The Governor Has a Kegerator: Celebrate Colorado Craft Beer Week

It’s Thursday, your mind has no doubt wandered to the weekend and all its non-work related offerings.  On tap at breweries and brew-friendly locales throughout the state is Colorado Craft Beer Week, which kicked off last weekend at the governor’s mansion in Denver. On Friday, Hick invited beer industry folks from around the state for a round of pints poured from the new beer taps installed at his digs in Denver.  From now until eternity, there will be three rotating Colorado craft brews on tap for visitors and locals alike.

If you didn’t make the invite list for the private unveiling of the gubernatorial beer taps, plenty of other venues are offering equally cool opportunities for imbibing and rapping about beer this weekend.  Spring breakers, you can shred at Vail or Monarch during the day and apres at Bonfire in Eagle or Elevation Beer Company in Poncha Springs in the evening.  Front Rangers, you’ve always got options: from the Springs to Fort Collins, events like special tappings of rare or limited edition brews and beer/food pairings are happening at bars, restaurants, and breweries big and small.  Some intriguing events in our fair Bubble include Avery’s tapping of the aloha-rific Lilikoi Kepolo, a blind beer and small bite tasting led by blind coffee roaster Gerry Leary (of the Unseen Bean) at Twisted Pine, and Lefthand Brewing’s Hops and Handrails craft beer fest and rail jam in Longmont.

Gov. Hickenlooper’s decision to put a kegerator in an official state building is not some frat boy’s unrealized dream, it’s a testament to the economic impact of craft beer in the Centennial State.  So too is the fact that my dad, a Miller Light on the weekends and vodka at night type of guy, is coming to visit this weekend with three things on his agenda: eat good food, hike in the mountains, and drink local beer.  I think this can be arranged.