Beginning with the Denver Broncos game on October 17, the stadium will begin serving Rail Yard Ale in cans in its six River's Edge beer stands. It joins just a handful of other Colorado microbrews in the stadium, which is a bastion of micro-brewed pilsners.
"It's a very difficult place to get into," says Marty Jones, spokesman for the Wynkoop Brewing Company, which makes Rail Yard. "A lot of breweries want to have their beer in these kinds of places. So for us, this is a huge achievement."
Of course the Wynkoop was founded by Mayor John Hickenlooper, who launched his political career in 2000 by opposing the effort to sell naming rights to the stadium. "Doesn't matter what they name it," his bumper sticker at the time read, "I'm going to call it Mile High Stadium." Hickenlooper is no longer a part of the Wynkoop.
Jones, who is a season-ticket holder at Invesco, says there are no hard feelings on either side. In fact, he offers a lot of praise for the stadium.
"Many big arenas in this town seem to be unaware of craft beer culture, so we are thrilled. And with 75,000 people in the place, it's great for us," he adds.
River's Edge, operated by Invesco concessionaire Centerplate, also carries the following Colorado craft beers: New Belgium's Fat Tire, Odell's 90 Shilling, Breckenridge's Avalanche, Dales Pale Ale from Oskar Blues, Avery IPA.
A representative of Centerplate didn't return phone calls seeking comment.
