Reader: Who comes to Colorado and decides their brewery tour of choice is Coors?

Friends on their way from New York to Grand Lake stopped in Denver last week, and we sent them on our recommended 2014 tourism circuit Thursday morning: what we call the Tumbleweed tour, a quick hit in the 1600 block of Wazee Street where you can see the old West...

By Patricia Calhoun

July 21, 2014

Audio By Carbonatix

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Friends on their way from New York to Grand Lake stopped in Denver last week, and we sent them on our recommended 2014 tourism circuit Thursday morning: what we call the Tumbleweed tour, a quick hit in the 1600 block of Wazee Street where you can see the old West at Rockmount Ranch Wear and the new West of recreational marijuana across the street at LoDo Wellness, then on to Red Rocks for a short hike. From there, they decided to stop at the Coors Brewery -- one of the top ten tourist traps in Denver, according to Yahoo -- where the line for the tour was two hours long. They decided not to wait: a good decision, according to a few readers. See also: The ten worst Denver tourist traps, according to Yahoo -- and why they're (mostly) wrong

Says Derp:

The Coors tour has become really lame. The hour-long waits for the tour bus, the replacement of entertaining tour guides with stupid hand-held recorded Coors propaganda, the $20 keychains in the gift shop... no, thanks. It was once a great tour. Now, not so much.

Adds Jenny:

Who comes to CO and decides their brewery tour of choice is.....Coors???? Yes, Golden is awesome, but really, there are so many (hundreds?) other brewery tours around that give a lot more (and better) beer on tours. If Denver doesn't do it for you on the beer front, come to Fort Collins -- we'll hook you up!

What beer tours would you recommend for a tourist? And how about dining destinations? That same Yahoo list puts Casa Bonita as the top tourist trap in Denver. if you want to give a guest a true taste of Denver's dining scene, what do you recommend?

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Patricia Calhoun is editor-in-chief of Westword, the alt-weekly she co-founded in September 1977. She’s been inducted into the Colorado Press Association Hall of Fame, the Association of Alternative Newsmedia Hall of Fame and the Colorado Restaurant Association Hall of Fame. She’s also received dozens of local, state and national awards for writing, including first place for feature writing and first place for column writing with the Society of Professional Journalists. Patricia is a weekly commentator on Colorado Inside Out, PBS 12's public affairs roundtable, which has won two Emmys.

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