A week ago I left for Denver and it was a whirlwind; honestly, I wouldn’t want it any other way. I tasted 34 unique craft brews, entered my first real speakeasy, ate donuts/pastries (more than my entire last year combined), walked unknown miles, and made the fastest, steepest ascent of my life to reach the musical majesty that is Red Rocks amphitheater to bask in the energy of the best concert (music + environment + Rockie Mountain air = epic ) experience I have ever had. And all in less than 48 hours 🙂
It all started with an idea of creating a bucket list and slowly finding friends who wanted to adventure with me. I have worked with Angela at Wooden Legs Brewing Company for 2 years. This was our first trip together, but I can see more in our future. Our love of craft beer brought us together and our sense of adventure will keep us wandering. We decided 6 months ago to make Red Rocks happen and it did.
The first Denver beer was inside the airport at Boulder Beer Tap House. I can’t say it was much to write home about, but it was the first Colorado beer in Colorado.
We started our brewery tour at Union Station where we met up with a friend of mine and one of her Denver friends.
Totally unlike me, I forgot to grab the map I had created of LoDo and the breweries and sites of interest I had looked into. Luckily, my friend brought a local and she guided us into an awesome evening.
The first brewery stop was Wynkoop Brewing.
From Wynkoop we walked past Coors Field to Breckenridge Brewing.
Our next stop was a short walk to Great Divide Brewing for a Yeti sighting. $1 samples and a selection of flights! We ordered almost everything to try as a group.
From Great Divide, we walked to a cool little joint called First Draft. You start a tab and get an electronic card, choose the beer you want to try, tap your card on the screen and start pouring. You can sample up to 40 brews with your card keeping track of price per ounce on each pour. I personally loved it and tried quite a bit for under $10.
From here I had my first Uber experience. Forrest was a really nice guy putting up with four tipsy, giggly women. We headed to a Jazz club to end the evening, however, after a little Jazz we were on the hunt of one of the elusive speakeasies in the area. Our hunt took us to Historic Larimer Square amidst a canopy of lights in search of Green Russell. We found it down some stairs near a courtyard.
Phones aren’t allowed to be used inside (unless you go to the phone booth) so we took a quick shot in the ‘diner’ waiting area. It was dark, quiet, and lovely inside. The cocktails were top notch and by goodness order their pie!!
It was a sweet end to night one 🙂
~Cakes
earthcakes & cupquakes 