Brewpub Crawl In Colorado - Part 2

This is part two of a two part guest post by Brady Umfleet.

Stop #7 Eddyline Brewing

Author Brady Umfleet

This brewery is located in Buena Vista a town north of Salida. This is a difficult to find place. It is in a faux area of downtown, you know one of those that developers build to make it look like it is part of some other development. There is a main street in Buena Vista. But then there is South Main Street where the brewery is located. Walking in you get the out door sports vibe. A very small bar of about 4 stools is opposite the door. My wife and I tried the CPA (Colorado Pale Ale) and the Chili Porter. The bartender who was unaware I was sitting at the bar, even after she helped two guys next to me, and she didn’t know what Chilies were in the beer. None the less it was good. May be worth a stop if you are actually in Buena Vista, otherwise head town to the cool town of Salida.

Stop #8 Amicas Pizza and Microbrewery

Following a long soaking in the Salida Municipal Hot Springs we rolled into Amicas located in downtown Salida on a rainy Wednesday night. This place was very busy with tourists and locals. Walking in you must get a table then you can order food. However, there is a bar next to the register area that had 7 house brews on tap; Bomber Blonde Ale, Headwaters IPA, Big S Brown, Rex’s Amber Ale, Ute Trail Pale Ale, and a very interesting and good Black beard’s Delight German style Black Lager, and an interesting Honey Bourbon Brown 10 year Anniversary Ale. I have to say the black lager, IPA, and 10^th Anniversary Ale were very very good and were imbibed by several in our party. What was interesting is that we were able to order beers and then when we ordered our food we would tell the person how many we had, a real honor system. We really enjoyed this brewery.

Stop #9 Breckenridge BBQ Brewpub

Our first brewery visit in Denver was to BBB. This location is located in the south side of Denver, near the Santa Fe arts district. My wife and I had a large sampler that included; Lucky U IPA, Small Batch 471, 72 Imperial, Well Built (barrel aged) ESB (our favorite), and a few more that I can’t recall. The Well Built was a beer that memories are made of; unfortunately we couldn’t score a bottle or two to bring home with us. The atmosphere was laid back on a Thursday afternoon. A few beer geeks and I assume a few workers from other breweries were there since they all wore the same brewery gear. We had the Carolina BBQ and some kind of crazy good chicken and sausage sandwich.

Stop #10 Renegade Brewing

The Renegade brewing logo

The brewery is located in a small building with two rolling garage doors that are opened in nice weather. The atmosphere is slightly industrial and the clientele young professionals, you know the type-those who ride bikes to work and are likely in the tech industry, a pretty chill place. We had a sampler that included; Ryeteous (Rye IPA), Descendant (Pale Ale), Elevation (DIPA), and a few more including a Russian Imperial Stout. We really enjoyed the Elevation and the Russian Imperial Stout. The service was very good and though they didn’t have food there was a Cuban/Vietnamese sandwich truck parked outside. We could have lingered longer but we wanted to head to our hotel.

Stop #11 Great Divide Brewing

Great Divide beer line-up

This is a must visit when in Denver, but try to avoid Rockies game days and 4-5pm ish.

Located a short walk to Coors Field Great Divide was a brewery we were really looking forward to visiting. Walking in to the tap room you almost literally run into the bar. There were about 15 beers on tap and since it was firkin Friday there was another bonus beer. My wife and I tried; Hercules Double IPA, and an oaked version, Titan IPA, Claymore Scotch Ale, and Wolfgang Dopplebock. We would have liked to try samplers of several more, but because it was packed and we were going to the game we settled on the above brews. With the exception of the oaked Hercules, which my wife didn’t care for as much because of the strong oak flavor, we really enjoyed the beer. We didn’t buy any food from the pizza truck outside, but we did see the pies and they looked great.

The service was bad, yeah it was busy, but it was bad. For example, three bar tenders were working, but all three were helping the half a bar nearest to the door (which wasn’t even as busy as the other side). So if you were on the other side of the bar you might as well been in Colorado Springs. We would love to go back but during a less crushed time.

Stop # 12 Sandlot Brewing at Coors Field

Behind the scenes at Sandlot

OK, this is a first for us, a brewery in a baseball park. I will add this to the brewery in a casino in Connecticut I visited many years ago. This place as a steep cover charge and thankfully it does because you shouldn’t be tempted to visit otherwise. A large bar, seating area located at the north entrance to Coors Field. On tap were Coors, Coors light, Sandlot Red Ale, and a couple of the Blue Moon beers. So, having never drank a Coors in my life I ordered one of those and ordered the Red Ale (brewed on site). I somewhat enjoyed the Coors but the Red Ale was neither malty nor hoppy, and frankly it was watery and thin. My wife and I left half of each and departed. In the ball park we found a stand with CO beers such as Oskar Blues’ Dale’s Pale Ale, Left Hand, and Odells. We enjoyed a bottle of Odells IPA.

Stop #13 Strange Brewing



Gluten free beer must be 
served
in plastic cup, it's the law.

Our final beer stop in CO, and frankly even I was beered out by this time. Strange Brewing located in an industrial strip mall not far from the Mile High Stadium just west of downtown Denver. When we arrived we spotted the food vendor and the smell of something good. Walking into Strange the bar is located directly opposite of the bar. There is also a rail with stools near the bar. There were about 6-7 beers on tap, but to be honest we were tired and went for a Cherry Kriek, and a Gluten Free Lemon Pale Ale. I hereby swear to never drink another gluten free beer again. The Cherry Kriek was very good but it was $8 a pint. We liked this place and would have enjoyed it more if it weren’t the last stop on our beercation. Thursday nights are $1 ounce steak night-they (the food vendor) grill them on the patio to order.