I have no problem admitting that Merideth and I are Europhiles. Yesterday, when we were on a bus shuttle at LAX, we saw a Swiss Air plane taxiing to depart. I immediately turned to Merideth and commented how it would be nice to headed to the Swiss Alps. Two minutes later, we saw the Aer Lingus flight take off for Dublin. I immediately mused that it would be nice to be heading to Dublin. But we weren’t going to our beloved Europe, rather Colorado. But, I have to admit, Colorado is a pretty nice destination to visit especially if you like beer.
We were on I-70 early heading west early this morning as we had a beer agenda; four breweries to visit on our way to Frisco. Luckily, we were on the move early enough to be able to take a detour off the highway to visit Buffalo Bill’s grave which is perched atop Lookout Mountain. Not a planned stop, I got enticed by one of those signs along the highway. The bonus was that you could see the Coors brewery in Golden from the vantage point.
Our first ‘real’ stop was Tommyknocker Brewery in Idaho Springs, a short drive outside of Denver. A quaint little town, Idaho Springs was where the Colorado gold rush began, so everything about the town and brewery is mining. A “Tommyknocker” is a mine fairy and they can be either mischievous or friendly.
We enjoyed a 11 beer sampler at the bar. The highlights we could agree on were the Alpine Glacier Lager and the Maple Nut Brown Ale. The Maple Nut Brown had a really subtle maple flavor that made it the perfect breakfast beer; pancakes and Maple Nut Brown Ale might be the ultimate breakfast that we have never had.
I also enjoyed the Rye Porter and Bitter Brewer, a Tommyknocker seasonal.
Then it was on to Dillon where our day took a disappointing twist. The plan was to go to Dillon Dam Brewery, but they were closed today and tomorrow for “repairs”. This begs two questions. One, why would they close the two days before GABF when thousands of beer geeks arrived several days early to check out the Colorado beer scene. And more importantly, didn’t they read our blog and see that we were coming??????
Being the professionals we are, we quickly recovered as our final destination, Frisco, was only a few more miles. We quenched our thirst at Backcountry Brewing, elevation 9,097 feet.
I actually had some concern about the elevation as I don’t do well in the higher elevations. Several times at 11,000 feet, I have had anxiety attacks and the only cure was going down. But I must have found a new cure, beer!
At Backcountry, we had a seven beer sampler, the highlight being the Telemark IPA and another breakfast beer aptly titled Breakfast Stout. If there was ever a Stout that could be a a substitute for your morning coffee, this was it.
After two breweries, it was time for some exercise. We decided to walk back to Dillon along the reservoir trail and finish our day at Dillon’s other, and hopefully open, brewpub.
It was a two hour walk so we had developed quite a thirst by the time we found Pug Ryan’s. The highlight beers were the multiple GABF medal winning Pilsner (Silver 2007, Gold 2005) and the brewer’s first ever attempt at a Saison. It was pretty darn good for a first time out.
Now for the meaning of the blog title… After some food and a game of scrabble, the plan was to take a taxi back to our hotel. Much to our shock, they don’t have taxis in the area and we were not looking forward to a two hour walk back to Frisco in the dark. After much scrambling to figure out what to do, they ended up offering to give us a ride back to our hotel. A huge thank you to the bartender Chris for dropping us off at our hotel. Now that is customer service. If you are ever even remotely close to Dillon, Colorado, be sure to give Pug Ryan’s your business. Any business willing to go that far for a customer deserves as much business as possible.
“Oktoberfest” is the latest Year in Beer episode of One Pint at a Time.
The Year in Beer visits Colorado in October for our first-ever visit to the pinnacle of American beer events, the Great American Beer Festival. The 27th annual edition is a three day event featuring 400 breweries and 1,800 beers.
Our first day in Colorado will take us across the continental divide to the western slope, completely virgin territory for us. Our list for the western slope includes:
With hopefully nine new breweries on our list, it is back to Denver for the Great American Beer Festival. At this point, I would usually give some insight on our expectations but as I said, this is our first time. I have an inkling we will be drinking beer – one ounce at a time – and that we will know a bunch of people.
Sunday was the second day of Oktoberfest and we returned to the Theresienwiese under sunnier skies. Armed with a list of things we needed to shoot, we searched out the proper locations.
Moving on, we mistakenly went to the Lowenbrau Festhalle. I say mistakenly because we didn’t realize that the place was crawling with Aussies. I don’t mean to disparage a whole nation of people but twenty-something Aussies at Oktoberfest should be avoided. Drunken, loud and obnoxious, the main problem is that they travel in tour groups. So there are not just a few of them at your tent; there are hundreds.
Merideth mentioned her desire to go on some of carnival rides and in our new friends she found two willing accomplices. The three of them ended up on two different puke-inducing rides.
Our day began with the Grand Entry of the Oktoberfest Landlords and Breweries… a parade. Each of the six Munich breweries plus the landlord of each tent is represented in the procession that begins in central Munich and ends up at the Theresienwiese, the site of Oktoberfest. There were also bands, a couple of clowns and plenty of horse poop. The only thing missing was the Shriners in their little cars. As the last few paraders were passing, we joined the masses streaming towards the festival grounds.
Next came the hard part, finding a seat. A seat is key, for without one you cannot get a beer. So, Merideth and I started trolling each tent outside and in (if we could get in) for a place to sit. This task on opening day can be somewhat time consuming and frustrating. You scan the sections of open spots and ask if you can sit there. Most of the time, the answer is no. And yesterday, adding to our frustration, was the fact that we had an agenda for filming; we needed footage.
While on our quest, I actually got recognized. A German who I had talked to at the Bergkirchweih this past May saw me and came up to say ‘Hi’. Considering the number of people who were there yesterday, the fact that he saw and recognized me was amazing… unfortunately, he didn’t have a seat for us.
In fact, we were having so much fun that the manager came over and talked to the Italians and the Germans at the next table. Roughly translated, she said that the non-stop toasting behavior needed to wait another five hours to be appropriate. Those orderly Germans!
After three hours of fun and 4 liters between us, we called it a day. Though we will most likely never see them again, we had a great time with our Oktoberfest friends. I think it backs up what we say about Oktoberfest. It might be hard work… it might be frustrating… it is a test… but the payoff is worth it.