2 Days in Denver

Let's be honest, if more people "bashed" Colorado then maybe this state would be less flooded by new arrivals at every minute. So maybe we should encourage that kind of thing on this board??

Count me as a 3rd vote that tend to have only two main takeaways from most NEIPAs:
1. This tastes exactly like those other 50 I've tried
2. What the #$% did they DO to this beer?

Don't forget out of towners - we are extremely provincial here, according to the highest authority in the land (a single random New Jersey BA user).

 

As an avid hiker, I can say that Colorado has some of the best hiking in the country. Nothing on the East Coast compares to the mountains and scenery in Colorado. If I were able to transfer my East Coast job to Colorado, I'd move there in a heartbeat. I'd even happily put up with their inferior beer to be able to hike in Colorado every weekend.

I say this as someone who has visited 218 breweries around the world, including 21 in Colorado.

Colorado (21)

Oscar Blues
New Belgium
Odell
Funkwerks
Fort Collins Brewing
Avery
Comrade
Great Divide
Crooked Steve
Prost
River North
Yak and Yeti
Epic
Dry Dock
Coors
Wiley Roots
Knotted Root
Weldwerks
Bierstadt Lagerhaus
Casey
Outer Range
Liberati

 

Brought home some Juicy Bits from my last Colorado trip. Perfect mouthfeel. Subdued in flavor, perfect for a lager lover like yourself. Me, I want something a little more flavorful. Tried several other special release IPA's in the tasting room and none of them really popped for me.

Casey, otoh, is definitely a brewery to brag about. Bierstadt too, though lagers aren't really my thing.

 

Hahahah quality trolling, my guy!

I know when I hike I always feel like such a chump when I realize I forgot my mountain bike

 

Take an Uber to Novel Strand, then walk over to Trve, and then Baere. Some of the best beers in town and less than 10-minute walks from each other. Trve has the most haze, but Novel Strand will have some bad-ass hoppy beers with unique hops, some prob hazy, and Baere will prob have a haze or two also.

 

Why haven't you been to Strange Craft / Wits End?

 

That's the other "problem" with Colorado breweries. Too many to choose from, lol. I've only been to Colorado four times, and managed to hit 20 breweries in the last three visits. Still, of course, that's only a small fraction of the total.

What are those guys known for?

 

They brew all styles, but Strange is best known for Cherry Kriek and Breakfast Grapefruit IPA. Wits End (which shares the space) is known for their Belgian style beers, especially Jean Claude Van Blonde.

 

Strange and Wit's End are/were very early entrants in the Denver craft beer scene. Before they showed up, the scene in Denver proper was basically just Great Divide, Wynkoop, and Rock Bottom.
Beers from both are pretty fantastic. In particular, I'm all about the Wit's End beers. Jean Claude is legitimately one of the best Belgian pale ales on the planet and they have the hardware to back it up.

 

Going to be up in Denver for a few days this week, thinking I really need to hit up Strange/Wits End. Never ventured too far into Strange's stuff...I do remember their saison being one of my very first American saisons I tried back in the day at Falling Rock and enjoying it, before I was really familiar with the style....but did enjoy what I had tried from Wit's End, like Green Man, and it has been forever since I last drank anything of theirs. Definitely going back to when they had their own tap room.

Off topic, my Wit's End beer glass is probably my most used beer glass I have....at least tied with my TRVE one.

 

I know I missed the timeline for this post but you can't overlook Fiction, Platt Park, and Novel Strand for the haze.

 

Grabbed some beer at Strange and Wits End. Wits End stuff is really right up my alley, if Green Man was packaged, fresh, and available to me in Albuquerque, that beer could be a staple in my fridge.