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Drinking in Denver - Sampling the capital’s nightlife Words: Fraser Doherty, Illustration: The Man Trout Colorado Road Trip Words : Fraser Doherty, Photos: Nick LevinOskar Blues & Odell Brewing Words & Photos: Matt Curtis Drinking With Adam Avery Discovering some of America’s best SoursNew Age American SpiritsMoonshine, Whiskey, Cocktails, Mead & MoreBlack Isle Organic Brewery Words: Heather Naismith, Photos: Erin Bottomley+ more...

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Tourism is a tough sport – all that walking takes a lot of fuel. In Copenhagen sustenance is easy to find, if you look in the right places.

Words: Craig BallingerIllustrations: The Man Trout

Beer TalesThe Danish Caper

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Before handing me the keys to a massive Jeep at the airport rental place, the car hire guy puts on his best up-sell grin, “you know man, I could get you into something a little more comfortable for an extra $50”.

Looking out the window into the car park I see the car we’d already booked. A massive Jeep, in fact the biggest car I’ve ever driven, is staring back at me.

I modestly decline his offer of something even bigger and joke that I don’t need to transportany livestock on this trip. Rolling down the highway into town we already spot half a dozen craft breweries decorated with eccentric murals, massive signs and packed beer gardens out front. It becomes quickly apparent that we’ve arrived in one of the true world capitals of craft beer.

And sure enough, straight from the flight, we head to meet Jayne Buck, our host from Visit Denver. We have that ‘first night of the holiday’ buzz in our bellies and pull up a chair at Euclid Hall; a hot spot of the Denver craft beer scene.

Over a bite to eat, their chef explains that “it’s the perfect spot to roll up with your suitcases and jump right into some reimagined American classics, like waffle and fried chicken, po’boys, potine and schnitzels”.

Even more excited by their beer list, which runs into the hundreds of options, I proceed to order a bottle of Avery’s exquisite and increasingly rare ‘Uncle Jacob’s Stout’, a 17% ABV masterpiece of barrel-ageing. At $45 it’s something of a splurge and sets our expectations extremely high for the rest of the

Sampling the nightlife of Colorado’s capital

Drinking in DenverWords: Fraser Doherty, Beer52 Co-Founder Illustrations: The Man Trout

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trip. One of only 848 cases, its only one of a few dozen top end beers available in this bar alone. The waitress presents it to us at the table as if it were a bottle of fine wine; seeking our approval before going ahead and popping the cap.

This level of respect for beer isn’t something we’re accustomed to in restaurants back home and Jayne goes on to explain that, “here, its not so much about drinking as it is about craft”.

She’s proud to let us know that her home state is becoming known nationwide as ‘The Napa Valley of beer’, thanks to the more than 300 craft breweries here.

Next up, we head out for a jaunt around Larimer Square; it’s one of those neighbourhoods that used to be skid row but that now is super cool, teeming with great beer. We stop into Tag Bar, where their barman, Chris, introduces us to Leopold Brother’s whiskey. I’d say it’s hands down the best ‘new

woods and even trying methods to speed up the maturation process - things that would be sacrilege back home in Scotland.

To continue our sensory adventure and line our stomachs for a full day of drinking, we head over to Avanti F&B for a few more local brews and a bite to eat. It’s a great spot where a bunch of would-be restauranteurs can try out their concepts – including arepas (a sort of cornmeal flatbread) better than any I’ve tasted in Latin America, sustainable sushi, Sicilian pizza, shawarma and paella. It’s a really well done version of one of those container mini-malls that seem to be popping up everywhere.

Situated in the city’s hip ‘Highlands’ neighbourhood, there are certainly plenty of hipsters around; we even see one moustached dude driving by in a renovated vintage hearse. ‘Patio season’ is in full swing and everyone we see is making the most of it, basking in the sunshine with a pint in hand.

Enjoying the view over Denver from the rooftop seating, we talk about what has helped to make Denver such a mecca for craft beer geeks. One factor is that there’s a big student population in town, which certainly helps to keep the beer flowing all night.

To further help the craft beer cause, the Metropolitan State University has even launched a degree course in brewing, to help feed the city’s insatiable thirst for new brewers.

Even for those students who don’t specifically study brewing, it’s hard to graduate from this town without a solid appreciation of craft beer. Our friend Steve says, “if you’re still drinking Bud at your graduation ball, you ain’t been paying attention”.

Craft beer is super mainstream here – even the taxi driver makes us some recommendations of his favourite barrel aged sours and tells us that nowadays people like us are coming from all over the world to do brewery crawls around Denver.

All throughout the day, we see everyone from students to septuagenarians drinking great beers. And in the way that only Americans can, they don’t just visit the breweries for a pint- they show up on their motorbikes with their buddies from their town’s Home Brew

age’ American whiskey that I’ve tasted to date – thanks in part no doubt to the fact that they’re one of very few distillers to use open air fermentation, to have their own traditional malting floor and peating kiln.

Ben tells us that “Scotland used to make the best whisky in the world, but they’ve become complacent”. Despite his love of the whiskies in Colorado, he’s also a fan of some of the spirits from further afield, “we might catch up, but they’re whipping our ass in Taiwan and Japan, some of the stuff coming out of there is insane”.

What sounds exciting about the scene here in Colorado is that the distilleries are willing to experiemnt and to break the rules, rather than to just copy the status quo and do things the same way they’ve been done for centuries - blending different grains, maturing in different

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Club, everyone wearing the breweries’ branded T-Shirts and posing for photographs in front of the signage. They collect the baseball caps from each brewery they stop at and no doubt pick up a fridge magnet to take home as a keepsake from their trip. When Americans go in for something, they go in for it big.

Despite the groups of beer geeks that we meet along the way, the crowds in the brewery tap rooms and beer gardens are an even mix of guys and girls. There are prams everywhere and people’s dogs are rolling around the floor with each other.

The city’s ‘neighbourhood brewery’ culture is something I’ve never experienced before. There’s something really cute about the idea of taking a stroll round to your local brewery with your dog, having an ultra-fresh pint and walking home. The drinking culture here isn’t all about getting pissed, they seem to savour the idea of beer being a social activity and their brewery being the heart of the community.

A day of drinking in Denver isn’t complete

Ferment Magazine

Drinking in Denver

When Americans go in for something, they go in for it big!

without visiting one or more of the city’s brewery taprooms. Many of the breweries here don’t sell their wares any further than their own premesis. The only way to taste their beers is to have them poured into a glass over a bar by the very person who brewed them.

Being on a tight schedule and full of enthusiasm to see as much as we possibly can on our short trip to Denver, we manage to whip around seven of them.

In a first for our company’s history, this part adrenaline, part jet lag fuelled driking marathon made this day our first ever ‘100 Beer Day’, sampling small tastes of over a hundred dfferent beers, offering an unimaginably wide array of beery flavours.

With each area of the city supporting its own local brewery, these small producers have thrived. In most states, it would be illegal to sell their beers directly to their customers, thanks to the US’s much maligned ‘three tier system’. But here, they are free to; giving them not only great margins, but perhaps more importantly, direct feedback from the people drinking their beers.

We stop into one of these tiny breweries, Trve. With a definite Heavy Metal theme going on, their founder explains cheerfully; “we only play doom, death and black metal”. Over a pint of their ‘Solid Hex’ Foeder-Fermented Mixed Culture Watermelon Saison (one of the absolute stand out beer of our trip), he explains how important this progressive legislation is.

After our tasting session, he jumps into his pickup to make fresh deliveries to local bars – such a delivery route would also be illegal in most states, which impose a requirement for brewers to sell through a distributor.

Having somehow not quite had our fill, we hit up one of the city’s many tap bars; Blake Street Tavern. It’s a super American place – hundreds of massive pump taps, baseball on the screens and a big patio area outside to enjoy your pint in the sun. The people of this city are super friendly and we find ourselves making new friends left, right and centre. Before long, our bellies are rumbling again and thoughts turn to dinner.

Our friends take us to Ophelias Electric Soapbox, a former brothel turned into a super hip restaurant and bar, with a dancefloor and live music. Describing itself as a ‘gastro-brothel’, we enjoy a great meal, some cocktails and then jump around on the dancefloor.

There happens to be a music festival on in town and so after a few tunes at the restaurant, we head out into the South Broadway

before heading back to our hotel to sleep off our day in this incredible beer city.

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We only play doom, death and black metal, their founder cheerfully explains, pouring us a point of their Mixed Culture Watermelon Saison.

Drinking in Denver