Beer Trip: Boston or Denver?

Being from Boston and been to Denver I'd go with Denver. The proximity to the bars/breweries is a huge plus for Denver.

 

Yep, exactly this.

Never been to Denver, but it seems they have a ton of great breweries and food all within walking distance/short driving distance around the city.

Boston is amazing, but definitely isn't a beer city. You have to include the greater whole of New England to make it so.

 

Denver > Boston, all day. Been to both, but not "devoted" to either. That said, I can walk to 15-20 breweries on foot easily in Denver, while in Boston....not so much. I was actually surprised by how decentralized the breweries were in Boston...

 

I think it also depends on:

1. Whether this is more of a beer drinking trip or if you're also looking to bring or ship stuff home - a VT excursion probably doesn't make sense if it's just to visit and not bring anything back although a night in Portland could still be worthwhile.
2. Whether this is solely a beer trip or if that's just part of the vacation
3. If beer is just a part of the vacation, what else you like to do. Boston has historical stuff, seafood, potentially a beach in Maine while Denver has more hiking and outdoors stuff (although if you were to make it to VT there's decent mountains there just nothing compared to the Rockies)

 

Even though I haven't visited Denver since after turning 21, that'd be my vote. I go down to Boston multiple times a year but can't say I see it as an ultimate beer destination. There are some good breweries, sure, but they're spread out, and many aren't accessible by public trans. Also, Boston hotels are crazy expensive. Just my two cents, but I'd suggest VT or Portland ME over Boston for a NE trip.

 

Having been to both in a month. I'm going to vote for Denver. Seems a lot easier to find good beer in Denver because a lot more places happen to focus on it. Beer culture in Denver also seems like it is several years ahead of Boston, and there are concentrations of breweries, and beer centric bars. So you get bang for your time; and it definitely requires your walking, biking, or taking public transportation. Boston seemed spread out for breweries/taprooms, and forget about it for beer centric bars. THere's still come carry over from the previous era where craft is a few taps and the mainstays are the same thing the place has had since they opened.
Not too mention, hops cousin is available recreationally, so your day trips out into the national parks have bonus omg its beautiful points added on. Boston is 'legal', but it's still grey area for finding.
Getting out of the city for both is eye poppingly amazing. It just depends if you want water and salinity, or mountains and dry air for your eye candy.

 

LOL this is a hard choice, I guess I would roll with Boston since I get beers from Denver locally. Plus I like the Boston area and all the things to see, so I would do that one first. Then you have a reason to do trip two later and see Denver lol.

Cheers

 

I think the difference is in the density - there's great breweries all over New England but they are just that - they are all over the place rather than concentrated in specific areas. That's changed a little, but not to the point where you can park yourself in one spot and get to interesting breweries easily. Then there is the traffic, brewery schedules, and general aggravation navigating in the region. Road construction being the sixth major sport after baseball, football, hockey, basketball, politics...

Never been to Denver other than a fly through/layover, but sounds to me like Denver has a lot more available in a smaller, more easily navigable area - kinda stay in one place with more options whereas in New England you have to move around a lot to find things. I have clam chowda running in my veins, so I am as much a New England home boy as they get... People ask for advice on itineraries in the NE forum and some of them are flat out impossible given the time it takes to go from one to t'other...

 

They don't call it 'Cone-a-rado' for nothing though, pham.

 

I found that to be very true. Distances can come in. But, it was mostly just the amount of time it took to travel, what for us grid city people consider to be a short distance. Because your roads, and the confusing (to us) density of your pre auto designed infrastructure make the switchbacks in the mountains seem relatively tame in comparison. You lot also have some interesting self appointed rules of the road.

 

I thought everybody in Texas already had a 2d home in Colorado, where they spend all their free time. OP, what the hell kind of Texan are you, anyway?

 

rental car adds Weldwerks in Greeley and the FoCo breweries Funkwerks and Jessup Farm, as well as Golden's Cannonball Creek, and all less time-consuming than (I'm guessing) a trip to the Boston exurbs, with Ft Collins or Greeley both about 1:15 away from downtown Denver, and Cannonball Creek more like 20 minutes.

And oh the things you can drink at Avery in Boulder, maybe 40 minutes from downtown Denver, or Oskar Blues Liquids & Solids in Longmont, ditto...

but who's gonna drive?

 

No one has commented yet on the ability of the subway/trains to get you to the various good places that are in the greater Boston area if a person wants to just stay in the area and not go to Vermont or Maine.

During the several times that I have visited Boston I found that the "T" was easy to learn to use (believe it or not, my nickname is 'Tom Dooley' if anyone reading this is old enough to understand that reference), but I didn't try to use the "T" to visit breweries, pubs, etc. I do know that Cambridge Brewing and Sam Adams are reachable with minimal walking from the subway stops, but how about some of the other good places in the area? Is the "T" a viable transportation source that the OP (or other potential visitors to Boston) might take into consideration?

 

Well, I have not been a Charlie on the MTA rider since my undergrad days in the late 70's, but the kid's tell me there is this new fangled thing they use...I think it is called Uber? Seems that could work very well and get you to Jacks Abby, Springdale, and Exhibit A easily for a nice trio in a day. Mystic, Night Shift on another. Trillium and Harpoon are easy to reach.

There are bus connections to places, too, and you are right. The system is pretty easy to use, but I don't know it nearly as well as I did when I had to use it. But yeah...doable between T and Uber for sure.

Tom Dooley...hmmm...I know the reference well...the connection not so much ;-)

 

Oops, wrong song (it was Charlie), but the right singing group. (I think.)

 

Agree Uber is the way to go. MTA is a nightmare, anyone who has spent any time in virtually any other city that has public transit would laugh at the way public transportation works in Boston. Any time I hear anyone state that they liked the subway its from someone who comes from somewhere that has no public transit. Compared to nothing its great, compared DC, New York, London, etc. its a joke.

I used to live pretty close to where Night Shift brewery is on the other side of the Wellington Circle T stop in Somerville. I worked right across the street from South Station in Boston. From Wellington you can see the top of the building I worked at (4 miles away). It would take me somewhere around 45 minutes to get to work by subway where I would either have to switch lines or walk.

So realistically the bottom line with the choice, IMHO, is whether you are just looking to visit breweries in general or if you want to experience beer that you can only get in the area? Go to New England if you want to tick off breweries like Tree House, Trillium, Alchemist, Hill Farmstead, etc.. You'll also get variety but you are going to work for it. Denver is going to be cheaper and easier to get around, there's no doubt about it. You'll hit more breweries in a shorter period of time. If you also want to be touristy? Then Boston is your better bet. I love Colorado and Denver but density of tourism is higher in Boston.

If you do pick Boston and you don't want to be touristy then don't get a hotel in Boston and only get a car when you need it. I'd start by getting a hotel maybe just north of Boston where rates are lower. Uber into Boston for a day and go to bars, Trillium brewery, Trillium on the Rose Kennedy Parkway, etc.. Take another day or two and Uber to breweries nearby like Night Shift, Mystic, Bone Up, Aeronaut, etc.. After that rent a car and get a hotel south of Boston maybe more in the Framingham or Worcester area. Drive (Uber in some cases) to Jacks Abbey/Springdale, Exhibit A, Tree House, go to Armsby Abbey in Worcester (bar), Wormtown, etc.. You could spend 1-3 days in that area. Drive up to Vermont and hit places like Alchemist, Foam, Hill Farmstead, Fiddlehead, Lawsons, Burlington Brewing Co, etc.. Maybe stay in Burlington Vermont. Drive over to Portland Maine and hit Allagash, Foundation, Bissel Brothers, etc.. Stay in Portland and visit their restaurants and bars. You'll hit some amazing breweries but its a lot of work and a lot of driving especially in Vermont. You could skip Vermont potentially to save time/money.

 

If I flew into Denver for a beer vacay I would probably plan it out to do sober stuff for 4-6 hours, then hit a brewery, do some stuff, park car, and hit more breweries.

Mountain Trip: Casey is 3 hours ish from Denver, nice drive but the traffic can be terrible. Depending on what time of year you are going, it's beautiful but conditions vary. Along the way, Outer Range is a must-stop if you like hoppy beers. An overnight in Glenwood springs or Frisco is recommended.

Fort Collins/ Northern CO:
Lots to see here but Greeley for Wiley Roots and Weldwerks should be a top priority. If you get a hotel in Fort Collins you can easily move around to breweries once you park your car.

Denver: There is a LOT to see here and it can be overwhelming. Do you want hidden gems or known quantities? Must see: Black Project, Cerebral, Epic, Crooked Stave. Station 26 and Great Divide can be well worth your time as well. And lots of taprooms/ beer bars in the area.

Others: Don't sleep on Avery, Odd 13, or 4 Noses in the area North-West of Denver.

Rocky Mountain National Park is pretty cool, but Estes is mostly a beer desert so it depends how much time you have.

Denver's culinary scene is coming on pretty strong, but I'm sure Boston has some amazing eats available- and more of a cultural "identity" whereas Denver is a melting pot.

 

If it is strictly a beer vacation, I would say Denver. However, for American history, I would definitely visit Boston. Amazing city, surrounding areas, and historical sites. I am a history nerd, obviously.

 

I think a lot of people who are beer traders (and have tried beers from all over) would take exception to this comment. How much do you know about the Denver regions' "best" beers?