Denver Brewery Tours: 12 Top Options
Denver brewery tours are the perfect activity for beer lovers! You will find dozens of tours here, but we’ve separated the wheat from the chaff and present you with these best bets.
Two must-see breweries are Coors, maker of Coors Lite and other popular beers, and Wynkoop, the first craft brewpub in Colorado. At Coors, you'll see how beer is mass produced, whereas at Wynkoop, you'll see how beer is carefully handcrafted.
You can book a tour that focuses just on your favorite brewery, or take a tour that visits several breweries where you can try many different samples. You’re sure to find a new favorite wherever you go. Cheers!
Individual Denver Brewery Tours
Coors Brewery Tour
Hours: Thursdays - Mondays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Sundays from noon to 4 p.m. (open everyday June 2 - Aug. 15)
Price: Free
Location: Southeast corner of the visitor parking lot, 13th and Ford Street, Golden, CO 80401
If you're interested in seeing how major-brand beers are made, head to Golden for the Coors Brewery tour. You'll get a behind-the-scenes look at how top-sellers such as Coors Light and Miller Lite are made.
One of the most famous Denver brewery tours, which has been in operation since 1873, takes place in the world's biggest single-site brewery. During the self-guided, 30-minute tour, you'll learn about malting, brewing, and packaging traditional beers. Highlights include the fresh beer room, a refrigerated room where you can taste samples while sitting on ice-cube benches.
Great Divide Brewing Company Tours
Hours: Mondays - Fridays at 3, 4, and 5 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays at 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 p.m.
Price: Free
Locations:
Brewery & Tap Room, 2201 Arapahoe St., Denver, CO 80205
Barrel Bar & Packaging Wonderland, 1812 35th St., Denver, CO 80216
Established in 1994, this award-winning, small-batch brewery makes 16 seasonal and year-round brews.
Both of the Great Divide Brewing Company locations offer a 30-minute tour, but you may want to take the one at The Barrel Bar. This new location has a state-of-the-art packaging facility, canning line, storage, and taproom. You'll also get a glimpse at what the brewery's plans are for its new five-acre space. This is one of my favorite Denver brewery tours!
Wynkoop Brewery Tour
Hours: Tuesdays - Saturdays at 3 and 4 p.m.
Price: Free
Location: 1634 18th St., Denver, CO 80202
If you're a craft-beer aficionado, this is the one of the Denver brewery tours you can't miss. Established in 1988, Wynkoop Brewing Company holds the distinction of being Colorado's first brewpub.
As you tour the historic J.S. Brown Mercantile building, you'll get a look at its vintage, copper-clad, 20-barrel brewing system, which produces more than 40 beers such as porters, ales, meads, lagers, and cask-conditioned beers.
Epic Brewing
Hours: Fridays at 4 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays at 1, 3, and 5 p.m.
Price: Free
Location: 3001 Walnut St. Denver, CO 80205
Craft-beer producer Epic Brewing began in Utah in 2008, then expanded to Denver's downtown RiNo district in 2013. The artisan brewery now produces about 40 varieties, some of which you can see being made during one of their Denver brewery tours.
The RiNo operations support Epic's national distribution, barrel-aged beer program, and their sour beers. During the tour, you'll hear how every batch of the Elevated and Exponential series gets numbered and stamped. While there, visit the Tap Room, which features 25 seasonals and favorites such as Escape to Colorado IPA, RiNo Pale Ale, Mid Mountain Mild, and the Brainless varieties on draft.
Renegade Brewing
Hours: Second and fourth Saturdays of each month 1 - 4 p.m.
Price: $7 includes tour, a keepsake pint glass, and two 10-ounce beers
Location: The Yard, 918 W. First Ave., Denver, CO 80223
In 2011, the award-winning Renegade Brewing Company served up its first pint at its original tap room on Ninth Avenue. In 2014, Renegade expanded to a nearby 15,000-square foot facility where you can get a behind-the-scenes look at its operations.
Here you'll see 60 barrel tanks producing year-round and seasonal artisan brews such as Consilium Pale Ale, Hiatus Cold Coffee-Infused Oatmeal Ale, and Contrarian Imperial Pilsner.
Prost Brewing
Hours: Daily at noon, 2, 4, and 6 p.m.
Price: $8 includes tour and four beer samples
Location: 2540 19th St., Denver, CO 80211
Prost Brewing produces award-winning specialty beers by combining German engineering with American ingenuity. You'll get to see just how it does that during a 30-minute tour of its brewhouse and fermentation room.
During your visit, you'll hear how Prost brings together malted barley, hops, and water to create some of the finest in German beers, including its Pils, Altfränkisches Dunkel Bier, and custom-made seasonals.
Denver Brewery Tours: Guided Tours with Multiple Stops
Denver Brews Cruise
Hours: Mondays - Fridays at 5:30 p.m., Saturdays at 1 and 5:30 p.m.
Price: $55
Location: Red phone box outside Pints Pub, 221 W. 13th Ave., Denver, CO 80204
Are you ready to go cruisin' for a brewsin'? On this fun tour, cruisers head to three of downtown Denver's best craft breweries: Breckenridge Brewery, Strange Brewing Company, and Pints Pub.
At Breckenridge Brewery, you'll learn the science of beer making. While en route to Strange Brewing, your cruise captain will point out some of the city's beer sights. Once at Strange, you'll hear about its unique beer styles. The cruise comes to an end at Pints Pub, which brews and serves up English-style live ales. This is one of the Denver brewery tours that will give you a good education on different local breweries
Denver Craft Brew Tour
Hours: Wednesdays and Fridays at 3 p.m., Saturdays at 1 p.m.
Price: $79 includes four breweries and 10 tastings
Locations
Saturdays: Epic Brewing, 3001 Walnut St., Denver, CO 80205
Wednesdays and Fridays: Our Mutual Friend Brewing, 2810 Larimer St., Denver, CO 80205
There's no place more exciting to discover craft breweries than the recently renovated RiNo district just north of downtown Denver. During your 1.5-mile walk through this booming artistic and entrepreneurial neighborhood, you'll get an authentic and educational experience of craft brewing.
Expert guides will teach you about local beers, beer makers will talk about their innovative brewing methods, and artisans will offer tasty samples of their hand-crafted beverages.
Denver Guided Bike & Brews Tour
Hours: Daily at 1 p.m.
Price: $79 includes equipment, snacks, water bottle, $350 worth of discount coupons
Location: Bicycle Doctor, 860 Broadway, Denver, CO 80203
This four-hour ride through the "Napa Valley of Beer," as Colorado's Front Range has been called, visits some of Denver's finest craft breweries. You can choose from either the Highlands tour or the Ballpark tour.
Highlands tour: You'll explore Denver's LoHi district featuring skyline views, ethnic eateries, and historic architecture. Stops include Ale House at Amato's, Prost, Denver Beer Co., and Avanti.
Ballpark tour: Cycle through historic downtown Denver where you'll see old storefronts and warehouses that now house some of the city's best breweries, including Colorado's first craft brewery — the infamous Wynkoop Brewing Company. Other stops include Jagged Mountain Craft Brewery and Breckenridge Brewery. You'll also get to see the Coors Field ballpark, home of the Colorado Rockies, and the beautifully restored 1914 Union Station.
Denver Microbrew Tour
Hours: Fridays - Saturdays at 3:15 p.m., plus Saturdays at noon
Price: $29 ($33 with keepsake pint glass)
Locations
Breckenridge Colorado Craft, 2220 Blake St., Denver, CO 80205 (Friday 3:15 p.m. and Saturday noon tours)
Rock Bottom Brewery, 1001 16th St. Mall, Denver, CO 80202 (Saturday and Sunday 3:15 p.m. tours)
This guided 1.5-mile walking tour through downtown's Ballpark and LoDo districts stops at four of the city's best-loved breweries: Breckenridge Brewery, Wynkoop Brewing Company, Falling Rock Tap House, and Rock Bottom Brewery. At each brewery, you'll get samples, and at tour's end, you'll get a pint of your favorite.
During this two-hour walk, you'll learn about beer history, play beer trivia, and hear about Denver's scandalous past.
Mile High Tap Tours
Hours: Fridays at 4:30 and 6 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays at 11:45 a.m., occasional Thursday evenings
Price: $47 and up includes water and snacks
Location: The Brew on Broadway (The BoB), 445 S. Broadway, Englewood, CO 80113
Discover Southwest Denver's finest breweries on a four-hour van tour that explores the South Broadway and South Sante Fe corridor.
This is one of the Denver brewery tours that partners with six different area breweries, and stops will be at three of them for about an hour each. Breweries include Breckenridge Brewery, Saint Patrick's Brewing Co, Dead Hippie Brewing, 38 State Brewing, Locavore Beer Works, and The Brew on Broadway (The BoB), where the tour starts and ends.
Private tours are available.
Denver Brewery Bus
Hours: Thursdays and Fridays from 5 to 9:30 p.m., occasional Sundays from 1:30 to 7 p.m.
Price: $45
Location: Your choice of Alameda Station, 420 S. Cherokee, Denver, CO 80223 or 19th and Wazee (across from Coors Field), Denver, CO 80202
The last of our Denver brewery tours is the four-plus hour tour that lets you sample creations by four great beermakers in three interesting neighborhoods.
You'll stop at Renegade Brewing Company for two free tasters and Rackhouse/C-Squared for a free round of cider samples. Factotum Brewhouse in Sunnyside is also on the itinerary. This neighborhood brewery's recipes come from community members and are then guest-brewed. The surprise fourth brewery will always be in the RiNo district, a reinvigorated arts area that's experiencing explosive growth in the craft-brewing industry.
A built-in lunch stop is included. Tours to Fort Collins, Boulder, and Longmont are also available.