Black Sky Brewery

 

 

 

 

One of two metal breweries in Denver. TRVE is the more well known. Now, I love TRVE. They take their beer very seriously. They are craftsmen first. But now that I've been to Black Sky...here's my opinion. Black Sky is a more fun bar. TRVE is dark and brooding, like a super underground, artsy fartsy vegan black metal LP recorded on vintage equipment. And there's a time and a place for that. But Black Sky is more of a house party with classic thrash albums in rotation and all your friends there getting wasted. A more friendly, less elitist vibe. The beer? Not bad. Not gonna go toe to toe with TRVE, but perfectly acceptable, especially considering their wider variety. Again, it's like drinking endless ice cold sessions over pondering some over wrought ultra craft beer. Time and place. Want to party and have fun? Go to Black Sky. Want to bang that arty goth girl you finally convinced to have a drink with you? Go to TRVE. Two different bars with one thing in common, metal and beer. Just different vibes.

 

 

 

I've been to this brewery once and sat at the tables, not the bar. I visited after work during a snowstorm on a Tuesday so the place was absolutely dead aside from the punked out bartender chick and what appeared to be "a regular". I went here on a suggestion from a co-worker because they play heavy metal, make pizza and serve beer... Unfortunately, I was very overall disappointed and won't return to this brewery.

Beer: Sub-par and in my opinion not that delicious. We tried two different kinds, a golden ale and a choco Stout with vanilla... Vanilla bean, vanilla-flavored extract and actual-vanilla extract all have their own distinct vanilla essence. The Stout I drank tasted more like it was brewed with the artificial vanilla. The beer did not taste of high quality at all and was sorely not worth the price.

Vibe & Music: This place looks pretty cool when you walk in that's for sure. It has that industrial look that's becoming popular where raw vent ducts are exposed, metal siding used for things plus your standard lighting... I will say that we heard zero heavy metal and only a plethora of terrible, popular punk. There's good underground punk and there's bad popular punk... so, perhaps you know what I mean. The place felt more like a very slight step up from a hole-in-the-wall bar.

Pizza: This is where Black Sky falls undoubtedly flat... considering I'd rather buy pizzahut or domino's anyday than buy another pizza from Black Sky. It's pretty tough to mess up a pizza unless you utilize cheap goods to construct it... the pizza tasted on the level of a frozen djorno so that should put it into perspective.
Plenty better spots to grab a beer and pizza...

Service: Considering there was only one girl working the bar who provided most of her attention to the regular while the cook did his thing in the back, I can't say the service was bad at all. She was pretty good about getting our beer and food in a timely manner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I found everything to be very reasonable on the beer which was of a good quality. The pies were a bit more expensive, but the quality was good even on the less appetizingly named. They were rustic, thin crust pizzas and the sauces in particular were quite tasty. The white "corpse-pie" (essentially raw tomato and herbs on a white sauce) was very tasty, though it was less appetizing once the heat had dissipated (just like a real corpse!). Our second pie was sausage and pepperoni. The sausage in particular was very good and I liked the sauce which had a very bright tomato flavor, but may have been spread with a *slightly* heavy hand and could have been a little more herbaceous as well.
The service was incredible and very friendly.

 

 

 

 

another metal themed brewery, this place seems a little more authentically so than trve, nothing against them at all, but this place is full of metal heads and basically nobody else. its cool they have a place to gather like this, it fills a real community need, and the people running this ship are nice as anything. sprawling space with old wine fermenters visible and a long bar packed with hair and leather on a saturday night. maybe five of their own beers on and a handful of other colorado taps. the ipa was tasty, but the pomegranate beer was our favorite on offer. female metal djs blasting vintage vinyl, pretty cool vibe if you like that kind of thing. the food they had looked good, but we didnt eat. five bucks a pint is reasonable for craft beer, and the people pouring it were attentive and friendly, although we didnt have table service. not entirely my scene, not relaxing as other tap rooms, but i appreciate the heck out of this place and will be back before long. highly recommended, as much as a cultural experience as a beer one.

edit: on quieter nights its a way more relaxed vibe, fun and conversational and not as in your face as the first time i showed up. service keeps improving too, all good folks in here.

New place in the Denver Arts district. A bit off the beaten path, but just a couple blocks from Renegade.

Dark lighting inside with a heavy metal theme. Metal (not overpowering) playing in the background with some TVs showing college football when I was in there (saw the ridiculous Auburn-Alabama football game ending right when i walked in).

Three of their own beers on tap and a pretty decent visiting tap list (15-20) of other local brews.

Only had the IPA. It wasn't great, wasn't bad. Choice of 10 oz or 16 oz pours.

Didn't have any food, but the menu looked good and with reasonable prices.

Staff was very attentive and quick with the service. A laid back, blue-collar place. More local watering hole feel than hipster joint, which I liked. Hoping they have more of their own brews next time I visit.