Although I've been walking around Denver town more than ever over the last few years, it's been a while since I've posted a trip report here. (See my other two here and here) Anyway, as always seems to be the case when I start writing these, Saturday was a beautiful day for a walk. My wife had plans with a friend in the afternoon, so we went to breakfast in our neighborhood and then I planned a Colfax walk for myself that looked something like this. Westfax Brewing seemed like an obvious starting point for a Colfax "crawl," so I headed that direction from my neighborhood and after a few miles I found myself enjoying, appropriately enough, a Colfax Cream Ale on the front patio. What a great way to kick off my walk. With the shorter days and the long trek in front of me I didn't linger long, so I finished my beer and headed east . . . . I always find West Colfax interesting. Seedy motels, tattoo parlors, and cheap liquor stores, but also a lot of local history, panoramic views, and just generally fascinating goings on if you keep your eyes open and have an open mind :-) Permanent vacancy?? I kept walking past the Barfly at the Alamo Drafthouse and Seedstock Brewing, two other options for a beer-centric tour of Colfax. I particularly enjoy Seedstock, but I resisted the temptation because I've been there a lot and went there on my Sloans Lake Trip Report # 1. I also wanted to hit up Raices Brewing Co., which wasn't too far. If you haven't heard it's a new Latin-owned brewery in Sun Valley, and it's an amazing space on Old West Colfax right on the South Platte River. It's also super close to the football stadium and the upcoming Meow Wolf. I enjoyed the Sonando Despierto, their version of a NEIPA. From Raices I had to go south to 13th St. (past Strange Craft Beer) and over to Osage St. where I headed north a couple blocks back to Colfax and into downtown Denver. I'd been seeing the capitol dome almost since I started, so it sort of served as my "North Star" for long stretches. Here it is up close: I walked through the Capitol Hill neighborhood, including past the Fillmore, Ogden, Argonaut, etc. on my way to the Bluebird District, where Cerebral Brewing was next. I tried the Vanishing Angle, an unfiltered west coast style IPA. Thumbs up from me. After Cerebral I only had one brewery left on my itinerary, Fiction, but the sun was going down fast so I quickly finished my beer and headed out again. On the way I realized I'd be walking by my friend's place at Colfax and Eudora that I hadn't visited before, The Denver Game Lounge, so I made an impromptu stop to see if he was around. My buddy was working so we chatted for a bit while he showed me around. If any of you out there are board-gamers this place is worth checking out. Unfortunately by the time I left it was dark, but Fiction was only half an hour away... East Colfax, kind of like West Colfax: And then finally, there it was. What a glorious sight to behold: It felt great to make it after a long day of walking. More great, however, was the Beta Capsule NEIPA in my hands. Also, my wife was done hanging out with her friend at this point so she drove over for a beer and to give me a ride home. Life is good . . . Although I walked further, according to Google maps the Colfax stretch was 9.5 miles.
Why didn't you stop at Strange Craft/Wits End? Many excellent beers and Strange Craft now has a beer engine and does many interesting one of cask beers.
Hey Ratman, yeah I didn't mean to make it sound like I don't like Strange/Wits End. The primary reasons I didn't stop this time are because it isn't on Colfax and this was a Colfax tour, I've been many times and wanted to try places I hadn't been to as much, and I had to space out my stops due to the amount of daylight left and amount of beer I wanted to consume. Trust me on most days I would've stopped! Thanks for reading.
