Day two of Jack and Chad’s excellent adventure starts out with decision to get tickets to the Colorado Rockies performance with the St. Louis Cardinals at Coors Field. Stub Hub came through just fine, so it was off on the LRT to downtown. There was a lot of construction between the LRT station and downtown, so we had walk about a mile to our first brewery.
Our first stop was the Denver ChopHouse and Brewery. We were searching for a place to get a good meal and sample some beer brewed on premise. This place met both of those criteria. The lunch was good, and the beer was too.
It is conveniently located about two block South of Coors Field. We had plenty of time to linger over our samples, and visit with the waitstaff before the game.
I tried four ounce samples of the Wild Turkey™ Barrel Conditioned Stout, Pilsner, Red Ale, IPA and Pale Ale. Jack had a pint of the above mentioned Stout. We both agreed that the stout was very good. The other beers were fine too.
We learned once we were there that it’s part of the Rock Bottom chain chain of breweries. That kinda took the edge off thinking we were enjoying an independent proprietor’s craft. Nonetheless, the food was good, so was the atmosphere and most importantly, so was the beer.
Our next destination was Coors Field, which is also the symbolic home to Blue Moon.. Yeah, they have a small brewhouse in there, and MillerCoors would us to believe that all Blue Moon comes from there, but 😉 we know better. Still, it was nice to see so many people take interest in craft brewing. We did not drink beer at Coors Field, despite the fact that the show went on for 15 innings (we left after 9 innings, as we had no emotional stake in either ball club).
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I had targeted three more breweries for the day, and it was already 4:30 when we left the stadium. Our first stop was supposed to be River North brewery, but I had mislabeled my map, so we headed instead to Our Mutual Friend Malt and Brew. (We’d get directions to River North if we could find Our Mutual Friend.)
Ms. Google’s map helped us find the place, but we almost missed it because the only sign they had was on the door (as you can see in the photo, it was difficult to spot from across the street). We quickly learned to look for the food truck parked at microbreweries, as most of the breweries do not serve food themselves.
Once inside we found a nice little place and decent beers. The saison was pretty good, but the double ipa was really nice. Jack thought the stout was lacking body. It’s worth the trip, and the staff was very nice.
We got good directions to River North and after finishing our beer flight, we headed out for another walk.
One of the great things about these little micro-breweries is that they are dog friendly. River North brewing is a perfect example. It’s a cozy little place, with limited seating inside, and when we were there, a table of guests was accompanied by a golden retriever laying on the floor. When my dog Shady finds out, she’ll never forgive me for not taking her with me to Denver!
The beer at River North is really top notch, and my flight included their Hello Darkness, Aravice and Quandary. Guess what jack tried! We were both pleased. Four down, and two to go.
Our next planned stop was was the Breckenridge Brewery pub on Blake Street just down the street a couple blocks from River North, but discovered that Great Divide Brewing was within walking distance. Since they don’t actually brew at the BB Pub site, we decided to take the Ankle Express over to Great Divide Brewing Co. Holy cow, are we glad we did.
No beer tasting adventure in Denver is complete without a stop at Great Divide. I enjoyed samples of the Yeti (imperial stout), Titan IPA, Hercules Double IPA, and the Chocolate Yeti. Mr. Stout went with the Chocolate Oak Aged Yeti. All of these beers were perfect. Definitely our best stop of the day. It’s 8:30pm, 5 stops down and one to go.
It is also time to eat, and we were not interested in food truck food, so we decided to head over to the Wynkoop Brewing Company, Colorado’s first brewpub and Denver’s first craft brewery. The food is supposed to be pretty good here, and it will be easy for our shuttle driver to find us. It was just a short hike, downtown Denver is pretty safe, and we had a nice dinner and some good beers out on the patio.
Research shows that moderate beer consumption can help prevent heart disease and strokes, provide important vitamins and minerals, is low in fat and helps increase good cholesterol (HDL).