Something I Like About Each of the 15 Breweries Within a Mile of My House

I believe that breweries are one of the great civic spaces in our communities. Often locally owned, they bring us together for trivia night, entertain us with stand-up comedy, keep us fed on a steady diet of food trucks, and serve us beer that they made themselves on the premises.

Obviously outside the neighborhood we are huge fans of Little Machine Beer and their perfect patio, consistently great beer, and Kelly-design-consulted interior including a badass circular bar, but I also like something about every single brewery that is contributing to our vibrant neighborhood.

Here’s what I like about them:

1. River North Brewery - .1 miles away

My favorite thing about this brewery is that as I’m writing this in our courtyard, I can look up and see it. When I trek the half a block to get there, I know that waiting for me are epic barrel-aged beers that will be poured into my fancy “Norther Society” member glassware, and Moya’s Tacos, some of my absolute favorite tacos in town. There are many stretches where I eat these tacos on a weekly basis, and I love them so much that I contributed to a Go Fund Me to keep them as close to my house as possible.

2. 14er Brewing + Beer Garden - .2 miles away

This place has a great Marzen in the fall and an outstanding patio all the time. Look, here’s me playing a show on it for proof:

That was a long time ago when it was a different brewery, but the patio is still great, and also they finished building that apartment behind us in the picture and it looks like this now, which is cool:

3. Great Divide Barrel Bar - .3 miles away

Yeti Imperial Stout is one of the all-time great beers of Colorado, and this location usually has many unique variations on tap—currently those variations include Peanut Butter Yeti, a good one.

From a nerdy perspective, Russian Imperial Stout was one of the first craft beer styles I really liked because of the history of how it was created. In the 17th and 18th centuries, efforts to get Russia’s Peter the Great and Catherine the Great dark English beers that they had developed a taste for failed because the beer would spoil during the long shipments, so people started brewing it extra bitter and extra high in alcohol (and I would say extra delicious) so it could sustain the trip, and eventually that grew into its own distinct style. Hooray science!

4. Dewey Beer Colorado - .3 miles

This Delaware-based brewery just opened an outpost here, and thanks to their Secret Machine beer Kelly has declared this the summer of FRUIT BEER FRIDAYS. With flavor variations like Citrus Island and Pontoon Punch, Kel has described this fruit beer as “good ass juice.” Throw in summer-Friday oysters from Oyster Wulff and it’ s like being on a dusty concrete beach, but in the best way.

5. Odell Brewing Five Points Brewhouse - .3 miles away

The second-floor lounge here is easily one of my favorite spots in town. Comfy leather chairs, brick walls, and rotating art make an afternoon working beer in this oasis a special treat:

We have a reminder of it in our house, as it’s where we found this vibrant piece of art from Lesley, a great artist and a really nice person who works at brewery #7 on this list:

6. Black Shirt Brewing Co and Craft Kitchen - .4 miles away

Pizza. This one is simple—they have good pizza. If we want pizza and beer and we’ve been to the Walnut Room recently, we go here and have it on their patio / very cool stage area. Pizza is a wonderful thing.

7. Ratio Beerworks - .4 miles away

This place does a fantastic job keeping the neighborhood entertained. Their beer list is high-quality with something for everyone so it is great for groups, and there’s constantly something going on. Every single Wednesday they put on a free comedy show that brings it. I’ve seen Laura Jane Grace of the band Against Me! there playing live, as well as Lucero, plus Shakesbeer (drunk Shakespeare, which is quite fun) and Lucha Libre & Laughs, two of my favorite shows in town.

They’ve become a neighborhood institution, which Kel & I would know because we are so old we’ve been going to this building for parties since even before it was Mile High Spirits before it became Ratio.

See, here’s young Kelly at the Not Wedding party when it was just an empty warehouse:

8. Bierstadt Lagerhaus - .4 miles away

Another neighborhood-maker, the space here is like a fun house for adults, with events like amateur wrestling in the parking lot and games like volleyball beer pong. Even with all of that, the best thing here is the beer.

For me, that means the Dunkel in a big stein, and a cheers to local trivia hosting legend Quizmaster Johnny, whom I spent many nights here listening to as he turned each pub quiz into a mesmerizing gonzo solo performance.

Owners Ashley and Bill are always around the neighborhood because they live here, and that’s bonus points to me.

9. Blue Moon Brewing Company RiNo - .5 miles away

When this place moved into the neighborhood they organized a cleanup / mural painting day and Kel and I participated. Since then it’s been really cool to drive by that mural and for Kelly to say, “I painted that” and a little less cool for me to say, “I taped plastic down to make sure that no paint splattered on that sidewalk.”

This place is a great place for parties or a group dinner where you can sit inside huge concrete pipes, and they have a huge beer list with lots of options.

10. Our Mutual Friend - .5 miles away

Next door is the sublime Pit Fiend Barbecue, so I go and order BBQ, then I take it over and order a beer, then I experience nirvana for five or ten minutes.

Their mural rocks as well—it is two people shaking hands and it’s developed and changed over time in a really cool way:

11. BrewDog Denver - .6 miles away

OK, I lied slightly. I haven’t been here yet, they just opened. So I like the sense of anticipation, but I’ll have to report back on what I like about this place specifically. Welcome to the neighborhood!

12. Spangalang Brewery - .8 miles away

I have played a lot of trivia at this place over the years, which means I have lost A LOT to the Chicken Finger Mafia, a couple who live only to be very nice people and to kick my ass at knowing things. What I like best about this place are those precious few times that the Tequila Babies emerged victorious over the two (actually really nice) villains who comprise the Chicken Finger Mafia.

13. Left Hand RiNo Drinks and Eats - .8 miles away

Over by the excellent Mission Ballroom, this Left Hand location always has multiple nitro taps since they are pioneers in nitro beer technology. The nitro experience is usually limited to Guinness, not local microbrews, so this is a very special thing that I’m glad I have near me.

14. Great Divide Brewing Company - 1 mile away

Yes, you read that right, there are two Great Divide locations within a mile of my house. In the brewery-density context of this article, I see nothing wrong with that.

This one is my go-to location for pre-Rockies games. I’ll head over, grab a Hoss if it’s in season or a Yeti if not, and cheers to my pipe dream of the Monfort family, owners of the Colorado Rockies, selling the team to someone who doesn’t object to spending money in order to field a quality baseball team.

15. Cohesion Brewing - 1 mile away

Because of their elegant tap room, traditional Czech beers and pouring styles, and location at the edge of our mile radius, this was my favorite brewery to bike to. Someone stole my bike last month, but on the bright side I can still scooter here, and luckily there are one or two places within walking distance …

Wanna grab a beer? jed@kindandfunny.com.