun tour filled with beer, some history of Denver, and a good walk to see the downtown.