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Downtown Denver breweries
Downtown Denver breweries

Brewery visits in Denver, Colorado, during GABF 2013

Whilst attending GABF 2013 we had included some extra time to provide us with the opportunity to visit some of Denver’s many breweries and craft beer bars.

Highland Tap and Burger

Oskar Blues Old Chub on Nitro
Oskar Blues Old Chub on Nitro

After arriving late on Wednesday afternoon we headed straight up to Highland Tap and Burger which is a craft beer bar and enjoyed the following samplers plus some great food:

  • Yuzu Berlinerweiss 8%
  • Prost Hefeweizen 4.5%*
  • Left Hand Oktoberfest 6.6%
  • Dragon Imperial Oktoberfest
  • Hog Heaven Barleywine 9.2%
  • Left Hand Milkstout Nitro 6%*
  • Great Divide Colette 7.3%*
  • Upslope Brown Ale 6.7%*
  • Oskar Blues Old Chub Nitro 8%

* designates our favorite(s) from the above selection.

Denver Chophouse and Brewery

Bartender Andrea @ Denver Chophouse & Brewery
Bartender Andrea @
Denver Chophouse & Brewery

As we were due to attend GABF on Thursday evening we decided to make a detour via Denver Chophouse & Brewery which is very close to the Colorado Rockies ball park. Our bartender, Andrea, was very helpful and knowledgeable about the range of beers on tap and as well as a good sized sampler we also had some great food and even managed a quick tour round the brewhouse with Kevin Marley who is the Head Brewer:

  • Pilsner Lager (American Lager) 4.4%, 38 IBUs*
  • Dortmunder Lager 5.0%, 45 IBUs
  • Dark Munich Lager
  • Wheat Ale (Belgian Style Wheat Ale) 5.5%, 20 IBUs
  • Brewer’s Marker Double ESB (dry-hopped with Citra) 8.7%*
  • Brewer’s Marker Wet Hopped Ale 7.0%
  • Red Ale (Irish Red Ale) 4.4%, 22 IBUs
  • Pale Ale (APA) 6.2%, 68 IBUs
  • Dry Stout
  • Wild Turkey Barrel Conditioned Stout*
  • Doppelbock 6.3%

* designates our favorite(s) from the above selection.

Note: Dortmunder & Pilsner Lagers are clarified & filtered.

Denver Chophouse & Brewery
Denver Chophouse & Brewery
Denver Chophouse & Brewery sampler beers
Denver Chophouse & Brewery sampler beers
Denver Chophouse & Brewery sampler list
Denver Chophouse & Brewery sampler list

Prost Brewing Company

Prost Brewing Company
Prost Brewing Company

The next day after attending GABF on the Thursday evening we decided to spend Friday taking in some of Denver’s breweries on foot. We started off by visiting Prost Brewing Company. The style of beers brewed at Prost are all German and food is available via food trucks which call at the brewery on most days. Below is the sampler which we had (top-down in the list is right-to-left in the photo):

  • Kolsch 4.6%, 22 IBUs
  • Pils 4.6%, 37 IBUs
  • Weissbier 4.3%, 12 IBUs*
  • Dunkel Bier 5.2%, 25 IBUs
  • Altbier 5%, 37 IBUs
  • Oktoberfest 5.9%, 22 IBUs

* designates our favorite(s) from the above selection.

After the sampler we both had a pint of the Weissbier as this was an excellent example that we felt can rival most good ones brewed in Germany!

Prost Brewing Company sampler list
Prost Brewing Company sampler list
Prost Brewing Company sampler beers
Prost Brewing Company sampler beers
Prost Brewing Company Weissbier
Prost Brewing Company Weissbier

Breckenridge Brewery

Breckenridge sampler
Breckenridge sampler

Next up was Breckenridge Brewery which was very busy but we managed to get some seats at the bar and opted for the Breckenridge sampler rather than the others which were made up of beers from mixed breweries:

  • Avalanche Amber
  • Agave Wheat
  • Vanilla Porter*
  • Lucky U IPA

* designates our favorite(s) from the above selection.

After the sampler we opted for pints of Funkwerks Tropic King and Breckenridge Thunder Stout (Oatmeal Stout on Nitro) which were both very good.

River North Brewery

River North chalkboard
River North chalkboard

A mere block along the same street was River North Brewery which is a brewery with a tap house. Most of River North’s beers tended to be Belgian-based which we had no issue with! Below is a list of what we sampled:

  • Hello Darkness black IPA – 6.2%, 57 IBUs
  • River North White belgian-style wit – 5%, 20 IBUs
  • J. Marie Saison – 7.5%, 23 IBUs
  • BPR belgian-style pale red ale – 6.4%, 64 IBUs
  • Hoppenberg Uncertainty Principle belgian-style double IPA – 9%, 100 IBUs
  • Avarice belgian-style imperial stout – 9.3%, 82 IBUs
  • Unified Theory oaked imperial wit – 8.5%, 23 IBUs*
  • Quandary quadrupel – 9.6%, 24 IBUs*

* designates our favorite(s) from the above selection.

Great Divide Brewing Company

Great Divide sampler #1
Great Divide sampler #1

Our next stop was at the renowned Great Divide Brewing Company tap house which has some seriously strong and exceptionally good beers. Below is our selection:

  • Claymore Scotch Ale 7.7%
  • Hibernation Ale 8.7%
  • Yeti Imperial Stout 9.5%

We then had a combination of tasters and pints of the following:

  • Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout 9.5%*
  • Colette Farmhouse Ale 7.3%*
  • Wolfgang Doppelbock 8.0%*
  • Peach Grand Cru 12%*

* designates our favorite(s) from this brewery on this visit.

Great Divide brewhouse
Great Divide brewhouse
Great Divide beer menu
Great Divide beer menu
Great Divide tap handles
Great Divide tap handles

Wynkoop Brewing Company

Wynkoop sampler list
Wynkoop sampler list

Our last brewery of the day was at Wynkoop Brewing Company for a 5 beer sampler:

  • Pumpkin Orchard*
  • Peach Sour
  • Cowtown Milkstout 4.8%
  • St. Charles ESB 5.5%
  • Wixa Weiss 5.2%

* designates our favorite(s) from the above selection.

Falling Rock Taphouse

Russian River Pliny the Elder
Russian River Pliny the Elder

Our last port of call before calling it a night was to Falling Rock Taphouse which is rated as the #1 craft beer bar in the USA. As you might expect during GABF week this place was very busy with 95 beers on tap and the walls of the bar were covered in beer bottles from around the world. Eventually we managed to decide on what we fancied by noticing Pliny The Elder from Russian River being on tap as well as Avery White Rascal. Pliny The Elder was definitely a good find having heard that the lines at Russian River on release day can go round the block! We were not disappointed either given its 100 IBUs and 8% ABV it is a malt balanced IPA – very good.

Falling Rock Tap House
Falling Rock Tap House
Falling Rock tap handles
Falling Rock tap handles
Falling Rock bottle selection
Falling Rock bottle selection

Denver Beer Company

Denver Beer sampler beers
Denver Beer sampler beers

On our last full day in Denver, following our Saturday afternoon session at GABF on the previous day, we started by visiting Denver Beer Company and were able to have 4 samplers per person. Our 8 samplers were as follows (starting front-left then clockwise in the photo):

  • Continental Divide Deux (grape saison)
  • Rahr Coffee Stout*
  • Hey Pumpkin (with spices, vanilla & oak)
  • Citra IPA
  • Sumit Sunset
  • Graham Cracker Porter*
  • Pueblo Chile
  • Promiscuous Peche (Peach Saison with Brett)

* designates our favorite(s) from the above selection.

Denver Beer outside
Denver Beer outside
Denver Beer mural
Denver Beer mural
Denver Beer chalkboard
Denver Beer chalkboard

Rock Bottom – Denver Downtown

Rock Bottom standard sampler
Rock Bottom standard sampler

Stop #2 was to head to central downtown Denver to find Rock Bottom which is both a brewery and a restaurant. As well as a great food selection they also have a decent selection of beers so we chose their standard sampler to start with:

  • Kolsch 5.0%
  • White Ale 5.5%*
  • IPA 7.3%*
  • Red Ale 5.7%
  • Baltic Gnome Porter 8.9%
  • Rocktoberfest 5.6%
Rock Bottom custom sampler
Rock Bottom custom sampler

We then followed up with our own custom selection at $1 per pour:

  • Hefeweizen 4.4%
  • Mad Cow Milk Stout 5.8%
  • English Style Barley Wine 10%*
  • Liquid Sun Saison 8.6%*

* designates our favorite(s) from this brewery.

Great Divide Brewing Company – revisited

Great Divide sampler #2
Great Divide sampler #2

Having visited most of the central Denver breweries we thought it only right to revisit Great Divide Brewing Company as we hoped it would be a little less crowded. It was still busy but with room to sit at the bar so we ordered the following samplers:

  • Old Ruffian Barley Wine 10.2%*
  • Chocolate Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout 9.5%
  • Wolfgang Doppelbock 8.0%
  • Claymore Scotch Ale 7.7%*
  • Barrel Aged Yeti Imperial Stout 10%
  • Peach Grand Cru 12%*
Great Divide sampler #3
Great Divide sampler #3

* designates our favorite(s) from the above selections.

To sum up our trip to Denver, the city is very pleasant to walk around with many old buildings, parks and rivers plus a back drop of the Rockies. GABF was well worth attending but if you include a couple of extra days then you can also take advantage of visiting a number of great breweries as well as some excellent craft beer bars.

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