Denver's Craft Beer Scene

Flying into Denver, Colorado, The Mountain State, is bizarre; particularly if you are on the right side of the airplane.  Colorado is flat, barren, and unpopulated until the mountains abruptly rise west of Denver.  Even after departing the airport it is a long, flat ride to Denver and the mountains remain many miles to the west.

Our first stop is Denver. The Renaissance hotel is located in an old bank.  It has beautifully decorated walls , ceilings and interesting features such as two bank vault conference/dining rooms. The concierge lounge is an open area on the second floor just to the left of the tree in the picture below.

 

 

 

A lengthy conversation with the bellman, Danny, provides us with great local knowledge on the brewery scene as well as finding out that the hotel provides courtesy shuttle service on an availability basis. Danny delivers us in the big black Chevy Suburban to Epic Brewery, #2 on his list. Their signature stouts show far too much coffee for our tastes but their Smoked & Oakes Belgium style ale offering is excellent, even though we typically don't prefer beers with smoked in the name.

Five blocks from Epic is a interesting concept bar.  They have a wall of taps.  You get an RFID bracelet that's used to turn on the tap.  You're charged by the oz. Each tap has a small screen that gives the name of the beer and if you tap (no pun intended) on the screen gives a detail description of the beer. While pouring the screen displays your name, the amount of the pour, and the total status of your account.

 

 

 

We snacked on harrissa chicken drumets, and two French fry offerings.  One came prepared in a maple syrup drizzle and the other in garlic and herb.  We don't usually order fries but these sounded intriguing and they were excellent.

 

 

 

This is a fascinating neighborhood of older, repurposed industrial buildings. There are beauty salons, fitness centers, wine shops, burger joints, restaurants, retail businesses, service businesses  and just about anything else tucked among the irregular buildings in this neighborhood.  We explore one consignment shop with numerous peculiar and interesting offerings. Were we not down sizing, two articles would be on their way back to Virginia.

We return to Epic for a "gourmet" pierogi dinner from Pavlo's Taste of Ukraine; Epic's invited food truck of the day.

 

After a couple of calls, Lauren shows up with the Renaissance suburban to carry us back.  It was 0245 Denver time when we began the day.  CJ's out by 7:15 and Carol follows and hour later.  Of course we're fighting to stay asleep by 0430 (0630 Virginia time).