Hey all. I’ll be driving through Denver on my way back to the Midwest and was hoping to pick up a keg or two to take with me. Couple questions: 1. Does anyone know of any rarer IPA or sour kegs I might be able to find in the area? 2. Are there any shops (or breweries) I should seek out that usually handle a good selection of kegs? I’d be talking about 1/6 barrels.
So you are hoping someone will be able to clean and then fill them? If so, obviously going to the brewery is the only way that will work and it will be hard to find one to do that on a weekend. My favorite IPA in the area is probably Comrade's and Epic makes a sour IPA that is pretty popular.
I think OP means they plan to trade the empty to nullify the credit. Some places might do that if they deal with non-branded kegs like Micro-Star or something, but a lot of the specialty kegs around here have the brewery's branding wrapped around it. I would contact the particular brewery you're looking to get a keg from. None of the shops really get specialty kegs outside of the rare pre-order and even fairly widely-available good hoppy stuff is still reserved for bars and restaurants. You could certainly leave town with some tasty stuff, but my guess is it would be a core IPA or sour from a bigger Colorado brewery.
This is what I was thinking. I’d bring a couple empties from Microstar, Keg Credit or something similar that are widely used. Things don’t need to be overly rare...heck we don’t even get Odell in Indiana. But always looking for a one off. Also, are there any good spots to look for Casey bottles? I won’t be able to make when there are brewery tours, but I heard you can find some stuff in retail.
You could probably get a keg of just about any seasonal from one of the bigger craft breweries (Oskar Blues, Left Hand, Avery, etc.). The problem you've inadvertently stumbled upon with Odell is that they only use 1/2bbl and 1/4bbl kegs, I believe. The smaller breweries will be tougher because they don't really have enough beer to supply home kegerators. If you have something particular in mind, give them a call, though. You might get the right person on the phone. Casey's website lists the shops they distribute to, but it's not exactly up-to-date.
Argonaut is probably a pretty good bet for exchanging kegs. Never had an issue trading kegs there (summer keg list below). https://www.argonautliquor.com/assets/5991
I don't think those are all on hand but rather what you can special order. That's an unfathomable amount to keep on hand/fresh.
