Visiting Denver

In Boulder, hit up Backcountry Pizza. Great beer selection and solid food. Avery food might be a little better, but A LOT pricier and you can only drink Avery beers, not that that's a bad thing...

In Breck, check out Kenosha. Good food and a wide variety of beers on draught. Same with the Canteen. Rocky Mountain Underground is a favorite of mine for enjoying the sun and the sights on the front deck on Main St.

Report back with your highlights, always curious what people liked best in our amazing state

 

What bottle shops are the locals recommending? . Didn't really find anything exciting downtown. I generally hit the ones convenient to where my family is and enjoy seeing what they have each visit:

Small Batch Liquors- Nice little place, true bottle shop, but every time I go down Tennyson the cute little street looks closer to an out of control development (maybe I should invest in property on the street....)

Mondo Vino- Friendly staff, nice selection

 

I'd say the best bottle shops in Denver are Grapevine, Mile High W&S, Mondo, and Mr. B's. Grapevine is #1 IMO, but all of them have an argument.
Little's, Small Batch, and Joy are among the best smaller shops.
Lukas and Davidson's are absolutely massive and will have the largest selections, but they aren't as curated or cared for. Total Beverage and Tipsy's are similarly huge.

 

I would argue Davidsons is just as curated as most of the smaller shops in town, you just have to get there early enough on delivery days for it to matter.

 

Every time I go into Davidson's they have a bunch of things locked up in their walk-in area. I'm not a big fan of having to get the staff to unlock a case to get to a random item that isn't even unusual. They have cans like Juicy Bits in there.

 

How long ago was that? For the last 6 months they have been putting WW on the floor in there and locking up the one off stuff. Mexican achromatic was on the floor along with a couple berliners, JB, and DDH JB as well.

 

Hmmmm, I believe my last time in was was right around GABF, so it would have been 5 months ago. In the past you always had to ask for the unusual stuff, so it seemed just like a continuation of that. I'm not always going in there to buy unusual items, but I'm not a fan of having to grab an employee to find/access a beer. That's a Best Buy move.

 

Any insight/comments about Black Shirt Brewing? Good? For particular styles only?
Just planning for an April visit, trying to plan out various nights/stops with friends (conference stuff).
cheers.

 

I'm also a little curious about what BSB is doing these days. At one time they only made variations on the concept of "Red Ale" and they were also the only beer destination for about 1/2 mile in all directions. The original owners all left, they added a pizza kitchen, and there's a ton of stuff near there now. So much so that I haven't been in 3-4 years as a result.

 

I'll be visiting Denver again in a couple weeks for work. The office is in the RiNo district and I have a hard time deviating from Bierstadt, Finn's Manor, and Noble Riot. Small Batch Liquors is my favorite bottle shop in town. Small but expertly curated. For me it doesn't get any better than the above listed places.

Anyways, I'm bringing my bike this time around. Denver is pretty bike friendly from what I recall? Do most breweries have bike racks? I wasn't looking last time I was in town. Cheers!

 

You shouldn’t have any trouble locking up your bike. Lots of places have racks. Our Mutual Friend is probably one of my top 3 breweries in Denver and its right down the street from Finns. Ratio is right near there too and very good too. Odell taproom and Epic are close as well. And you can hit up Great Divide in that area too. Kinda gimmicky, but if you’ve never been to a pour your own taproom, First Draft is right near there and they have a really good local list. I’d never heard of this before I moved to Denver and it was fun the few times I went. More of a college crowd though.

 

If you go to Small Batch there is now 5 breweries between 38th and Utica and 45th and Tennyson. Call to Arms at 45th and Tennyson is the best of them in my opinion.
On a different location have you been to Strange Craft / Wits End? They are in one building and 2 of the original Denver Craft breweries and making some tasty beers!

 

I've heard quite a bit about OMF so I'll definitely be hitting that up! O'Dell is a gateway craft brewery for me so I'll also be there for sure. That new Mountain Standard basically drank itself. Thanks for all the recs!

 

Those are both new to me. I'll be checking them out for sure. Cheers!

 

I'm visiting Denver next Thurs-Sun. Wife originally had a conference that got cancelled but we're still making the trip to do some hikes and go brewery hopping. Has anyone heard of any breweries shutting down operations due to the virus? I'm in Boston and the Sam Adams taproom is closing for the next week, so just curious if this is happening anywhere else.

 

I haven't heard of any breweries or taprooms closing, however Beerfests are another matter.....

 

A decent amount of them have put out statements about the increased procedures they will be following, but I haven't seen any closures yet.

 

Avery announced yesterday they will be closed due to the hysteria being generated by the media!

 

Hahahah wink emoji

 

is there an updated Denver (and surrounding areas) must visit thread that one could send me the link for?