Denver, From What I Remember

You can call this post a #WayBackWednesday or #ThrowbackThursday or #FlashbackFriday or any other hashtag alliteration using a day of the week. I went to Denver back in January and visited some great breweries, went on a snowshoe adventure and took a bunch of photos but, when I relaunched my blog I kinda forgot to post about it. I’m also traveling to Denver again next week and plan on having some new adventures and hitting some new breweries to write about soon. So without further ado, this is Denver, from what I remember.

Dude, Where’s My Car?

I’m going to start this out with a tip for you, always double check what car rental place you booked with. Don’t be like me and assume you booked Thrifty because that’s who you usually book with. I took the shuttle from the Denver airport to Thrifty and, as I was waiting in line for my car, I remembered “S#!t, I booked with Budget!!”. Denver is cold in January and there’s no sidewalk on the street where all the car rental spots are. That was a long, slushy, muddy, cold walk down the busy street in the right hand lane. Yea, I’m an idiot. I needed a beer and a doughnut.

Here’s another tip, if you’re going to Voodoo Doughnuts, make sure you have cash. They don’t take credit card because it’s the year 1980 apparently. After paying for parking, craving a delicious Voodoo doughnut and not getting one, now I really needed a beer. Time to go to somewhere tried, testing and….TRVE (<— see what I did there?).

I visited TRVE on my last trip to Denver a year earlier and was blown away by the beer but even moreso by the vibe. It’s a full on metal themed brewery with metal band themed merch (yes, I bought a shirt). Definitely a must visit in Denver. Careful drinking too many high ABV stouts and headbanging too hard though, you’ll get a killer headache.

Next stop was Baere Brewing which is pretty much across the street from TRVE. It was a very different vibe in there compared to what I had just left. It was pretty empty aside from a couple locals and a homeless man sleeping outside (who was later picked up by an ambulance because he couldn’t walk on his own). They were also playing some weird avante-garde space rock (which I think one of the locals requested). It was a pretty stark contrast from where I had just been. Don’t get me wrong, I can get down with Bjork on occasion, I just wasn’t feeling it on this day. The beer was decent but I liked what I had at TRVE better.

Don’t Switch That Door, It Adds Character

Next I was going to venture to a brewery I had researched ahead of time thanks to the fine folks at Hop Culture Magazine. Black Project focuses on wild fermented ales with microbes captured from the local environment via a coolship or foraged from nature. You can read more about the whole process on their website.

When I got there I was 1 of 3 people inside (keep in mind this is Tuesday afternoon) so I was able to chat with Jordan who was working the tasting room that night. He was super friendly and an extremely great host. As a couple more people rolled in to the tasting room Jordan offered us all a tour of their brewing area and barrel room where we were also introduced to the their head brewer, Josh. He gave us a rundown on some of the barrel aging and fermenting process . They’re doing some really cool stuff in there.

And the beer?? It’s next level good! I had 3 sours while I was there and was lucky enough to take a bottle of Stargate: O’Henry home with me.

Oh, and a message to the owners…… As we discussed over Instagram, don’t change that front door, it adds character. Lol

To end the night I took a walk down the street from my hotel to Oskar Blues for dinner and some barrel aged Ten Fidy. An shout out to my homie Hoppa Fett who’s a big Ten Fidy fan.

Hey Uber Driver, Sorry For The Spilled Milkshake

So, I didn’t explain earlier but the whole reason I was in Denver was for work. More specifically, a tradeshow. So my days were filled with talking, walking, hand shakes and high fives. When I was hungry I ducked out to go to one of the best sandwich shops in Denver, Cheba Hut. Not only do they make killer sandwiches, they have a killer beer list as well. Add them to your list for a quick lunch in Denver.

At the end of tradeshow day 1 I had a free night to go check out a strip of Denver near Larimer street that has 5 breweries and a bunch of other bars in a stretch of about 4 blocks.

I started at 10 Barrel Brewing because I knew as a bigger and more widely distributed brewery they’d probably have a full food menu. I was right. It’s a pretty big tasting room and it was super busy for a Tuesday night. Definitely a hot spot for the tourist crowd. After a burger and a “Pray For Snow” Winter Ale I headed out for a walk down Larimer st.

Stop number two was Our Mutual Friend brewing. This was a great little spot with an awesome patio when the city isn’t freezing and covered with snow. The space inside was small and intimate and has a sticker wall where I posted up a Thirsty Explorers Club sticker. The highlight beer from my flight was their “Neon Nail” NE IPA.

Stop number three was Ratio Beerworks. The tasting room had some cool interior design as well as a photo booth. (Would it have been sad if I went in the photo booth alone??) As far as the beer is concerned, I tried their French Saison based on one of the tasting room staff’s suggestions and it was decent. I’d probably try a different style from them next time.

Stop number four was Odell Brewing. I wish I had more energy because they actually had some live music and there was a decent party going on inside. By this point though I was pretty burnt out and a little too buzzed to keep going all night. I had their black IPA but I wasn’t really feeling it. I wish I had ordered something else as there was a lot of great sounding beer on their menu. Next time.

Stop number five (yea, I typed “five”) was Epic Brewing. This was just to pick up a bottle to go though. It was late(ish) and they were closing soon so I grabbed my bottle of 2018 Big Bad Baptista and headed to Shake Shack to wait for my Uber.

You may or may not have tuned in to my friend Mike’s live Instagram story (@thebeerater) that night but I joined in on the convo from my Uber. As I exited the car trying to hold my phone in one hand, my to-go bottle in my other hand and my milkshake in….?? Well, I proceeded to spill my milkshake all over the inside of the car door live on Instagram. Sorry Uber driver. I hope the bigger than normal tip I left made up for my drunken mess. And to all the people that tuned in to Mike’s live stream, you’re welcome.

Altitude Sickness Is A Thing

I won’t bore you with the details of my second day at the tradeshow but I will say you should check out Steubens restaurant for some good classic American cooking. Comfort food and moscow mules all night!

My last full day in Denver was a free one so I decided to take a drive out to Frisco, Colorado and do a little snowshoe hike (I had an ulterior motive for going to Frisco. Keep reading to see why). It’s about an hour drive east of Denver through the mountains. If you want a majestic drive through beautiful snow capped hills? This is the one. I seriously wanted to stop at every highway exit and take photos.

I did some research beforehand on All Trials to find out what the best trail was around Frisco and North Ten Mile Creek popped up. It was a little confusing though as All Trails rated it as “moderate” difficulty but it’s only 10.5km out-and-back, only 270M of elevation gain and no scrambling or gnarly zones that I could read about. Obviously the silly couch potatoes of Frisco, CO need to get out on the trails more.

Well, I found out quickly why it may have been rated a little harder than it typically should have been. Frisco, Colorado is 2773M above sea level. Add to that the additional 270M elevation gain on this hike and you’re topping out at over 3000M. Vancouver, at it’s highest point, is only 150M above sea level. Even the peak of Whistler is only 2100M. Now, I don’t want to sound like I’m an oxygen specialist (is that a profession?) but from the research I found, sea level has an effective oxygen percentage of 20.9%. At 3000M that effective percentage drops to 14.3%. It doesn’t sound like a lot but that’s about a 1/3 drop in effective oxygen levels. So needless to say, I was wheezing a little more than usual and, as it turns out, I am the silly couch potato, not the people of Frisco.

Regarding the trail, it was a nice stroll through the mountains with views the whole way but I was a little underwhelmed at the end. Maybe I’m spoiled by the north shore Vancouver hikes with epic views at the top, but this trail just ended and then you turned around and went back. No epic view point, no waterfall…. just a sign to turn around. I wanted a pot of gold at the end of my rainbow, is that too much to ask for?

My Ulterior Motive

As I eluded to earlier, I had another reason for driving an hour east of Denver to go for a hike…… Outer Range Brewing. Forbes and Hop Culture contributor Kenny Gould rated them as one of the Top 10 Under The Radar Craft Breweries to Watch This Spring. I’ve wanted to try there beer for a while and, lucky me, I showed up on a release day where I walked away with a 4pk of their “Bangarang” NE DIPA.

Their tasting room isn’t big but it’s has a lot of character with the big grizzled portrait of Jim Pasholka adorning the wall and stickers from breweries all over the world (and mine) featured on a support beam. The surrounding area of mountains in every direction makes their patio a damn good spot to enjoy a beer as well (when it’s not covered in snow).

After enjoying a flight at Outer Range I headed back out through the mountain pass and back to Denver but not before stopping at Lookout Mountain for a beer in the serene landscape of the Rockies. The whistling wind, cold on my nose while drinking a DIPA in my new mug was exactly where I wanted to be. This is one of my favorite spots in Denver (technically Golden, CO).

And That’s A Wrap

My second to last stop of the night was at one of my favorite breweries from my last trip to Denver, Cerebral Brewing. They have a great tasting room and great beer to go with it. I met another traveler there who drove a few hours from up North just for a release that day (which I also picked up). These guys are known for their IPAs but I had a sour that night that was absolutely amazing as well. I haven’t had a bad beer here.

The last stop of the night was at Crooked Stave. Even though I was dead tired and just wanted to hit my hotel bed, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to at least have one beer here. Especially considering last time I had the opportunity to come, they were closed.

The brewery is located in a pretty trendy spot in the River North Art District (RiNo) . By day there are great lunch spots, art galleries and artists shops. By night it’s full of trendy dinner spots, night time hangouts and Crooked Stave. Their beer menu is pretty extensive and full of cellar bottles that you can crack and drink there. I thought that might look a little weird (or sad) so I went for a glass of their “Nightmare On Brett” barrel aged wild ale. A great one to end the night with. Then it was time to get in an Uber (without spilling a milkshake this time) and back to the hotel to hit the hay.

As some of you may know, I’m also a bit of a coffee nerd. So whenever I travel I try to source out the best local coffee roasters. Before my drive to the Denver airport the next morning I went to the other side of town to Sweet Bloom Coffee Roasters. It’s a cozy little spot in what seems to be a half industrial, half residential area of Denver. I ordered myself a slow drip coffee to go and grabbed a bag of their “Alejandro Ahumado” Columbian coffee. A great pick me up for the drive to the airport and a great bag to bring home.

Denver is one of my favorite spots to travel. So many great breweries, great coffee, amazing scenery and outdoor adventure spots. It’s my kinda town. I can’t wait to get back there.

So long Denver see you in……4 days.