Denver Micro-brew Tour

We arrived in Denver about 6:15 Friday evening. While it was a lovely drive, it was still about 10 hours since we left that morning – about eight of which were spent in the car. The motel, an extended stay place, was at the bottom limit of acceptability but it did have internet and was clean. I’d like to avoid extended stay places in the future, however.

Saturday, we were scheduled for the Denver Micro-Brew tour. Ken is a beer connoisseur and I thought I might enjoy trying different varieties. For the most part I don’t care for beer – I’d rather use the calories in eating something. But I learned to sip Guinness in Boston and Ken’s “house beer”, Newcastle Nut Brown Ale, isn’t bad either. I prefer something not too bitter and with a bold flavor – if I can’t taste what I’m drinking I’d rather have water.

The tour was scheduled from 12:00 – 2:15 pm in downtown Denver and involved walking about 2 miles from start to finish. It sounded OK when we planned it: Denver is the mile high city, high temps should be in the low 80’s, we’d be inside much of the time, etc. Well, the first and last were true, but the heat was following us and Denver hit a record 106° that day! Needless to say, the walking around wasn’t fun. But it did make us really enjoy being inside the brew houses and drinking our samples. Luckily, pitchers of water were available, too.

We started at the Rock Bottom Restaurant and Brewery and had samples of the Black IPA (ick) and the Summer Blonde Honey Ale (OK), then on to the Wynkoop Brewing Company and their B3K Schwarzbier (not bad) and Patty’s Chili Beer (ick). Third was the Falling Rock Tap House (not a brewery) where we had Great Divide Double IPA (ick), Odell 90 Shilling Brown Ale (not bad), and Avery White Rascal (OK). Falling Rock’s claim to fame is “…a constantly changing selection of 75+ beers on tap and 130+ different bottled beers in the cooler”. Our last stop was Breckenridge Brewery where we had their Vanilla Porter (not bad) and the 2220 Red Ale (OK).

This was the end of the tour. By this time, I was a bit buzzed. The samples were only about a half cup (2nds were available) and I didn’t even finish all of mine, but we hadn’t gotten downtown in time to have lunch before the tour. And I’m a cheap drunk to boot. We decided to head back to Rock Bottom for a late lunch (early dinner) because that's where our car was parked – a very hot 1 mile walk in the sun. We did have a very good meal, but I made the mistake of getting the free pint of beer the tour entitled us to. Some kind of porter (forgot the name) but I couldn’t finish it so it was wasted anyway. Finally, back to the room where I lay down while Ken got on the internet.

Conclusion: I still would rather have a glass of water to quench my thirst. But the porters and brown ale weren’t bad if I ever felt the need for a beer.