Colorado, Craft Beer and The Great American Beer Festival

When most people think of Colorado, they instantly think of  The Rocky Mountains,  John Denver, skiing and everything outdoors. What most people do not think of is Colorado and it’s more than solid craft beer scene. In fact, Colorado is one of the best states for craft beer, as it is very tourist friendly, high concentration of restaurants with good beer and the scenery can’t be beat.

In fact, the Colorado Tourism Office states that “If you like beer, you’ll love Colorado. Colorado has more breweries per capita than any other state in the U.S. And, we’ve been brewing beer since the 1800s. In addition to major breweries, Colorado also has one of the largest concentrations of microbreweries (producing specialty beers in smaller quantities) in the nation, with more than 100 located throughout the state. Most of the breweries offer tours of their facilities as well as beer tastings. The Great American Beer Festival, the largest domestic beer festival in the United States is held each year in Denver.”

Colorado even has a Chief Beer officer, Scott Kerkmans of the Four Points by Sheraton hotel chain. Scott has even called Colorado the ‘Napa Valley of Beer’.

With good reason too. Denver it’s self produces more beer per capita than anywhere in the U.S. and second in the number of breweries it has. More than a hundred breweries grace the beauty of Colorado.  From Oskar Blues in Lyons, to New Belgium in Ft. Collins, to Ska Brewing in Durango and that’s literally just scratching the surface.

Now the nice thing is that every part of this great land has a different vibe to it and that extends to craft beer. Portland and San Diego for example of epic craft beer scenes and put out some of the most amazing stuff you’ll ever try. For me, Colorado is and always will be home, so maybe I am a little biased in my love for Colorado craft beer. I may have good reason though.

Growing up, the joke was always that there was a 7-Eleven on every corner. These days, especially in Denver, there seems to be a craft beer bar or brewpub on every corner. On my iPhone, I have an app appropriately title ‘BeerTour CO’. Let me tell you, it has come in handy on many occasions. When I pull up the app, a map is displayed with every brewery and brewpub in the state. It’s amazing, it looks like New York City lit up at Night.

I’ve had the opportunity every time I head home to Colorado to drive around and visit many of these fine breweries. One of my favorite places is the Grand lake Brewing Co in Grand Lake, Co. Located smack dab in the Rocky Mountains, at 8,369 it is the highest packaging microbrewery in the United States.

Even the great Charlie Papazian, founder of the American Homebrewers Association and the Brewers Association, is from Colorado. In fact, the largest beer festival in the United States is in Denver each September, The Great American Beer Festival. More to come on that.