Denver Trip

My wife and I are planning a trip for our 1st anniversary and I think we are set on going to Colorado for a week in September. We want to spend half our time in the Denver area and half our time west of Denver somewhere in the mountains. We figured we would stay somewhere centrally located in Denver but we have never been before and are not sure of the best areas. For the 2nd half of the trip we are looking at staying somewhere near Breckenridge or Keystone as we do not want to drive too far west. I have looked at the Denver places map so I have a general idea of the best places to hit, but we arent just going to breweries/bars. Any suggestions on places to stay or see would be greatly appreciated.

For ease of access to good places to visit (beer related and otherwise), you probably want to look at LoDo, the Highlands, Capitol Hill, or maybe Wash(ington) Park. All are close to downtown if you want to hit museums, sporting events, etc. that downtown has to offer and all fairly central. There are several neighborhoods in the Highlands (Lower Highlands, West, Berkley, Sunnyside) that all have walkable business districts with shops, bars, restaurants. As far as beer scene goes, I’m in the West Highlands, and walking distance to Hops and Pie (some of the best taps in town), and Hogshead Brewing (Ratebeer’s best new brewery in CO in ’13) and Prost, and striking distance to DeSteeg, Diebolt, and a new place Joyride. The Highlands neighborhoods are ~10 minute drive to downtown, or ridable via Denver’s bike share. Great Divide, River North, Denver Beer Co. are all in LoDo/Ballpark neighborhood, as is Falling Rock, Freshcraft, and Euclid Hall, and Crooked Stave isn’t too far either.

The list above is excellent. If you go to Hops & Pie get the IPA Mac n Cheese and the Pork and Apple sandwich. Hogshead makes excellent English-style cask beer.
Downtown, I would add Star Bar...it’s a dive bar, but they have about 15 killer beers on tap at all times. Epic Brewing is also worth a stop, about 20-25 beers on tap.
In the mountains, Keystone is more resort-like (read, not easy to stroll around). Breckenridge has a nice, walkable main street. You might also consider Frisco. More old west feel versus Breckenridge, but smaller. Probably a 20 min drive to Breck from there.

I’m heading to CO later this week for ten days. Traveling around for five, then in Denver for five. Cheers to a fellow traveler! Have my own thread on this forum.

Just made it up to Denver for a long weekend with the wife Labor Day weekend. Our first time since arriving in Colorado. It was a great time. The amount of breweries and taprooms is kind of overwhelming. Definitely need to let my bank account recover a bit before we go back for everything we missed.

And if you’re a cider fan, I definitely recommend hitting up Stem Ciders. It’s right by the Epic taproom.

Oh, and if anyone makes it down to the Springs hit me up. The beer scene is greatly improved from a few years ago.