Favorite Colorado IPAs?

Very interesting. I've always felt the beer got more pine-y and bitter over the years, but always liked that it kept the richer caramel malts.

At the same time, I also have to admit that I dig where CO pale ales have gone lately. If it's anything like Honeyman, Clintonian, or Pale in Progress I'm all over it. I think I prefer those to their IPA brethren.

 

LOL... For the record: I actually absolutely love the food here. I'm not going back.

 

DoWhatNow?

 

Being a former Chicagoan here is my biggest gripe with the Denver food scene compared to Chicago:

In Chicago, you can blindly walk in to almost any restaurant, bar, side shack and not worry that the food they serve is going to be dynamite. It has to be because the people that live in Chicago won't take anything less than fantastic food. You may stay in business for 6 months or a year, but if your food sucks you will shrivel and die regardless of your cocktail/wine/beer menu.

In Denver, there is plenty of good food but it's a lot of trial and error. I have gone to places numerous times and tried numerous things and been disappointed time and time again. However, these places have been in business for 5,10,20 years. I know everyone who hasn't lived in Chicago loves to hate on everything in Chicago...... but, the food is absolutely better there than here in Denver. I feel confident Denver will catch-up in the coming years due to so many people moving here. I also don't blame the chefs here necessarily. I think high-altitude does affect things greatly. I'm sure there are also more top quality chefs moving to Chicago than Denver..... for now.

So, everyone who hasn't lived in Chicago feel free to begin your tirade on me as to why and how the Denver food scene is vastly superior or, at least, doesn't suck as bad as I've described above!

 

Chicago is a top 3-5 food town in the country. Denver isn't bad, but I don't even think that's even up for debate is it? You don't even have to have even been there to know that.
Now beer on the other hand...

 

I felt the same coming from Portland, but in the last four years things have drastically gotten better and I attribute a lot of this to the craft beer scene. Beer snobs tend to also be foodies and are starting to demand better food and I think we're seeing that.

Now the problem of trying to franchise the shit out of everything in this town is another discussion

 

Tried Extrovert last weekend, I believe this is the best IPA that Left Hand has made so far. Nice beer, I wouldn't be surprised if there was significant mosaic in there...
Or not! Apparently it's Cascade, Comet, and Jarrylo.

 

I agree. I came from Philadelphia where the food is very very good. There are some great places in Denver, but it is like you described - a lot of trial and error. Lodo IMO is actually lacking a lot of good restaurants. They have some chains and some burger places, but not a lot of character. My favorite part about Philly were the BYO's. They were everywhere and they had to compete on food alone. The quality was outstanding.

 

I wish Hops & Pie would franchise the shit out of their place

...or least open a second location on the other side of town.

 

Denver is like a giant episode of DDD. We have wannabe gourmet burgers and fries down pat. Steaks, too. We also have so-so pizza on lock. Beyond those 3 (and CO-style green chili) there's a lot of room for growth.

 

Philly might be my food heaven. I had a dinner at Amada that will be burned into my brain forever. So good. Good food on ever corner.

Denver, eh, it's getting better. Some of the restaurants that get praise baffle me. They usually have shit for service (almost to where it seems intentional), 2 hour waits with many empty tables, and mediocre, overpriced food. I do, however, have a few gems on my list.

 

I'll trade you a second Hops and Pie on the east side for a Comrade on the west side.

 

Our response to Drunken Tirade, Shotgun Diplomacy, will be releasing tomorrow at Finn's Manor and Saturday at the taproom! Brewed with 5.5#/bbl of Azacca, Hull Melon, Nelson Sauvin, and Hallertau Blanc. Chris (our resident scientist) also wrote a blog post regarding our stance on haze in hoppy beer - http://cerebralbrewing.com/a-hazy-treatise/. Hopefully this will further the dialogue that's already occurring on the web (and great forums like this one) with a focus on open-mindedness to different techniques.

 

Fort Collins is even worse for food.. I can't wrap my head around how a place can have world class beer around every corner, yet I struggle to even think of a place where I want to eat

 

You really can't make a fair comparison to much larger cities such as Philadelphia (2x the population of Denver) or Chicago (3.5x the population of Denver). Plus there isn't as much diversity. ~65% white for Denver, ~45% white for Chicago and Philadelphia.

 

Just had a Panther Picker over at Odell. Solid, solid pale.

 

So much this. Completely mind bottling.

 

Just so everyone's clear - Drunken Tirade / Shotgun Diplomacy is all in good fun. Nothing like the rivalry between KVWN Channel 4 and KQHS Channel 9. Or is it?

 

CO Breakfast Burritos are literally my favorite food. Looooove Green Chile.



Boulder has a few good spots.


Chipotle did start here though.....

 

There's plenty of good food around (of all sorts), you might just have to drive a long way to get it. The entire "fast casual" industry started here. Noodles, Chipotle, Qdoba, Smashburger, Illegal Pete's, Tokyo Joe's, etc.

I think Denver gets a little bit of a bad rap (justifiably) because there are sooooo many places that think cooking can only involve a flat top, deep fryer, or pizza oven. Plus, everybody and their mom has a cook that thinks they're doing "upscale bar food" by tossing microgreens and chipotle mayo on a burger. Or (gasp!) a pizza that has grilled chicken on it! Not saying any are bad, but we could probably benefit from a little variety. I love that kind of food, but I have that base covered x100 and it's not like I'm going to drive across town for yet another burger or so-so pizza.