Beer Today, Gone Tomorrow

With over 130 craft breweries in Colorado, there are hundreds of beer to sample. But without some type of record, it is becoming hard to remember what beer we sampled where. So this blog is an attempt to chronicle our Tour of Colorado.

Saturday found us at the Denver Beer Company in the River North area, along the Platte River and east of the Highlands neighborhood. Situated in an old warehouse, the owners have opened up the space by adding garage doors to the street side, with picnic table on the deck toward the street. The tasting room/bar is open to the brewery with a industrial retro look.  This is truly a tasting room, not a restaurant. The only food offered are pretzels. There are often food trucks in the area, and we lucked out with a little trailer just outside selling home made pierogis and kielbasas. The smell of grilled onions is their best advertisement.

We met our friends Melissa and Russ for an early afternoon beer tasting. A sunny sixty degree day, perfect weather for the last day of November. We started with the Graham Cracker Porter. Mari was disappointed in not tasting the graham cracker, but I enjoyed the rich dark porter with coffee notes.

We ordered a flight that sampled the other eight beers on tap. The first, Hey Pumpkin was a light ale with very light pumpkin flavor, good but not a standout. The Belgian Swinging Single reminded me of a Heffewizen, with a banana flavor. The Barrel Room Bock was my favorite, aged in an oak Chardonnay barrel, there was a buttery smooth feel with great favors from the wine and wood. Mari's favorite was the King of Jacks Imperial Pumpkin, a true pumpkin pie in a glass. The Tart Saison had a tart green apple taste in a clean light saison. Russ liked the Four on the Floor 2x IPA, double hopped in your face IPA. The seasonal Tis the Saison was brewed with spearmint and peppermint, and brought back memories of Christmas hard candy.

The house filled up as we tasted beer and ate pierogis. A family and dog friendly venue with a shelf of board games, the brewery has a laid back neighbor vibe. Plenty of bike rack space in front, but very limited parking. The light rail stop is a short walk southeast of the brewery.