Trip to Golden Recommendations

Cannonball Creek in Golden is a world-class brewery (period). Their lagers have always been delicious. Comrade is also a must for me, as is Hogshead (so long as you can appreciate traditional British cask beer done right) Yes, Bierstadt is as good as you've heard. You would have to do some serious travelling around Bavaria to find better lagers than that.

What sets Bierstadt apart from nearly every brewery in the US (and really Germany too) is this mouthfeel that only the finest lagers attain through a mutlitude of expensive and "unnecessary" practices that, together, just create a truly sublime lager drinking experience that is so much more than just good hops, good malt, clean...

 

I've been a handful of times, and my personal opinion is that it's super inconsistent quality beer that ranges from mediocre/tolerable at best to swill that tastes like amateur homebrew at worst. I am not a fan. YMMV.

FWIW Cannonball (that was mentioned) is one of my go-to spots. They do everything right, and have a good variety. I love their Solid Gold Belgian Golden, Mindbender IPA and Not Mindbender IIPA, the stouts are great, yeah. Good spot. They should have something that appeals to you.

I am probably (definitely) more knowledgeable about mountain biking trails in Golden than I am beer in any location. If mountain biking is your thing, and you want to try it out while you're in town, we have a ton of great trails right in and around Golden with a variety of styles. I'm not really a hiker per se, but I do know the terrain in each of the trail systems near by.

Have a blast! Red Rocks is a world class music venue, any concert there is a special experience.

 

You'll be able to find plenty in Golden. You don't have to venture out to try a lot of beers from other fine Colorado breweries. Barrels & Bottles (the original 12th and Ford location) has a lot of CO drafts. The Golden Mill on that same block has a lot of CO drafts too. Hit up Cannonball Creek for sure

 

Worth a mention, several of the restaurants in downtown Golden carry Barmen Pilsner from Coors. It's absolutely fantastic and a beer that barely leaves Golden for 2-3 key accounts, too. It's worth checking menus for if you're in town.

 

Had a 7 min. pils in downtown Denver a couple years back from ACG and that was fantastic. Not quite bierstadt or even some of the best I have had from the Sandlot, but great nonetheless.

 

Ain't nothin' wrong with AC Golden.

 

I may not like the owners, but Jeff does a fantastic job in one of the most enviable positions in the craft brewing industry. I really have never had a bad beer of theirs.

 

Barrels and Bottles has pared down their guest taps recently and their own beer is mediocre, I would pass personally. They’re on taphunter if you want to see what they have.
Cannonball is can’t miss and would throw in New Terrain from a perspective of good (not great) beer and an awesome location and space.
If you have a way to transport those bikes, you can park at New Terrain and right behind the brewery is a short path (100-200yds) that takes you between the bike park and a bow range, when you come out of it, on the opposite side of the street is a trailhead for North Table Mountain. Its beginner/intermediate riding and can be fairly short or you can make it longer by going all the way around.
Outside of Golden, if you head up I-70 your 20 minutes from Westbound and Down in Idaho Springs and they are kicking out some awesome beers (and good food). Making it a bit more of an adventure, the same exit leads to Mt Evans if you want to drive to the top of a 14er. Super pretty and the drive can be thrilling/nerve wracking for some. It can be 50 degrees cooler up there with the wind, so bring some warmer clothes.
For hiking around Golden, the side of N Table Moubtain that is closer to Cannonball is an easy hike, but gets crowded on weekends. Mt Galbraith is right across from Cannonball and the trail head is about a five minute drive up Golden gate canyon. You could go further up into the state park or bypass it and hike:bike Centennial Cone. Weekends alternate if it’s biking or hiking, but that infos on the web.

 

The best option from your hotel is Green Mountain. It's the standard recommendation for novice friendly trails close to town. You can actually ride to the trailhead from your hotel. Just take a right out of the hotel onto Colfax (the road that takes you to Red Rocks) and go under I-70. There will be a parking lot immediately on your left after you cross under the highway. Take that trail (Dakota Ridge) up from the parking lot and follow it along the ridge until you intersect the Zorro trail. Take a left on Zorro. Should be just less than a mile, and you've just passed Zorro if you start climbing up multiple large wooden steps--continuing along the ridge is super fun, but not novice friendly. Zorro will drop you down the other side of the ridge, directly into the Green Mountain trail head parking lot. I'm no help once you get onto the Green Mtn trail system, but it's all novice friendly, and it's a big treeless mountain with views of downtown on the east side and the mountains on the west side, so you won't get lost. Mtbproject or Trailforks will both have these trails mapped out if you want a better visual of how close all this is to your hotel.

For hiking, I would avoid trails open to mountain biking. The front range trails are just insanely crowded these days, and there are some really good hike only trails that will make the experience less tense. Beaver Brook trail is a great option in Golden. Start at Windy Saddle (halfway up Lookout Mtn) and take the trail out and back as far as you'd like. As with all things trail related here, earlier is better--both to avoid crowds and afternoon showers.

As everyone else has pointed out, Cannonball is a must. You can find solid beers at Coda and New Terrain in Golden, but Cannonball is consistently great. If you have any desire to drive into the mountains, Westbound and Down in Idaho Springs is worth the very short drive.

 

Just a heads up on driving up to Mount Evans, reservations will be required this year

 

Beers
I don't seek out lagers and English style beers like you might, so I'm not the best to listen to in that regard... but I'm hopeful some corroboration on what others have said about a few spots close by is probably helpful. So about those places...

• Agree with everyone about Cannonball, obviously. It's real dang great. It's the best beer you'll ever have in the parking lot of a 7-11!
• I personally think Coda is on par with Cannonball as far as quality, though I don't know many folks here have been or would agree. They trend a little more funky with the sours, farmhouses, and hazys so maybe not fully what you'd be into. They brew a variety of styles though, and have a helles on last time I was there that I found delightful. Oh, and the BA imperial stout was fantastic.
• I agree that New Terrain is good (though not great) beer, but the space is top notch. They probably have live music starting soon, I'd suspect? Usually free, IIRC.
• Agree that Barrels & Bottles is "meh" when it comes to their own beer. Sad to hear they've pared down the guest tap list, because that was the reason to go there. They always had interesting, not-oft-seen in Colorado (by me anyways) offerings to check out, and they get some bonus points from me for getting Pliney the Younger in on occasion.

If I were to suggest a spot and you were to listen to me, I'd tell you to go somewhere that A. you can't really get their stuff in a package store and B. provides some kind of unique experience. For instance: while I know you can get some TRVE stuff in cans or whatever, the fact that it's a gothic-inspired, dark, gnarly, death metal brewery is maybe worth checking out. Also, fantastic IPAs. YMMV.

Trails
Everyone else has chimed in with some pretty solid info, but I have some thoughts. "Novice" can mean a lot of things... but since you road bike a bunch maybe that would mean you've got fitness but maybe not as much technical skill? With that in mind...

• Mathews/Winters and Red Rocks parks are as "novice friendly" as North Table Mountain and Green Mountain, in my opinion, and are closer to your hotel. You could try a short loop or out-and-back starting at the Mathews/Winters parking lot/trailhead and see how you feel about things before committing to something bigger.
• Green Mountain is often the "go to" recommendation for beginner/novice trails, but it can be steep, filled with gravel-y rocks, and there's zero shade. So... I tend to not recommend it all that often. And the suggestion to climb up and over Dakota Ridge to Zorro to access it is... well let's just say Dakota Ridge is darn near if not the most technically challenging trail in the area. Even that first part to get you to Zorro. I'd maybe skip that and just drive or pedal bike path over to Green if you're gonna do that.
• Flatter, rolling terrain without a lot of rocks can be found at Bear Creek Lake State Park, which is not far from where you're staying.
• North Table Mountain is a good recommendation for novice riding, and better than Green Mountain IMNSHO. The trails there are generally a bit less steep, and don't have a lot of technical features save but a few spots here and there. Bonus if you can schlep the bikes to New Terrain and ride from there like someone mentioned.
• Galbraith, Beaver Brook, and Centennial Cone (on hiker only days) are great options for hiking, for sure. Other than a couple sections, I'd consider Centennial Cone to be "novice friendly" riding as well, if you can get the bikes there. Just go on a day when bikes are allowed.
• I think Staunton State Park is freaking beautiful, and while I normally ride there it's definitely more of a hiker crowd it seems. It would require a ~30 minute drive and a day pass though. I'd rate it as novice friendly for biking, as I think of it more of an XC sorta ride. You could do either activity there.
• If you're a road rider, you could also just do that. Lookout Mountain was in the pro Tour and is a standout climb, Red Rocks is a great ride, and you can probably put in tons of miles that would make you smile.
• White Ranch, Apex Park, Dakota Ridge, and Mt. Falcon are probably the most "intermediate to expert" trails in the area for biking.
• Apex has some weird even/odd day rules for bikes and hikers, so it's generally overrun with bikers on even-numbered calendar days but can be a pleasant enough hike on odd-numbered calendar days. Just note that the rules aren't a full restriction to either activity on those days, like I said the rules are weird.

Generally anything worth biking or hiking could be a junk show of people... everyone in Colorado likes to get outside. Echo sentiments of go early to avoid crowds... but also just expect crowds at some point.

Food
You asked about food in your first post, and I don't really think of Golden as a "food town" but there's a few things you might consider checking out. Particularly since you're on vacation.

• Bonfire Burritos has tasty breakfast and lunchtime grub, makes a decent marg, and has a solid list of beers on tap even if it's not a huge selection.
• Teller's Taproom has a pretty dang good tap list, and good food.
• Woody's Wood Fired Pizza has decent beer on tap, and "Colorado style" pizza. Which IMNSHO mostly means it's not really any sort of style, it's just pizza, but you can squirt honey on the crust which is kind of a Colorado thing. Technically, I think Beaux Jo's is the "original" Colorado style pie but Woody's has a wood-fired oven and an all-you-care-to-eat option. Some folks rag on the pizza, but I like it.
• Sherpa House has some damn fine Himalayan cuisine, and a couple of house beers that are (or at least used to be) brewed by a restaurant in Arvada called Yak & Yeti.
• I just like the no-frills burgers at Bob's Atomic Burgers and the owners are good people who like to bike, ski, and drink beer... and they love this town.

Random
There's this dive bar in Golden called the Columbine Cafe, and on Thursday evenings they have a Backyard Bluegrass series. The only thing you'll get on tap there is Banquet or the Bullet, but they have some craft stuff in cans from Tommyknocker, New Belgium, maybe a couple others. But $15 gets you music, a burger + fries, and a beer. Bring a blanket and find a spot in the yard, kick your shoes off, and relax. It's not a crappy way to spend a summer evening if you're in town.

 

I mean... I just live here and love this town. I know a couple things about a couple things, happy to oblige. Trying my best to leave more of the beer suggestions to the others here, as I don't think I have as refined of a palette as most.

Things are easing up quite a bit as far as restrictions go. It'll vary from place to place, but many/most places are no longer requiring masks and just have signs that recommend masks for un-vaccinated folks. I think a lot of spaces are still not packing people in shoulder to shoulder yet, for instance I think Red Rocks will be at 25% capacity? I went to a concert there a few weeks back and that was the case... it was pretty cool being there with 2,500 people instead of 10,000. Made the show more intimate, but also with more room for dancing and such. Most of the breweries I've been to in the past few weeks have gone back to bar service, also have lots of outside seating, and generally still have tables spaced out pretty well. I'm seeing like 30-40% of people in the grocery store have started to lose the mask, but it also doesn't feel like anyone is shaming anyone for their choices these days.