Last summer, we spent a long weekend in Colorado. The flight to Denver was cheap and Colorado was a place we’d been wanting to explore so we thought, why not?! We rented an Airbnb and a car and spent 4 days exploring a few cities and a bit of the countryside surrounding the Rockies. First up, Denver... Read on.Things we knew about Denver: the city is surrounded by natural beauty so you’ll want a rental car to see a bunch of it, the beer scene is incredible so maybe you should park the rental car and get an Uber, and the altitude sickness is real... nothing to do with rental cars but be prepared to deal with dizziness at the very least. With that being said, majority of our time in the actual Denver area (maybe a total of 1.5 days out of the 4) was spent eating and drinking. We did a bit of city exploring but to be honest, the most thrilling things to see are outside the city. So, fair warning, a lot of what we discuss today in this post will be our food and brewery highlights. WITH a bit of cool buildings and things around Denver thrown in there too! After we landed on Friday afternoon, we got our car and headed for the city. We wanted to make it for happy hour at Linger, an old funeral home that's been transformed into a restaurant... We had an amazing asian inspired meal and then we headed up to the rooftop to get a drink and take in the views of the city. I'm pretty sure the pictures got misplaced because I know I took photos of the skyline and the cool green bus, turned bar but they are nowhere to be found! Sorry!! If you're curious, google Linger Denver and you can see the rooftop (and photos of that cute bar). Shortly after dinner, we went over to "our" side of town and checked into our airbnb. How cute is she?! We decided we wanted to get to one brewery before they started closing. Great Divide was close to us so we took off for a beer flight. We settled on a Yeti flight and could not get over the level of stout they were pouring! The strawberry sour was also incredible. Saturday was spent outside of Denver, exploring Boulder. More on that soon but Sunday was a full on Sunday Funday in Denver... brewery hopping. We also threw in some touristy stuff like seeing Union Station and Larimer Square. Union Station is an Amtrak station as well as the central hub for the light rail system around the city and out to the airport. Whether you're using the train or not, the city has done a good job making it a place people want to visit. With close proximity to the baseball stadium, tourists and locals are swinging in to drink, shop, and dine, specifically at Snooze eatery. It's pretty adorable! Larimer Square was a place we had read about. Lots of blogs suggested it for nightlife and shopping. It was essentially a one block (shops on both sides) district of average big city restaurants and shopping. With all that Denver has to offer, we were underwhelmed with Larimer Square. With that being said, our opinion is based on that fact that we have some of the same shops/restaurants in Austin so it didn't feel fresh or new. It was still a cute street and there were lots of outside, patio dining with twinkle lights everywhere so in the evening, I'm sure it is really quite beautiful to see. After Larimer Square, we were somewhat close to the convention center so we swung over to see the Big Blue Bear! Look at Chase's photo for size comparison! Ok, onto the breweries. First up, Denver Beer Co. Denver Beer Co. was pouring some great options. They had sours, porters, a yummy saison and some interesting classics with unique twists, like an Ale aged with chocolate and a kölsch with raspberry! That little shooter pictured last was a mix of their Princess Yum-Yum (the raspberry kölsch) and the Graham Cracker Porter. I noticed a couple of people ordering it and asked the bartender for a sample. It. Was. Incredible! Next up was Wit's End. This place was on the other end of town but totally worth the drive. The owner was pouring the beers and we got to chatting with him. His family was Bavarian, he spent most of his childhood in Austria and the beers were greatly influenced by that part of the world. We could not get over his lager. It was the best beer I had ever tasted. He mentioned that he had plans to keep that one on his permanent list so if you visit Denver and get to Wit's End, try it. The flavors were magical. He also recommended a great Vietnamese place just a few miles away to get some Banh-Mi's! After a delicious late lunch and caffeine pick-me-up, we headed back into the downtown area to find the Cruise room. The art-deco bar inside the Oxford hotel is a must visit. Jack White also made the place famous when he filmed a music video there. It was a real treat for the eyes and the taste buds. The interior was really cool and the staff was friendly and inviting. We'd recommend it for a post-dinner spot. Ok, we've only got a couple more places to go... Hang in there with us! (Told you it was a Sunday Funday!) The Crooked Stave is a brewery that's super well known with Austinites. When we told people we were going to Denver, the Crooked Stave was mentioned repeatedly. They are famous for their array of sours and at the time, we were still new to the scene. The Crooked Stave was where I went full on sour! The more tart and fruity, the better! Chase was not a fan but he's slowly joined my side. There is a time and place for sours, which can be said for porters or stouts as well. If you're going to Denver and like sours, don't miss this spot! One of Chase's college friends relocated to Denver so we touched base with her and made sure to have dinner together. I can't quite recall how we settled on The Source (a market/dining hall, were the Crooked Stave is also located) but we did and Acorn was the restaurant of choice. It was scrumptious and had a good variety of small plates. We took zero pictures together because we're lame but it was a wonderful night with dear friends! Our final place on Sunday Funday was a speakeasy and one of the best 50 bars in the world: Williams & Graham. I'm not going to post any more photos other than the ones above because this place needs to be experienced in person. A Prohibition era bar that has continued the tradition, it requires guests to have previous knowledge of it's existence before you can enter. We obtained reservations, was given a code word, and was let in through a secret passage. So fun, so good, and totally worth a bit of planning in order to go!
Denver is a growing city so I'm sure there are so many new and wonderful places that have opened since we visited last summer. If you have a favorite or happen to love one of the places we mentioned, let us know in the comments! Until Next Time, C+D
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