Denver has become a heavenly place for beer lovers

Author: By Diego Ribadeneira, Globe Staff

Date: SUNDAY, August 10, 1997

Page: M6

Section: Travel

Coors may be the big boy in town, but in this city of beer aficionados, many connoisseurs turn their noses up at the hometown brew.

Coors, located in Golden, just west of Denver, is the world's largest brewery, producing more than 17 million barrels of beer annually.

But what has made the Mile High City a beer lover's paradise is the tremendous explosion of microbreweries. On any given day, more than 100 beers are made and sold only in Colorado from lighter amber ales to heavier stouts.

There is something to please every beer palate.

For the neophytes, the technical definition of a brewpub is a restaurant that makes 15,000 barrels or less of beer a year. In most cases, a brewpub does not bottle its beer. If it does, then it becomes a microbrewery.

Denver boasts the Wynkoop Brewing Co., the world's largest brewpub, located a long home run from Coors Field in the city's trendy LoDo section. A cavernous joint, which also boasts a comedy club and an upscale pool hall, the Wynkoop serves up Railyard Ale, an Octoberfest-style ale; Light Rail, an English-style ale; and Wilderness Wheat, a traditional German summer ale. Wynkoop offers tours on Saturdays between 1 and 5 p.m. so you can look behind the scenes at how beer is made.

LoDo is ground zero for handcrafted beers, with several dozen beers made daily at various brewpubs and microbreweries. Aside from the Wynkoop, some of the other brewpubs in LoDo or a short walk away are the Rock Bottom Brewery, Champion Brewery, Breckenridge Brewery, The Denver Chop House, which also is a steak house, and Sandlot Brewing Co. inside Coors Field, the only brewpub located inside a baseball stadium. Rock Bottom Brewery will give you a tour upon request.

The obvious question is: Why Denver? Easy. Good water is crucial for good beer. And Colorado is blessed with pure mountain water flowing down from the Rocky Mountains.

Given Denver's claim to brew fame, it's not surprising then that it has been host for the last 16 years to the Great American Beer Festival, the nation's largest beer extravaganza. It's a must for true beer lovers. This year's ``Super Bowl'' of Beer will be held Oct. 2-4.

Even if you're not a big beer fan, you should at least sample a taste of the libation that has turned Colorado, as the local visitors's bureau proudly boasts, into the ``Napa Valley'' of beer.

Wynkoop Brewing Co., 1634 18th St.; telephone (303) 297-2700.

Rock Bottom Brewery, 1001 16th St.; telephone (303) 534-7616.