Final Denver Thoughts

I missed this--last week, Charlie Papazian took exception to a NY Times piece: "In the story it speculates reasons why people aren’t partying up to expectations. Beer is never once mentioned."

Gee, I wonder why? Papazian inadvertently supplies the reason no one was talking about beer:

If Democratic National Convention attendees really wanted to socialize and celebrate responsibly, they should come back to see what celebrating good things can be like - the 27th Annual Great American Beer Festival, October 9-11.

Denver turns into Beer City for one magnificent week of celebrating the good things about beer with fun, social gatherings, food, more beer, celebrity beer tastings and much more beer. Besides all the offsite celebrating there’s the actual 3-day event taking place at the Colorado Convention Center.

The point I was trying to make during my visit there--and yes, I did a crappy job of exploration, and yes, I failed to visit even one brewpub--is just this: if you're the so-called "Napa of Beer," shouldn't it be Beer City for more than just one week? Hmmm....

Confessions

1. I did not make it to a Denver pub. I am old and slow and I need my sleep. Hadda get out to Far Auroria each night, which cut down even further on bar-hopping.

2. I did, however, manage to wander into the exclusive Executive Club at Mile High (Invesco) Stadium. I slipped in because I had a floor pass--the highest security clearance for the event, but certainly not Executive Club exclusivity. I wandered in with my Boston hat on and shorts, and because they are used to being obsequious, no one stopped me. Nowhere else in the building was booze available, but that was pretty much all that was available in the Mile High Lounge, or whatever they were calling it. The first bank of taps were all A-B, the second all Coors, and the two nice ones in the middle had the following taps, which I photographed, for your amusement. Let the commentary begin!

Free Skinny Dip

Here in the Big Tent, the nerve center of blogger activity, they serve New Belgium for free. Much as you can inhale.

Pro: Free.
Con: New Belgium
Pro: Free
Con: Days have been extremely hot.
Pro: Today it's in the 70s; free.

So I just got a half-glass of Skinny Dip, just to see if it was as "eh" as I remember. It is. But still!: free. Bloggers, you know, can't be choosers. I may skip the conventionn tonight and let a co-blogger take my credential. In that case, I'll definitely go pub-hopping.

Denver: Not Beervana

I am having precious little time to make it to pubs, but I have been shuttled nightly to various bars where parties are being held. The last two nights, I was at a jazz club one night and a kind of chic upscale place the other night. These are roughly equivalent to places you'd find in the pearl. I wouldn't expect them to have a good or large beer selection, but I'd be shocked if I didn't see a couple-four micros on tap. I don't haunt the Pearl, but that's my sense. And a jazz bar--definitely.

But both these places had NO draft beer. Zippo. They offered some bottled beer: macros of an assortment I failed to note, Stella, Flat Tire. In the first, they had Blue Moon, which I ordered, in the second Sam Adams. I like Sam Adams, so that was fine, but I was really shocked--how could it be so sparse?

If you can't get a draft micro downtown in Denver, I think that speaks for itself.

Obama Beer

I was at a reception last night featuring a special beer (served, oddly, in 22-oz bottles): Obama Ale. Brewed by Half Moon Bay Brewing in ... California. Very odd. The label description reads "a golden colored ale brewed with European malt and hops. Lager-like flavor and a light, clean aftertaste."

Wrong. It is a Belgian pale hopped with Saaz. I confirmed this later when the brewery owner or brewer came by handing out campaign-like buttons promoting the beer. (Also, it appears there's a McCain Ale, too). It was a nice beer-soft on the palate, spicy with Saaz. Only 4.8%, which is a nice beer for an event with an open bar. People were squirreling away bottles as collectors items--me included.

(On the issue of beer culture, I think this is illustrative. The label in this case used nomenclature designed to appeal to a somewhat less-educated public. In Oregon, you'd call a Belgian-style beer a Belgian.)