I'm planning a driving trip from Iowa to Phoenix, AZ sometime this summer. I'm specifically trying to find something along the path of Denver > Grand Junction > Moab > Flagstaff > Phoenix. In Iowa, we get brews from CO like Avery, Left Hand, etc... Is there a certain "can't miss" brewery I can visit while passing through? I'll have 2 kids with me as well. Are breweries pretty lax about letting kids in? Can you always or sometimes bring ouside food in or does it vary by place? Any help appreciated! Thanks! Erick -- Any other recommendations for site seeing, touring as well. Just "driving through" but want to see cool stuff as Iowa has nothing col to look at.
Unless you love traffic, I would try to avoid I-70 pretty much any time of year (EX: 5+ hours from FOCO to Breck in August- should take 2ish)... Most breweries are family friendly, allow you to BYOF, and may have food trucks. I would cruise 80 to 76 to CO14 in to Fort Collins and hit Odell, Equinox and Horse & Dragon (all within a couple miles of each other). Then head to the the mountains via 14 to completely avoid 70, while still on track for GJ and passing through Steamboat Springs. From there, head south on CO131 which will take you to 70, eliminating the main headache areas of Denver to Silverthorne. ---CO14 & 131 are incredibly beautiful roads with little or no traffic--- Hit Denver stuff by coming back from the south, up I-25. I'll leave the Denver/Boulder recommendations to the others ...
Well, there are many. Hard to pin down just a few, but here's another option: If you're just looking to try the beers, then there are tap houses (Falling Rock, Freshcraft, Colorado Plus) that would be great for "let's try a lot in one spot". However, if'n you want the brewery experience, here are a few in Denver metro: Comrade (hops) Hogshead (English, cask) Crooked Stave (tart, sours) Bierstadt (German)....if it's open by then Bull and Bush (kind of English, great food) ...and more..
Thanks for the help gents! Seems I need to narrow my searches significantly. I'll consider trying to go around I70 as well. Thanks for the pointer!
It's not going to take you that long on I-70. 14 is a gorgeous drive but it's going to put you on the road an extra six hours if you head north to Fort Collins, west to Steamboat, then south to Glenwood. Just be smart about when you get out of Denver. Right off I-70 heading west are places like Westbound & Down in Idaho Springs or Roaring Fork in Carbondale (probably 15 miinutes south of the interstate). I like the latter a lot, and there is dynamite food at a place called Silo two doors down. Kannah Creek in GJ isn't anything special, but will be the last decent beer between Colorado and Arizona along your route.
I left Fort Collins mid-morning on a Friday FYI... Are we suggesting an overnight drive? Or how do you avoid it? Sorry- that trip scarred me, and I'd like to actually know when a reasonable time to drive that way would be...
We never had a problem bringing our two year old to any brewery (beyond, of course, keeping her entertained). Other patrons and staff haven't been bothered in the slightest.
Most breweries will welcome your children if they are supervised and well behaved. Well behaved = near you (not free range) and making about as much noise as everyone else. Basically if you treat a brewery as a public place where people don't know you and not like a rowdy family reunion where the kids run wild as pack animals, you will be fine. TL;DR: I've seen well behaved kids (not mine) welcomed at the weed shops in Colorado. Just don't let your kids be assholes.
With regards to I70, don't head west on Friday and don't head east on Sunday. I've spent an extra two to three hours in the car coming back on Sunday afternoons after camping trips. These days, I try to stay Sunday night and drive home Monday.
I was thinking of rolling west through that area on Thursday night or Friday morning. Not sure what time. It'd be the first part of the trip of course. My girls are good kids. They go with us all the time here, so there would be no difference for them. I was just trying to confirm it'd be OK. Easier to ask here than "looking it up". thanks!
We are your typical site see'ers too... I haven't been to CO in 25 years (the summer before the Rockies became a team). I was planning on hitting Left Hand coming in to town and staying at the Casino in Blackhawk (to be on the west side of Denver) and maybe hit Westbound & Down that night, then going on the drive between Leadville and Aspen (Independence Pass??) the following morning to Carbondale where we can stop in at Roaring Fork. Probably off to Kannah Creek in GJ, then off to Moab (brewery and arches), then Four Corners, etc... Anything sound obviously dumb/missing? I don't think I'll go as far north as FOCO. Sounds awesome, but I think it will take too much time.
What is the CNM? Thanks for pointing that out! Is the Ale House an actual Breck only tap house or just choose to serve only Breck?
CNM = Colorado National Monument The Ale House does Breck (6-7 brews), but they always have some pretty nice higher ABV stuff from other brewery's from other states. Definitely worth checking out, their a couple of blocks from Kannah Creek on 12th/Patterson, College Liquors is in the same complex. Cheers!
I'm not crazy about Blackhawk, but it will put you on the correct side of town for your journey. You might also consider staying in Golden, which is less, um, old-people-on-tour-buses, but still on the west side of Denver. If you want a sorta cool alternative to I-70 west of Denver, consider driving over Squaw Pass towards Mt. Evans. It is not fast, but it is a cool drive. And if you're feeling inspired, you can drive up the highest paved road in North America to the summit of Mt. Evans (suck it Pikes Peak!). From the summit you drop back down into Idaho Springs and continue on the interstate. If not feeling inspired, just turn right at Echo Lake and head back to I-70. Further west, Aspen Brewing Co. (in Aaaassssppppennnn, you have to say with a snooty accent) does some decent beers, so if you're driving Independence Pass from Leadville-ish, that might be worth a stop.
