Colorado Trip: Mocktoberfest

My life is one little bit of irony piled upon another, really. See if you can spot the irony in the following tale. (I’ll try to help.)

My recent visit to Colorado coincided with Denver’s annual Oktoberfest event in the downtown district, near of all places Coors Field (ironic). My sister and brother-in-law obligingly carried my sorry carcass downtown to seek out the event, which frankly turned out to be a big flop. Oktoberfest? More like Oktoberbust. Sorry I missed the mini-marathon they held (ironic lie).

A side street was cordoned off and tents were arrayed along the sidewalks and there was polka music playing someplace. I saw a number of fellows walking around with giant Paulaner steins, but the crowd was thin and the beer offering was limited strictly to Paulaner with Jagermeister as an alternative. Even the food offerings seemed dicey so we ducked in to Mexico City restaurant (ironic) where I sampled a Dos Equis Dark that was served in a Miller High Life glass (ironic). The Dos Equis smelled of lime mostly, since it was served with a slice of lime. The taste was sweet and malty. I’ll seek out and buy Dos Equis Dark again, not simply because the beer is good, but because I rather like their current advertising package featuring “the most interesting man in the world.” (In the coming months, I’ll be pitching a new marketing campaign for Beer Rant: “The least interesting man in the world.”) I won’t serve Dos Equis with a lime though; that’s part of my least interesting man shtick.

Under whelmed by Oktoberfest, we wandered around the downtown district and took in some after dark sights, including Coors Field and El Chapultapec, a hip jazz joint that I admired from the outside, but didn’t enter (remember, “least interesting man…”). Eventually, still a tad hungry despite our Mexican food interlude, we found a seat at The Samba Room (ironic) where I sampled a Xingu Black Beer. I’ve had Xingu before and liked it and my experience in The Samba Room was no different. Xingu is of course very dark – black, in fact – with a brown head and a sweet, malty taste. The pictures I took don’t do it justice.

If my visit to Del Norte Brewing was the beer highlight of my Colorado trip, then Oktoberfest Denver must go down as the low point. However, while Denver’s Oktoberfest may have been a bust, I think our stroll around downtown was very nice.

The Beer Advocates don’t seem to advocate drinking Dos Equis Dark Lager. Fine. I like it.

Here’s the site for Xingu Black Beer. Hmmm. Amazonian beer. I’d never thought of that.

As for El Chapultapec (1962 Market St., Denver), my copy of Colorado: A Liquid History reveals that this bar opened in July 1933 to celebrate the repeal of prohibition. Don’t go here looking for microbrews, though. Bar owner Jerry Krantz is quoted as saying, “…we got places down here now that make their beers right where you can see ‘em. We got places that get their beer from as far away as possible. Most of mine just comes from Golden or Fort Collins.” Fair enough. I’m sorry I didn’t go in. I’ll try to pay a visit if I get back to Denver. (I took that picture above and the one below.)


Up next: Colorado Quick Riffs

Up after that: Some samples from the Washington, DC/Virginia area.
Up after that: Some 3.2% craziness from Utah.