My childhood friend, Rich, is getting married in a couple weeks, and decided to spend one of his last weekends of freedom in Denver, Colorado with his buddies. I had
one of those trips with terrible flying luck, or as I call it, a trip*, On the way there, I had to wake up 4:30 am,
in order to be delayed an hour at the airport due to a flight attendant calling
in sick. I arrived in Colorado at 10:30 local time,
raring to take a nap.
*My return trip,
Sunday evening, was delayed an hour and twenty minutes before I even got to the
airport. The delay increased to two
hours before I learned to stop looking at the departing flights board. When the plane finally got took off, we had
go around a giant storm adding another 45 minutes to the flight plan. It was
after 2 am when we finally pulled into the gate in Logan.
We
started our inebriation with lunch at Fresh Craft, a pub somewhat similar to
Sunset Grill here in Boston. They had an
almost endless selection of craft beers on tap including a number of local productions. I studied the drink menu closely, and then asked Rich what I should drink, a very effective selection tactic that I and others used repeatedly over the weekend. I ended up with what would be my favorite beer of
the trip, a very sweet Colorado based Left Hand Milk Stout as well as a scrumptious
salad.
After
lunch we went to another bar*, the Wynkoop Brewery, where we played heated
games of foosball, at which we were various degrees of terrible. Having burned almost half a dozen calories off,
we headed to an arcade called 1up. Don't
worry it still had a full bar. 1up had an extensive collection of classic
arcade games taken from the point in our childhoods where things became forever
awesome. As a group we beat the original
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle game, something I'm not sure I ever did as a child. Plus, at 25 cents a credit, it was one our
cheapest entertainment choices of the weekend!
*This may have been a
theme of the trip. Stay tuned!
After a brief respite at the hotel, we went to
see the Rockies play at Coors Field*. We
reserved seats at Mountain Ranch Bar and Grille inside the stadium to have
dinner and ensure the drinking was not interrupted. I had a Helton burger, which seemed fitting. The clubhouse provided for an excellent view
of the game, particularly when seated at the closest table seat the field,
though the dinner atmosphere made it difficult to pay attention. Really the only time our full table noticed the
game was when the Rockies scored their 7th run, earning us free tacos.** We
left the clubhouse in the fifth and went to our seats in the upper deck. Having successfully seen a half inning of
baseball from our actual seats and kicked out the previous occupants, we
decided to make a tour of the park. We
stopped by a stand that was selling game used baseballs and bases. After learning we were Met fans, they brought
out a collection from a recent Mets Rockies series, including a Daniel Murphy
double that was selling for a mere $35.
We also stopped by a Blue Moon Brewery inside the stadium, because well
yeah. The game itself was a long,
sloppy, back and forth affair. I did
get to watch my closer strike out the side to preserve a 10-9 win for Rockies at
about the 3:50 mark, which was a nice sendoff for the night.
*Stadium 14 for me.
**Enthusiasm for this
was dampened after learning that they were from Taco Bell.
Saturday
morning, we began our day at a pub called the British Bulldog. It's main calling card was that it was open
at 10:00 am and had the same name as a wrestler, both major pluses for this crowd. We continued to Cheeky Monk, a Belgian Beer
cafe where each drink came in an unique glass, mine being in a beaker.
Now
that we got our morning drinking out of the way, we went on a Brews Cruise around Denver. We were driven by van to four microbreweries
by our excellent tour guide Brent. The first stop, Breckenridge
Brewery, gave us a tour of the facility, a free glass of beer, six 3.3 ounce
samples as well as a bottle fresh off the line.* Luckily the rest of the stops weren't so
generous as I am not sure I would have made it.
My favorite beer was the
avalanche ale, though I enjoyed everything other than the IPA.
* Unfortunately that couldn't be transported
home. Hope housecleaning enjoys the tip!
The next stop was
Renegade Brewing Company, a brewery that was celebrating the opening of a
second facility,. They gave three
samples including a Belguim Ale called
Golden Shower. Goldberg was infatuated
with the product and inquired about investing in the company. If Renegade was looking for a random, not
entirely sober, co-owner, it was their
lucky day.
The
third destination was Wits End Brewery, a hole in the wall facility in a
shopping center. They had only been in
business for three years and produced and sold all of their beer on site,
producing about three barrels per week. They
did have a collection of graphic novels, including Watchmen, which was a nice
touch. Finally we went to Strange Brewing Company, which was much more crowded
than the previous destinations. There we
had, among other things, a Cherry Stout which was decisively cherry.
Those
of us who survived the afternoon's activities went to dinner at the Buckhorn Exchange
Restaurant, the home of the first beer license ever obtained in Colorado. If you are a vegetarian, you might want to go
ahead and skip this one. If you like to be surrounded by death though,
have I got the spot for you. We had a wide assortment of meats including Rocky Mountain
oysters, bison, buffalo, game hen, ostrich, and elk. I'm sure it was all kosher.
We
decided to try find some less inebriated entertainment Saturday night with
limited success. We stopped by a candy shop which contained all sorts of long
discontinued brands. There two well tattooed female employees gave us
very enthusiastic directions to possible destinations. Now these places weren't anywhere near where
said they were, but that seems besides the point. We ended up spending much of the night
playing pool, a game that makes me look like a world champion foosball
player. Walking back to the hotel we passed
two women who had taken of their shirts and were dancing to Michael Jackson
music on top of their van. They seemed
very happy in their world.
We took
it easy Sunday wandering over to a local park.
We happened to pass a marathon in
progress. Rich was holding a bottle of
water out in from of him, when an older man stopped and gestured emphatically
towards it. Feeling the runner probably needed
more than he did, Rich gave him the bottle, which he promptly gulped most of
down. Goldberg caught up with the
marathon at a different point, and finished the last few miles with them
getting celebratory cheers along the way.
Our
final Denver meal was at Biker Jim's Gourmet Dogs. It had most of the weird meats of the Buckhorn
Exchange, but without the high prices and animal carcasses. I had a Duck Cilantro dog, which was
delicious other than the over-sized generic bun.
Also recommended are the Fried Green Tomatoes and Fried Mac and Cheese Balls,
Denver
was a neat city, clean, well maintained, affordable, highly walkable, with the
snow-capped Rocky Mountains making for an excellent backdrop. There was a seeming endless amount of
breweries, bars, and clubs, though that could have been partially the company I
kept. It reminded me why I would like to try living on the west coast at some
point. Then I waited on line for 20
minutes at Starbucks, and remembered that eastern big city life has its pluses
too.
I
handled the increase it alcohol consumptions just fine*, but I still managed to
twist an ankle, shatter a glass, and smash open my head on a metal bar in the
shower over the course of the weekend.
Maybe sobriety is my problem.
*Thankfully older age
has slowed down my compatriots a bit.
