Colorado
DENVER
RECOMMENDED BY Governor John Hickenlooper
It was a strange confluence of circumstances—the self-reliance of Northern Mainers, a brief period of unemployment, and a house-building project in California—that collided to help make Denver the craft brewing capital of the Rockies.
"I spent some time in Maine's Washington County in the early seventies," Governor John Hickenlooper recalled. "It's a pretty poor part of the country, so everyone brewed their own beer, as it was so inexpensive. I learned to homebrew there; one of my creations was Hickenlooper Lager. If you couldn't say it, you weren't allowed to have another. Some years later, I found myself out in Denver. I was laid off from my job as a geologist. I bought a red Malibu convertible with my severance and drove out to Northern California to help my brother with a house project he was working on. This was 1986. One night, he took me out to a brewpub in Berkeley called Triple Rock. There was a line out the door on a Wednesday night. I remember thinking that I'd drive twenty miles out of my way to get beer like this … and that a concept like this could fly in Denver.
"I floated the idea to several people, and they were interested, but it never quite came together. So I went to the library and read a book on business plans and began looking for an older building to house the brewery. I wanted to do a pre-Prohibition kind of beer—just water, hops, yeast, and malt—and I wanted to put it in a pre-Prohibition building. I finally found one in LoDo [now one of Denver's hippest neighborhoods, but then considered Skid Row and in the early stages of redevelopment]. It took almost two years, but the brewpub—Wynkoop—opened in 1988. At the time, it was only the fourth brewery in Colorado [next to Coors, Anheuser-Busch, and Boulder Beer Company] and the first brewpub in the Rockies. It's still the largest brewpub in the world, at thirty-six thousand square feet. We were worried when other brewpubs began opening up, but it soon became evident that Denver could support a lot of craft brewing. We had a lot of young people, and we have four seasons; each season calls for different kinds of beer, which attracts people with different tastes. I think all of us in the brewing world saw a kind of H?agen Dazs effect—people would be willing to spend more if they perceived a difference in quality."
Today, Denverites can opt for something a bit more spirited than a Coors Light (brewed just north in Golden) in more than forty craft breweries within the city limits. With less than 2 percent of America's population, Colorado accounts for over 10 percent of the nation's craft breweries—with the number (in 2015) approaching 250.
Visitors intent on exploring Denver's beer culture might begin with the two members of the old guard of Mile-High City brewing—Wynkoop and Great Divide. Wynkoop brews more than forty styles throughout the year (with roughly ten on tap at a given time) and boasts a second-floor billiards room with twenty-two pool tables. Their offerings run the gamut, from pale ales and IPAs to more-adventurous offerings like Patty's Chile Beer (a golden ale fermented with Anaheim and ancho peppers) to Rocky Mountain Oyster Stout, which is flavored with … roasted bull testicles. Great Divide rests in Denver's Ballpark neighborhood. The brewery operates from an old dairy plant and pours sixteen beers at any given time from a portfolio of twenty-five varieties at its nearby taproom. Great Divide is one of the most decorated breweries in Colorado, with eighteen Great American Beer Festival medals and five World Beer Cup awards to its credit. John shared a few other spots worth a stop: "Epic Brewing [which originated in Salt Lake City] has twenty-five beers on tap at any time. Their flagship brew is a stout with a strong coffee profile. It's also worth stopping at Union Station [Denver's railroad depot]. The Terminal Bar [downstairs in the historic ticketing office] has a nice selection of craft beers, and you get a little taste of Denver's railroad history. If you enjoy live music, you have to visit Red Rocks Amphitheatre, just west of the city. The natural acoustics are amazing, and they hold one hundred concerts a year. You can find over a dozen craft beers there."
No mention of Denver as a beer-drinking destination would be complete without mention of the Great American Beer Festival, billed as the premier U.S. beer festival and competition. Each September, over six hundred brewers from all over the world gather at the Colorado Convention Center to share their wares and compete for prizes. Winners are determined by the GABF judge panel, which is made up of industry professionals from around the world. The panels conduct blind taste tests and select the three beers that best represent each beer-style category—a list that approaches 150 varieties! "If you want to try many, many different beers, you'll want to visit the GABF at some point," John added. "They've got three thousand beers flowing. It's America's biggest beer party, with seventy-five thousand visitors over three days."
GOVERNOR JOHN HICKENLOOPER was born in Pennsylvania. After earning a bachelor's degree in English and a master's degree in geology, both from Wesleyan University, he moved to Colorado in 1981, finding work with Buckhorn Petroleum. With the collapse of the oil industry in the 1980s, he was laid off and began life as a publican, opening the Wynkoop Brewing Company in 1988. In 2003, John was elected mayor of Denver. As mayor, he overhauled the city's financial system, created the city's first chief financial officer, and streamlined many city services. In 2005, after serving only two years as mayor, Time magazine placed him among the top five "big-city" mayors in the country. John ran for governor of Colorado in 2010 on a platform to make Colorado the best place for entrepreneurs to grow jobs. He won and was reelected in 2014. John is a devoted parent to his son and the proud owner of a rescue dog, Skye.
If You Go
Getting There: Denver is served by most major carriers.
Best Time to Visit: Denver attracts visitors year-round, be it for outdoor sports or the city's vibrant beer/food culture. The Great American Beer Festival (www.greatamericanbeerfestival.com) is generally held the last weekend in September.
Spots to Visit: Wynkoop Brewing Company (303-297-2700; www.wynkoop.com); Great Divide Brewing Company (303-296-9460; www.greatdivide.com); Epic Brewing Company (720-539-7410; www.epicbrewing.com); the Terminal Bar at Union Station (720-460-3701; www.terminalbardenver.com); Red Rocks Amphitheatre (720-865-2494; www.redrocksonline.com).
Accommodations: The Denver Convention & Visitors Bureau (800-233-6837; www.denver.org) lists a broad range of lodging options in the Mile-High City.