We recently stopped in the Denver / Lakewood, CO area for a few days on our way out to Arizona, and had a blast! Check out all of our stops below, and comment if you have been to any of these :)
Crooked Stave Brewery / The Source (Website)
This place was absolutely incredible! This building used to be an old steel factory, and it appears that they gutted it down to the bare bones. This building contains several different businesses with a communal and very open area in the middle. The ceilings are super tall, and there is natural light pouring in from everywhere. This sits in a rather industrial area, which is surrounded by lots of new apartment buildings and other breweries and restaurants, and of course a bit of construction. I would assume that this area of Denver will be finished in no time!
Crooked Stave brews/creates mostly sour beers, which I am a big fan of these days. Their beers are definitely pricey, but worth a try!
Great Divide Brewery (Website)
We had passed by Great Divide on the way to Crooked Stave. In fact, it was almost right across the street. The thing that really caught our eye at this place was the massive amount of barrels on display (and in use) here. They have a really amazingly decorated barrel bar, which they decorated with lots of pieces of wood from past barrels. We had a good time sampling lots of different beers, and it was fun comparing all the different styles and flavors.
The beers are decent here, and the prices are incredible. Their samples of regular beers are $1 for 3 oz, and $3 for their barrel aged and more rare stuff. 4 of us got out of there for under $20!
Sample Beers at Great Divide.
Our friends at Great Divide!
Some of the beers available at Great Divide.
- Mockery Brewing (Website)
I'm sure this happens a lot, but as we were sitting in Great Divide, I saw yet another brewery in the back of the parking lot called Mockery Brewing. Another impeccably designed brewery, with a smaller yet very open feel, as well as copper and cool signage behind the bar. Their beers were only $5 each and very strong!
The Wheat Around The Bush Boysenberry Wheat Wine
- Wynkoop Brewery (Website)
This place was pretty nice. We sat on the upper level, which had about 15+ pool tables, and lots of nice open area. This place was a bit more expensive than we would usually go for, but it was a nice place to meet friends in downtown Denver. The exposed brick (which was a theme for literally every place we went in Denver), was just beautiful. I loved the photos they displayed in this building, by photographer Patrick Andrade. He uses tin type to capture modern brewers and their process. Learn more.
- Denver Biscuit Co (Website)
My, oh my! What a great way to start the day! Everything on the menu pretty much revolves around these luscious biscuits, and they're amazing. I got biscuits and gravy, and I think everyone else got a biscuit sandwich of some sort. Each plate looked better than the last and I definitely hope to visit again soon!
While in Denver, we also checked out Teller's and Rock Fire Pizza. Both really great!
And, we didn't stop there! Colorado has the absolute best beer selection of literally anywhere we have ever visited, so we found a few other places to find things to take home. Some of the places we would definitely recommend include: Mondo Vino, Grapevine Wine & Liquor - (make sure to check out the Beer Cave!!), and Applejacks near Lakewood.
Coaltrain (Colorado Springs) (Visit Their Site)
Keep up with our travels on Instagram {here}! We have lots more of this adventure to go...
