Farther Afield
If you’re up for a bit of a drive, these two spots aren’t in Denver proper but are definitely worth a visit.
Dry Dock Brewing It’s a bit of a haul out to Aurora, but you should treat yourself to one of Dry Dock’s very well crafted barrel-aged beers at their South Dock location. It’s a testament to the selection available in the Colorado market that these beers last more than a day on store shelves. If the drive is too much, pick up a bottle of Bligh’s Barleywine (or any of the Signature Series beers). You won’t be disappointed.
Mile High Wines & Spirits This Lakewood liquor store is worth the drive for its extensive selection of hard-to-find bottles. Its “Notes from the Cooler” blog noting new arrivals has fallen off since former beer buyer André Dimattia left to join Crooked Stave’s distribution arm, but its Facebook feed is quickly updated as new beers arrive.
If you prefer your beer and pubs English-style and have a thing for kitschy seventies décor, stepping into Bull and Bush is like a time warp back to the first time you walked into a Steak and Ale—except that Bull and Bush has won a dozen medals at the World Beer Cup and GABF since their mid-nineties inception. The beer is fantastic and anything but kitsch.
While in that vicinity, beer hunters will want to take a detour by Grapevine Wine & Liquors. But don’t stop at the cooler doors; ask the staff, then walk back into the cooler for expansive racks of hard-tofind beer. The beer buyers love to have fun with customers, holding beers such as Bourbon County Brand Stout, then putting bottles on the shelves in random places and at random times, making every visit a quasi-easter-egg hunt.
Wash Park, Platt Park, and the Golden Triangle
Things are heating up in the neighborhoods south of downtown. Huge apartment and condo developments are reinvigorating former industrial properties, and a number of breweries have moved in along with them. One of the southernmost, Former Future, implores visitors to “Embrace Good Taste,” and the stylish taproom interior (complete with a bar built from an airplane wing) is a comfortable locale in which to enjoy its creative brews. It has successfully tackled wild/spontaneous ales with its Black Project series, but the mainstay beers are well executed, and the very small brewhouse open to the taproom leaves nothing to hide.
The most “unique” brewery in Denver, Trve Brewing, sits in a nondescript block of South Broadway. The black walls, skulls, pentagrams, candles, and doom metal soundtrack immediately tell you that this brewery is unlike just about anything else you’ve experienced, but the beer itself is remarkable for its contrast to this extreme taproom vibe— sessionable core styles that they continuously work to perfect, rather than brewing a succession of one-off specials. The result is a taproom that transcends the metal style and attracts everyone from bearded metalheads to well-dressed business women.
No trip to Denver would be complete without a visit to Breckenridge Brewery, and the facility on Kalamath is only a few blocks from Trve. The beer is fresh, the barbecue is legit, and it’s a great place to grab a plate of meat and pint of the Vanilla Porter or 72 Imperial Chocolate Stout. Construction is underway on its new farmhouse-style brewery farther south in Littleton (which will be another must-visit once it opens).