Housed in a massive brick fortress known as the J. S. Brown Mercantile Building (built in 1899), Wynkoop has preserved many vestiges of an earlier time without devolving into a kitschy tourist trap, which easily could have happened. It’s the home of monthly poetry and science enthusiast meetups (known as “Café Scientifique”), comedy and burlesque shows, beer dinners, and the Beer Drinker of the Year contest, which is far more serious than it sounds. This is a very nice place to meet some local beer lovers, or simply enjoy a beer and catch a game.
PHILOSOPHY
Wynkoop feels traditional, local, and a bit roadhouse-esque inside, utterly western. The owners have long taken great pains to reduce their carbon footprint. It’s a no-frills, friendly operation, with malt-forward beers that are generally well made and quite sessionable.
KEY BEER
Railyard Ale, at 5.2% ABV, is a straightforward, copper-hued session beer somewhat similar in flavor to an Oktoberfest or märzen-style beer, but with a more fruity finish that takes it in another direction. Like many Rocky Mountain brews, it’s more on the slightly sweet, malty side, good for extended pool games. Hopheads will want to try Mile Hi-P.A., an American IPA, and Mister Fister, a Double IPA (also known as IIPA), both of which are well-made, big, brassy beers with ample but not too much bitterness.
A BEER WITH
CHARLIE PAPAZIAN
Not many brewers are asked for their autograph. But not many brewers have résumés like Charlie Papazian’s: The University of Virginia–trained, former nuclear engineer heads up the Brewers Association (an industry group representing some 4,000 American craft breweries), launched the Great American Beer Festival (GABF) in 1981 and Zymurgy magazine, and authored the home brewers’ bible, The Complete Joy of Home Brewing, in 1984 (now sailing beyond twenty-five printings, three editions, 1.2 million copies). He’s been permanently elevated to beer demigod, a signer of autographs, a coveted snapshot.
Papazian, for all the hype going on, in, and around what he’s helped create, has a quiet, humble, and considerate air, is rather slight of build, and possesses the slightly fuzzy features and gentle diction of a rabbi. As he speaks about the Colorado scene, he’s struck with what seems like genuine wonderment, a wide smile always on his face. He wouldn’t look out of place in a cassock, but he’s wearing a simple cotton dress shirt. “When I first came here in 1972, there was no beer scene other than the Coors brewery,” he recalled in 2010. “It all started back in 1978 with the Boulder Beer Company. They were one of the first ten microbreweries in the United States, the first in Colorado.”
It didn’t exactly take off like wildfire. “Things were slow to start,” says Papazian. “But then a guy named John Hickenlooper, then-mayor of Denver, changed a law to permit brewpubs in Colorado. After that law changed, [Hickenlooper] started the Wynkoop brewery down here in Denver, and the success of that place really opened up people’s eyes to what beer could be, what beer culture could be, and what the beer community could be. At the time the whole concept of beer other than light lager was a long conversation with every beer drinker. And not every beer drinker was willing to try something new.”
Today Denver’s beer scene is indeed enviable. “The community is tight, they help each other out,” says Papazian. “And I would guess that half of the 3,400 volunteers at the GABF are avid home brewers. It’s that home brew community. We started back in the 1970s, one batch at a time, making friends. That’s what got things going. And we’re still on a roll. And if you’re involved, the next friend you make here could be a brewer, too, and the start of another community. There could be double the number of breweries here that we have already.”
Looking back on all the good he’s done for Colorado beer, Papazian remains humble—and deeply honored. “A lot of people come up to me at the festival and say they wouldn’t be here if they hadn’t read my book five years ago, or twenty years ago, and it’s cool to meet people that are so satisfied with their jobs. It makes me feel like I’ve made a difference in people’s lives. I’ve been blessed with many things, and that’s one of them. They’re thankful for something I shared with them, and they’re trying to share it back with handshakes and a smile—and a beer!”
THE FALLING ROCK TAPHOUSE
1919 Blake St. • Denver, CO 80202 (303) 293-8338 • frth.com • Established: 1997
SCENE & STORY
Call it the craft brew Valhalla. The designated after-GABF victory hall for hordes of visiting brewers and their fans, “the Falling Rock” as most simply call it, is among the most respected (and most visited) beer bars anywhere. Within walking distance from Coors Field and the convention center, it’s ideally located in LoDo (Lower Denver). From the spacious outdoor patio to the massive tap row of hard-to-find crafts from the United States and abroad (seventy-five handles, give or take), to the deep bottle list of rarities (200-plus, I’m guessing), and pool-table-equipped, college-party-esque basement, it can be a lot to take in at once. Locals sometimes line the bar and get first dibs, but once you make yourself at home, the experience can measure up to a slice of craft beer heaven. There are over 2,000 empty bottles decorating the walls, some comfy leather couches, one or two giant screens, forests of tap handles arrayed in endless rows, gloriously dilapidated bathrooms, and a pervasive sense that the world would be a much better place if we all could simply set aside our differences and try an amazing brew from some far away corner of the world.
PHILOSOPHY
As officially stated, it’s “No Crap on Tap,” and the list generally feels well curated, with a wide geographical and stylistic selection on offer, from mellow session beers to the most cultish, extreme, sour, smoked, and otherwise funked-out brews in the world, like the 8% ABV Pliny the Elder, of California’s Russian River.
KEY BEER
Certain imported beers seem to show better in the bottle than on tap, so, agitated crowds notwithstanding, ask for a few samples before you take the plunge, or at the least, what’s freshest. Staffers sometimes announce a “Blue Light Special” style, which means that something rare and tasty is about to start pouring, so listen up. A recent winning choice: Boulevard Tank 7 Saison, out of Kansas City.
EUCLID HALL BAR & KITCHEN
1317 14th St. • Denver, CO 80202 (303) 595-4255 • euclidhall.com • Established: 2010
SCENE & STORY
In bringing her new restaurant Euclid Hall to Denver’s tourist and foodie district, Larimer Square, noted Denver chef Jennifer Jasinski has also brought craft beer directly into the heart of the city’s food scene. Craft beer lovers laud this development, as surely other restaurants in the area will need to step up their approach. Once home to a Masonic lodge, the Colorado Women’s Relief Corps, and a high-end brothel, among other organizations, the centrally located, two-story building is both a bit dramatic and immediately welcoming. Upon entry, one is greeted with a chalkboard overflowing with mouth-watering ideas. There, Jasinski’s open kitchen feeds the cozy downstairs while a wide staircase leads upstairs to more gastropub tavern tables.
Upstairs or down, the hand-cranked sausages, poutines, and schnitzels shine, and the pickle assortment is a must-order: one pickle is infused with hops. Mustards are also hand-ground and house cured, and you can’t throw a napkin without hitting some sort of high-low riff like the gourmet corndog or chicken-and-waffle plate. For the beer-obsessed, there are PEI mussels steamed in tripel, beer-battered cod, and an ice cream dessert made with stout. It’s a fun menu and environment, both resolutely urban and yet down to earth (a credit to the unpretentious staff), and it’s often very, very busy. One of the axioms of Euclidean geometry is that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, which is a fitting assessment of Euclid Hall itself. Its food menu or beer list are both excellent on their own, but taken together, you have something approaching ideal.
A BEER WITH
CHRIS BLACK, PROPRIETOR, FALLING ROCK TAPHOUSE
When it comes to craft beer in Denver, Falling Rock owner Chris Black is both king and court
jester. The taphouse is a monument, he says, to his friends who love beer as much as he does. He seems to feel like he was born for the job. “When I was in high school I went away to Europe for five weeks and found out what beer was supposed to taste like, at least for that time,” he says. “And when I was in college, at the University of Texas in Austin, there was a very early beer bar there called Maggie May’s. I ended up hanging out there so much they gave me a job,” he recalls. After a postcollege stint for an importer and several more years of tending bar, working in breweries, beer bars, and for distributors large and small, he borrowed money from his father to open the Falling Rock, starting the work in 1996.
“My goal was to make this one of the top beer bars in the United States within five years, and the best way to do that was to tell all the beer journalists who come here from all over the world every year for the beer festival who have no place to go. So that’s what we did. We built a place for everybody. I built my own favorite place to hang out.” It wasn’t an overnight success. “We were very cash poor, but we did everything ourselves and it didn’t really matter. As this area has grown, and we got a baseball team that started winning, the business has really grown, and the Great American Beer Festival has been a huge part of it. Here we are thirteen years later. I’m seeing all my friends every year, welcoming them into my place to have a good time,” he says. “The highest compliment is when someone brings their mom in. If it’s cool enough for your mom, and you like hanging out here, too, I think it’s kind of an okay place, right?”
The endeavor has been fruitful, to be sure, but its success, Black says, comes at a price: “The hardest thing about this job is this week,” he says of the Great American Beer Festival every fall, when Falling Rock bursts at the seams every day. “Physically and mentally, it’s completely exhausting. I average five hours of sleep for over two weeks. It’s a double-edged sword.” Black, who wears a goatee and a contented grin, indulges in the odd cigar, and takes great pleasure in a good bottle of red wine when the workday is done, brief though the respite may be.
PHILOSOPHY
The motto is “Crafted. Not Cranked Out.” The canned and bottled beer list is divided into somewhat kooky categories (arithmetic, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, calculus, quantum mechanics) meant to relate to complexity of flavor, but there’s no extra credit for only drinking from the complicated end of the spectrum.
KEY BEER
Make sure you eyeball the “Very Special Brews” list, though be prepared for some sticker shock. On a recent visit, Port Brewing Company’s Older Viscosity, an American Strong Ale, was going for $36.95 for a 375-milliliter bottle. On the standard can and bottle list, Del Norte’s Mañana Amber Lager is a solid, food-friendly choice (way up in the “easy” arithmetic section, a bit unkindly, as it happens—it’s not easy to make). And Durango’s Steamworks makes the draught house beer, Euclidean Pale Ale (5.5% ABV).
Denver’s most concentrated hotbed of year-round beer is the mostly walkable industrial area known as the River North Art District (“RiNo”), and it should not be missed. Look for Beryl’s Beer Co., focused on barrel-aged beers (3120 Blake St.; berylsbeerco.com); Black Shirt Brewing Co., focused on saisons, rye beers, and double IPA (3719 Walnut St.; blackshirtbrewingco.com); Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project (see page 137; 3350 Brighton Blvd.; crookedstave.com); Epic Brewing Co., the Salt Lake City-based company known for big-hearted styles (3001 Walnut St.; epicbrewing.com); Great Divide Brewing Co., which built a massive production brewery and tasting room (3403 Brighton Blvd.); Our Mutual Friend, which roasts its own grains and focuses on everything from pale ale to gose and wood barrel–aged sours (2810 Larimer St.; omfbeer.com); and Ratio Beerworks, with a big, light-filled, design-driven taproom and experimental styles (2920 Larimer St.; ratiobeerworks.com).
Boulder
AVERY BREWING CO.
4910 Nautilus Ct. • Boulder, CO 80301 (303) 440-4324 • averybrewing.com • Established: 1993
SCENE & STORY
Avery started in a bland industrial park, outgrew it, and, after twenty-two years in the same location, moved into spectacular new digs in nearby Gunbarrel in 2015. Adam Avery, who started the brewery with his chemist father, is among the best known of Colorado brewers. His beers have always been big in malt and hops. The new $30 million facility, on 5.6 acres of land, is a showpiece with a 86bbl German brewhouse, elevated catwalks over the production floor and a gorgeous restaurant managed by culinary pros presenting a menu of local meats, cheeses, produce, barbecue, poutine, and other stomach-lining whimsies like nachos with pork belly.
PHILOSOPHY
Avery’s public pledge is to make “big, artful beers” and brew with “utter disregard for what the market demands,” while searching out fans with “equally eccentric palates.” Judging from their jump from small-time roots to national distribution, it seems to be a useful set of guiding principles.
KEY BEER
Keeping pace with the popularity and possibilities of barrel aging, there are several high-acid beers, too, aged in oak, which are sporadically released in miniscule quantities. Easier to find and diabolically strong at 15.1% ABV, Mephistopheles offers a taste of the awesome power that a beer can unleash—but be careful, you may not be able to feel your taste buds for an hour. This cinder black brew is rich and roasty with flavors of coffee and rum-soaked black cherries, with a velvety smoothness that lures you back sip after sip. It’s hell to brew no doubt, but heaven to drink.
BOULDER BEER CO.
2880 Wilderness Pl. • Boulder, CO 80301 (303) 444-8448 • boulderbeer.com • Established: 1979
SCENE & STORY
Opened with a homemade, one-barrel system (thirty-one gallons) by two University of Colorado physics professors, David Hummer and Randolph “Stick” Ware, in a goat-shed outside of town, BBC became the first microbrewery in Colorado and was among the first to open nationally—they were granted the forty-third license to brew beer in the United States. The two friends even consulted the Coors family, who, according to Ware, called them “crazy.” Early supporters included famed beer writers Michael Jackson and Fred Eckhardt, who were joined by a nascent groundswell of beer drinkers ready for sweeping change in the beer aisle. While Hummer and Ware ceded financial control of the brewery to the Rock Bottom chain in 1990, the Boulder beer scene had been well launched, and their brewpub became an institution.
With the Flatiron Mountains rising behind Wilderness Square, the brewpub taproom is a popular spot, with free tours of the brewery offered daily. Should they be full, you can settle for the view of the bottling line from the taproom.
PHILOSOPHY
While the policy of offering a generous sample of beer with a tour of the brewery speaks to the overall relaxed feel of BBC, the company works ceaselessly to keep up with the ever evolving tastes of the American beer lover.
KEY BEER
The piney, copper-hued Hazed Session Ale (5% ABV) is all about Nugget, Willamette, Crystal, and Centennial hops.
THE KITCHEN AND THE KITCHEN UPSTAIRS
1039 Pearl St. • Boulder, CO 80302 (303) 544-5973 • thekitchencafe.com • Established: 2005
SCENE & STORY
A farm-to-table restaurant catering to Boulder’s most discerning foodies, there’s always something cooking at the Kitchen seven days a week, from classes to winemaker and brewer dinners, to “community hours” that offer discounted dining and other gastro-pursuits.
Chef-owner Hugo Matheson expanded his busy restaurant in 2005 to include the “Upstairs,” a candlelit and fireplace-warmed wine bar area above the restaurant with a deep wine cellar. Soon after, then-bar manager Ray Decker overhauled the beer list, giving it star treatment and including a number of vintage and rare beers. Beer is served with care here and food pairings are readily suggested. It’s one of Boulder’s most assured restaurants, with knowledgeable, attentive service. It also commands higher prices than some craft beer lovers will be accustomed to paying. But with award-winning chefs at the stov
e, it’s a refreshing change from the usual pub grub, and perhaps the ultimate way to cap off a trip to GABF in Denver.
PHILOSOPHY
Sunset magazine dubbed it “the West’s Greenest Restaurant” in 2008, praising Chef Matheson’s fare and eco-friendly approach. And a superb, international beer list complements the cuisine, with special attention to Belgian ales and American pathbreakers like Jolly Pumpkin.
KEY BEER
Ask a server to recommend beers with your meal, as all the menus and lists change constantly. A reddish, Belgian-style farmhouse ale like Jolly Pumpkin’s La Roja (which I recently sampled here) or a barrel-aged beer from Norway’s HaandBryggeriet or Belgium’s Drie Fonteinen would complement many of the Kitchen’s richer dishes.
WEST END TAVERN
926 Pearl St. • Boulder, CO 80302 (303) 444-3535 • thewestendtavern.com • Established: 1987
SCENE & STORY
Boulder has become a craft brew capital with Avery, Oskar Blues, and Upslope breweries, just to name a few. But there’s a deep craft brew passion in select bars as well. At the multilevel West End Tavern, owner Dave Query brings a touch of down-home Southern soul to upscale Boulder, with a vast tap list heavy on local brews and a great bourbon list to boot. The upstairs taproom is airy and modern, with metal tables and chairs and sight lines out to the sky, but it’s the rotating tap list filled with craft rarities and two outdoor decks that really draw in the locals, especially the beer brewers themselves, like Upslope’s cofounder Matt Cutter, who I met on a random evening there sipping beer.
PHILOSOPHY
There’s no telling what will be on tap at the West End, because the list is constantly changing, but expect to see local and West Coast beers heavily represented.
The Great American Ale Trail (Revised Edition) Page 17