Denver: Botanics, Breweries, Books, and Unicorns!
Can I start by telling you that three years ago, I would not have been stepping foot in a brewery? It’ll be hard to imagine, especially because we literally plan most of our trips around beer now. But prior to meeting Matt and him convincing me to try different beers, I thought all beer was disgusting and tasted bitter and gross. Also, the only words I had to describe the bitter, grossness was hoppy.
I’ve come a long way folks. I started with sour beers, and now I’ve made my way to double and triple IPAs. It’s a literal beer miracle — a beeracle.
But back to Denver!
Please note that this trip was pre-COVID, very pre-COVID. We visited in June of 2019 and this is just a recap of one of my favorite trips.
The Denver Botanic Garden: Green, Flowers, Pretty!
If you can, visit the Denver Botanic Gardens while you’re in Denver, please do so. It’s beautiful, and you will want to bookmark a good portion of your day to explore. I picked out a few of my favorites but know that there are hundreds more where these pictures came from.
Denver by Breweries
So on to the beer — and cider, we had that too.
Crooked Stave - RiNo Taproom (Now Closed)
As I mentioned, I started my beer adventures with sour beers, and Matt happens to love them as well. So our first stop was at Crooked Stave’s taproom in the RiNo District of Denver. It was an odd taproom, housed in an office complex almost. Since then, they’ve closed that taproom.
The beers were great — and we had a beer slushy. We enjoyed the Colorado Reserva Sour line the best. Both the plum and sour cherry were delicious, puckering, and everything I love in a sour beer.
This was actually my second time at Stem Ciders, and I loved it just as much as the first time. It’s a smaller space, so finding a spot to sit was a challenge. We eventually just stood around until a group of people left and then grabbed a seat — we’ve all been there.
The pear cider is a standout for me!
We didn’t know what to expect with Little Machine Beer, but it was a pretty neat space. We were there during the week, in the middle of the day so it wasn’t too packed. It had a good amount of space and some outdoor seating as well.
I love guava beers — it’s the Jamaican in me that loves everything guava. So the Son of the Guava was highly rated. Razz Against the Machine was also good.
We drew some cute robots. At least mine was cute (she has knee caps, not sure about Matt’s).
Baere Brewing Co. is tucked into a strip mall. We had to stop for coffee first because I was starting to drag a little. By this point, we had a few beers — and did I mention a margarita flight? Yes, a margarita flight. (Stop at Blue Agave Grill if you’re in Denver and get a margarita flight!)
In any case, the beers were good. The space was fairly empty since it was a workday. We spent most of our time playing Guess Who.
Black Project Spontaneous & Wild Ales
This was one of my favorite “spontaneous” finds in Denver. We were looking for a final brewery to wrap up with and came across this one. It’s on a busy street in Denver and was empty when we arrived — but again, weekday.
The beers were definitely pucker worthy. They use a coolship, which I think is cool. This was the first time I had ever heard of coolships. We would later learn that Wicked Weed was also doing something similar on our trip to Asheville. We got a tour of their space and saw the coolship.
So the beers were great, definitely tingled my sour tastebuds. I learned something new about brewing, which to be fair, is not difficult. But also, the decor was amazing. I wanted to move in.
Other Fun Stops in Denver
I love books and bookstores. So while in Denver, we had to stop at Tattered Cover. We bought books — as I am prone to do. I try to limit it when I travel, only because I don’t have that much room in my suitcase usually.
The Feels…
They also had this very cool wishing tree, on which I left this message.
We also visited a bakery called Sugar Bakeshop with the cutest decor. 10 out of 10 would recommend a visit.
And I will leave you with this parting shot of a blow up Unicorn.
I Found a Large Unicorn!
I love unicorns.
