Tuesday, September 15, 2009

The GABF is great, but what else is there to do?

You're in Denver for the Great American Beer Festival, but what do you do when you're not wandering from booth to booth on the convention floor during one of the tasting sessions? Seek out more beer to drink, of course. Denver is one of the best beer cities and there are a plenty of breweries, brewpubs and beer bars in the area to visit. If you want an easy way to find everything and see it on a map, check out the City Beer Map for Denver and surrounding area on The Beer Mapping Project website.

Here's a few places that I recommend if you're staying downtown (in no particular order):

Rock Bottom Brewery (Brewpub) - Only a couple blocks from the convention center and on the 16th Street Mall, it makes a great place to meet up and grab a bite before and/or after the GABF tasting sessions.
Falling Rock Tap House (Beer Bar) - Probably one of the best beer bars in Denver. Located in the trendy LoDo area, its got a great selection of draft and bottled beer.
Wynkoop Brewery (Brewpub) - Colorado's oldest brewpub. Great place to grab a fresh pint and some good food.
Great Divide Brewing Co (Brewery) - Stop by their Tap Room for a sample of their beers and take a tour of the only micro-brewery in downtown.
The Cheeky Monk (Belgian Beer Cafe) - Great selection of Belgian beers on tap and in the bottle as well as good food.

There are also various beer bars and brewpubs scattered around the greater Denver area. The Bull & Bush Pub & Brewery is long time favourite of mine, particularly for the Sunday brunch.

If you have a car and a designated driver, you can also make a short road trip out to Fort Collins (New Belgium, Odell Brewing Company, Fort Collins Brewing) or Longmont (Oskar Blues Brewery, Left Hand Brewing Company) or Boulder (Avery Brewing Company, Boulder Beer Company, Mountain Sun Pub and Brewery) to name but a few places.

Anyone have any additional suggestions to mention??

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Vine Street Pub, just East of downtown, is a must stop.

Jessica said...

Any trip to Colorado is not complete for me until I go to Avery, and then go snack on some awesome sandwiches at Snarf's down the street.

Anonymous said...

I was in Colorado last month. If you are going to Longmont, the Pumphouse Brewery is excellent - as good if not better than Wynkoop.

South of Denver in Castle Rock, the Rockyard Brewery is worth the trip.

Steve said...

Thanks for the additional suggestions.

I also forgot to mention Argonaut Liquor (http://www.argonautliquor.com). Its the only large liquor/beer store that I'm aware of that's walking distance of downtown (a block away from the Cheeky Monk). If anyone knows of a closer one in downtown, let me know.