Denver Beer Vacation: Celebrate GABF outside of GABF

Even though you may not have tickets to a session of GABF, during GABF week in Denver there is so much going on with special tappings all over town that you can have an amazing time trying new beers from all over the US without even stepping into the convention center. Here’s a look at some of the hubs for outside GABF activities to check out.

You can also consider this a list of places to sample a huge variety of beers from different breweries with their many taps in the downtown Denver area, whether GABF is happening or not. Perhaps you are on a Denver beer vacation and want to only stop at one or a few places where you can get a big buffet of beer options all in one sitting? Then this is your list.
Snifter of Avery beer

Tap Takeovers at World of Beer

World of Beer is a franchise with three locations in Colorado and one in Renton, Washington. Even without the special tap takeover when we visited, World of Beer offers 500+ beers. You read that right, more than 500 beers!
The tap handles during the Avery Tap Takeover at World of Beer, Lodo The tap handles during the Avery Tap Takeover at World of Beer, Lodo

And, they open from lunch until evening, so you don’t have to necessarily wait until after work when most bars open – great if you’re say, on vacation like I was. The beer menu is well organized into styles with helpful descriptions to help you make sense of their selection.
Avery Tap Takeover during GABF at World Beer, Lodo location on 1555 Blake Street Avery Tap Takeover during GABF at World Beer, Lodo location on 1555 Blake Street

The 500 beers includes bottles and drafts, and I focused mostly on the drafts.
Chalkboard menu during the Avery Tap Takeover at World of Beer, Lodo

In particular, during my visit there was an Avery Brewing tap takeover with almost all of its year-round and seasonal beer. I loved the Avery Tectum Et Elix Barrel Aged #26, a funky American Wild with earthy flavors soured with Pediococcus and aged in cabernet barrels for 9 months, and the Avery Uncle Jacob’s Stout, an Imperial Stout at 17.4% but so smooth.
Avery Tectum Et Elix Barrel Aged #26, a funky American Wild with earthy flavors soured with Pediococcus and aged in cabernet barrels for 9 months Avery Uncle Jacob's Stout, an Imperial Stout at 17.4%

Also available at World of Lodo on our visit was Utah’s Wasatch Brewing with brewers and swag for their annual Polygamy Party and some beers from Coronado Brewing and Cigar City.
Wasatch Brewery from Utah was also present with swag and brewers to promote their beer Wasatch Brewery from Utah was also present with swag and brewers to promote their beer

World of Beer also offers tavern food, with a dozen some appetizers, flatbreads, salads, burgers and sandwiches. One of the recommended starters is their German Pretzel, they have a cool way of presenting their giant Bavarian pretzel served with housemade mustard and for a little extra, housemade beer cheese sauce. That’s a regular snifter glass for size comparison there in the photo. I didn’t have room for dessert, but was tempted by their beer infused Belgian Waffle S’mores with toasted marshmallow, graham cracker crumbles and Kahlúa fudge sauce.
The impressively sized pretzel with cheese and mustard is served on hanging to better show fof it's size at World of Beer, Lodo

World of Beer offers happy hour as well as “Beerunch” – that’s right, a beer brunch that includes breakfast and unlimited bloody mary, mimosa, and beermosa bottomless booze brunch special (with food item), and a build your own bloody station. On their menu besides beer, they also had some interesting shots: Cinnamon Toast Crunch with Fireball and Rumchata, Irish Breakfast with Jameson, Butterscotch Schnapps and OJ, Baby Guinness with Patron XO and Bailey’s Irish Cream, and Duck Fart with Crown Royal, Bailey’s Irish Cream and Kahlua… and more
Some of the Shots available - Cinnamon Toast Crunch with Fireball and Rumchata, Irish Breakfast with Jameson, Butterscotch Schnapps and OJ, Baby Guinness with Patron XO and Bailey's Irish Cream, and Duck Fart with Crown Royal, Bailey's Irish Cream and Kahlua... and more

So if you are looking for a great variety of craft beer with food, and maybe also a bunch of TVs available to watch a game, World of Beer is a viable option that can satisfy many tastes of beer and food with a big selection.
Various collected tap handles Poetry: Roses are red, Beer is good, Poems are hard BEER
World of Beer Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Tap Takeovers at Freshcraft

Freshcraft, only half a block away in Lodo, offers only 28 taps but the food menu here is more refined, focused specifically on pairing well with beer. Serving lunch and dinner, dishes here sound tasty like a Deviled Pork Belly Wrap with spicy pork belly confit with apples, cabbage, carrots, scallions, jack cheese, and a red wine mustard BBQ sauce; or consider a Cheese Crusted Iowa Style Fried Pork Tenderloin sandwich at lunch. There is even support for a good option for a vegetarian diet, such as their cocoa marinated crimini mushrooms tacos, or quinoa nicoise with Parmesan-crusted quinoa cakes served with fresh greens, cured egg, marinated olives, green beans, tomatoes, and herbed potatoes. (.
Freshcraft, featuring 28 some taps Freshcraft, featuring 28 some taps

When we visited, their tap takeover I specifically came for was Upslope Brewing Company, where I was able to try special tappings of their beers such as

  • Irish Red Ale- GABF Pro-Am competition Entry
  • Imperial Saison with Merlot Grapes, the Upslope 6th Anniversary Ale
  • Yirgacheffe Coffee Dubel, an Upslope and Dragonfly Roasters collaboration
  • Lychee IPA with Azacca Hops, an Upslope and Half Acre Beer Company collaboration

Freshcraft, featuring 28 some taps and tap takeovers each night. On Wednesday September 23 the featured brewery was UpSlope Freshcraft, featuring 28 some taps and tap takeovers each night. On Saturday September 23 the featured brewery was Odell Brewing and Firestone Walker
Freshcraft Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Falling Rock Tap House

The biggest beer party of GABF, besides GABF itself, it always Falling Rock Tap House. With 92 taps & over 300 bottled selections plus an extensive Vintage Beer Cellar, Falling Rock has basically been serving as the UnOfficial Headquarters for GABF and are open the latest (2AM!) of the options I’ve listed here. The taps are about 40% Colorado Beers, but also include a great selection of beers from the rest of the US as well as from the World.
Falling Rock Tap House - additional taps are added outside in their parking lot for special tappings multiple times daily during GABF week Falling Rock Tap House - besides the taps inside, additional taps are added outside in their parking lot for special tappings multiple times daily during GABF week

During GABF they expand to their parking lot to have beer trailers in order to offer even more beers, and at in the afternoons through late evenings go through 5 or 10 changing of the kegs to feature other breweries on their taps inside or outside. For instance, on the day we visited they had cycled through Oskar Blues beers at 4 PM; Ballast Point at 9 PM; Shelton Brothers-distributed brews at 9:30 PM; the Verboten/Hoppin’ Frog collab beers at 10 PM; Wicked Week, Cascade, Fremont, Two Roads and Crooked Stave at 10:30 PM; and Trinity beers at 11 p.m.

The parking lot during GABF was cash only, but could truly rightfully claim that “Our Trailer Park has better Beer than your Trailer Park! :-)” with options such as Jolly Pumpkin La Parcela, Mikkeller Double Blueberry, Trois Dames Framboos Saison, Lord Hobo Boom Sauce, and more on the first night we visited.
Falling Rock Tap House - additional taps are added outside in their parking lot for special tappings multiple times daily during GABF week Falling Rock Tap House - additional taps are added outside in their parking lot for special tappings multiple times daily during GABF week

The feel of Falling Rock is a bit like a frat house in that you can probably expect lots of guys drinking lots of beer, but without the immaturity. But, yes, it’s dark woods and the floors are a little sticky. There’s food offered though it’s nothing beyond the normal – you are really here for the beer and in many cases to meet all the fellow beer lovers and brewers who all will be hanging here.
Many, many bottles and tap handles displayed along all the walls of Falling Rock Taphouse Many, many bottles and tap handles displayed along all the walls of Falling Rock Taphouse

They do at least clearly label the bathroom to help everyone out.
Signage to assist you in finding the restroom at Falling Rock Taphouse Signage to assist you in finding the restroom at Falling Rock Taphouse
Falling Rock Tap House Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

All three of these locations are very walkable – only all within 1/2 a mile of each other, and within a mile of the Colorado Convention Center where GABF is held. For my thoughts on my GABF 2015 experience, see my previous post here. I also covered enjoying beer within Denver and visiting breweries outside Denver by Longmont and Boulder.

Other ways to keep on top of the many many beer events in Denver is to check out a month or so before GABF the First Drafts beer blog at the Denver Post or calendar/listing at Westword, a Denver event listing publication.

Overall, it was a fun trip to have the biggest beercation ever for GABF week, and supporting and celebrating Craft Beer. Even with all the various stops I had there were always unique new beer flavors to enjoy among so many styles. Of all the places I’ve visited so far, Denver is the closest to Portland in it’s broad and deep beer scene offerings and having destinations within reasonable distances to each other to go on a beer sampling trip, beating Austin in beer quality and San Diego in how easy it is to visit.

I’ll still pick Portland as the winningest beercation city in the US though. 🙂

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Visiting Denver for Beer Vacation / Beercation and GABF in September 2015

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