Red Rocks Beer Festival
The wife and I were lucky enough to get tickets to see The Cult, Bush, and Stone Temple Pilots at Red Rocks this summer (2018), and lo and behold, it was part of a (hopefully annual) beer festival! Bonus!
If you want to check and see if it’s happening again in whatever year you happen to be in, just take a look at the website here dear time traveler.
Although I’m not entirely sure, I think this was the first year they held this festival, it certainly had the “no plan survives contact with the enemy” feel to it. Some disorganization, long lines, a slow process getting in. I will say that I’ve been through much worse, so I don’t really have any complaints. On the plus side, they had plenty of bathrooms and reasonable ticket prices 🙂
Here’s a shot of the lines, I think it took us a good 40 minutes to get in. There was also some confusion about who was exactly allowed up to the North Parking lot, in this case it was only the shuttle buses that they had to bring people up there, although Uber and Taxis were allowed up? I thought that was a bit strange since we arrive on a bus. It would have helped them out if they let those go straight up.
Of course, there was a lot of beautiful scenery to look at while you waited.
The festival itself was on the small side as these things go.
Not the best picture I know, but probably the best opportunity I had for catching it all. The tents past the port o johns are where the beer was being poured. On the right side is a line of food trucks for those who may be hungry.
There were a number of breweries that I wanted to try, but didn’t get a chance to. The line and confusion in the parking lots ate up a lot of time, and before I knew it, we had to go to the show. The breweries that I sampled that stood out were:
- 14er Brewing Company – They had a very delicious Jalapeno Saison, and a Key Lime Cream Ale.
- 38 State Brewing – The Old Weisse Owl Hefeweizen.
There were a number of breweries that I had already sampled in the past, and I was really looking for something new. There were also a number of beers that I didn’t really think were too good, but in all the haste, I didn’t write much down. This was a training event for me 🙂
Will I go next year? If they have a band lineup that I want to see, then I sure will. Next time I’ll be more prepared.
