To help, we've culled some of the very best, from a pair of music-and-beer extravaganzas to some style-focused tappings and a ten-day blowout at Falling Rock Tap House, which is celebrating its twentieth anniversary. Good luck getting your calendar in order this month — and make sure to respond to all those Facebook invites. Here are the ten best beer events in Denver and nearby for the month of June.
Chris Black (right) brews with Odell Brewing co-founder Doug Odell.
Falling Rock Tap House
Falling Rock 20th Anniversary
Falling Rock Tap House
1919 Blake Street
303-293-8338
Falling Rock Tap House will celebrate two decades of "no crap on tap" with a ten-day party brimming with numerous beer tappings, events, food, stories and special beers that owner Chris Black brewed over the past few weeks and months in collaboration with at least a dozen breweries across the United States. Things kick off June 2 at 5:30 p.m. with a dual tapping: "Reprising their role from ten years ago, Dry Dock Brewing will be sailing in with Chris’s homage to Mr. Hoppy, the beer he planned on tapping to kick off the 10th Anniversary. We are also thrilled to welcome our friends from San Diego as we tap into the Alpine/Green Flash/Cellar 3 brew – We Were Here First," Falling Rock says. "This was the first of the anniversary beers Chris brewed, a big, amazing and truly unique collaboration." Other anniversary beers are coming from Epic, Ecliptic, Upslope, Sierra Nevada, Comrade, Odell, Spangalang, New Belgium, Crooked Stave, Avery and Bristol. More details and stories about Black, Falling Rock and Colorado beer history will be rolled out on Falling Rock's web page. "One of the absolute best things about this celebration is spending time with the people," Black says. "Brewers, owners, brewery representatives, fellow publicans, regulars who are a massive reason we are here, friends from around the country and around the world are coming in to celebrate with us. We can’t thank you enough for all of the love and support."
Saturday, June 3
Sun Drenched Music Fest
Denver Beer Co. Canworks
4455 Jason Street
303-433-2739
Kick off the summer season with Denver Beer Co.'s annual Sun Drenched Music Fest, which takes place from 2 to 10 p.m. in the parking lot of the brewery's Canworks production facility in the Sunnyside neighborhood. Named for the brewery's hoppy wheat beer, Sun Drenched offers special beer pairings, sand volleyball and other beach games, food trucks, ice cream from Little Man and, of course, live music all day long. Performers include: Pimps of Joytime, Magic Giant, Coambient, Chemistry Club and K-Law. Tickets, $35, are available at denverbeerco.com.
Crooked Stave
Crooked Stave Can Release Party
Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project
3350 Brighton Boulevard
720- 550-8860
Crooked Stave has begun canning for the first time and will debut three different styles of its Brettanomyces beers from 5 to 10 p.m. in its taproom at the Source. The beers are HopSavant, Colorado WildSage, and St. Bretta, all of which will be available in four-packs. "Unfiltered and naturally wild, these beers are the perfect companion for wherever life’s adventures take you," Crooked Stave says.
Get your ’80s on with NKOTB.
Porchdrinking
New Kids on the Block
The Lobby American Grille
2191 Arapahoe Street
303-997-9911
New Kids on the Block, "the radtacular ’80s dance party and new breweries beer festival," returns for its fifth year from 7 to 10 p.m. Sponsored by the Lobby and PorchDrinking.com, the festival highlights local breweries that are two years old or younger. This year, that mighty list includes 14er Brewing, Banded Oak, Bierstadt Lagerhaus, Brewability Lab, Briar Common Brewery + Eatery, Call to Arms, Cellar West Artisan Ales, Cerebral Brewing, Cheluna Brewing, Holidaily Brewing, Little Machine, Maxline Brewing, New Image, Outer Range Brewing, Resolute Brewing, Seedstock, Something Brewery, Spangalang, the Intrepid Sojourner Beer Project, and WestFax Brewing. Each will pour two beers, which will help fuel you for the dance party that'll rock all night, with a live DJ and prizes for the best ’80s outfits. Small-bite munchies will be provided by the Lobby, Briar Common and the Rackhouse Pub. Tickets are $35 at nightout.com or $40 at the door.
Saturday, June 10
A-Town Funk Fest
Dry Dock Brewing, South Dock
15120 East Hampden Avenue, Aurora
303-400-5606
Dry Dock Brewing brings back its A-Town Funk Fest for a second year, and this time, Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project and Wing Hut have been invited for a ticketed sour-beer-and-food-pairing event to go with it. Guests to that part of the fest will get seven beers from Dry Dock and Crooked Stave, including a collaboration made just for Funk Fest, all paired with dishes from Chef Josh Prater and his team at the Wing Hut. The pairing sessions are at 1, 4 and 7 p.m. There will also be music, games and other beers on tap. For details of the pairing menu, go to Dry Dock's Facebook page.
Keep reading for more great craft-beer events in June...
Saturday, June 10
A Night to Remember Beer Festival
Founders Green at Stapleton
Roslyn Street and 29th Avenue
Created by Copper Kettle Brewing and the parents of Alex Teves, who was one of the twelve people killed in the Aurora Theater shootings on July 20, 2012, A Night to Remember honors Teves and other victims by raising money for the ACT Foundation (Alexander C. Teves Foundation), which provides "funds and opportunities to students with unique needs." Teves, who was 24 when he died, was a loyal customer at Copper Kettle and one of its original Brew Club members. The sixth annual festival runs from 5 to 9 p.m. at Founder's Green at Stapleton, in conjunction with the neighborhood's summer concert series. Participating breweries include: Black Project, Boggy Draw, Caution, Cerebral, Chain Reaction, Cheluna, City Star, Colorado Cider Company, Comrade, Copper Kettle, Crooked Stave, Elk Mountain, Factotum Brewhouse, Fiction Beer Company, Horse & Dragon, Launch Pad, Little Machine Beer, Locavore Beer Works, Mockery, Peak to Peak Tap & Brew, Ratio Beerworks, Renegade, Station 26, Strange Craft, Trinity, TRVE, Two22, Ursula, WeldWorks, Wit's End and more. There will be food from Biker Jim's Gourmet Dogs, What Would Cheesus Do, Burgerchief, Donatella's Pizza and High Point Creamery, plus live music from the John Weeks Band (6 to 7 p.m.) and Big Sam's Funky Nation (7:30 to 9 p.m.). Other activities include a silent auction, prize giveaways and custom T-shirts. Tickets are $35 in advance and $40 the day of the festival; 100 percent of the proceeds will go toward the ACT Foundation.
Rackhouse Pub
Hip Hops Festival, Featuring Twista
Rackhouse Pub
2875 Blake Street
720-570-7824
Drink RiNo and the Rackhouse Pub have teamed up for this hip-hop hops festival from 1 to 6 p.m. There will be eleven booze purveyors in attendance, including Epic Brewing, Black Shirt, Great Divide, Zephyr Brewing, C Squared Ciders, Mockery Brewing, Bierstadt Lagerhaus, Stem Ciders, Our Mutual Friend Brewery, Beryl's Beer Co., Ratio Beerworks and the Infinite Monkey Theorem. In addition, you'll find live graffiti, a Yellow Designs Stunt Team BMX stunt show, and Twista, the "world's fastest rapper." Tickets are $25.
Saturday, June 17
Humulus Rumpulus
Call to Arms Brewing
4526 Tennyson Street
720-328-8258
Call to Arms Brewing will focus on hops from noon to 9 p.m. at Humulus Rumpulus, a more aromatic version of its regular bi-monthly Rumpus event. To help you get your hops on, CTA will tap Meemtonio Ginger Pale Ale, Sweet Bloom Coffee IPA, and Great Great Great Gam Gam Triple IPA. In addition, High Wire Hops will be in attendance from noon to 4 p.m. to talk about its Colorado hop farm. There will be food from the Stone Lotus Food Truck from noon to 6 p.m. and from Il Porcellino Salumi from 3 to 6 p.m.; Il Porcellino will be selling salami made with CTA's Freedom Fries Saison, which was hopped with Nelson Sauvin. The Alcapones will be playing music from 4 to 7 p.m., while Habitat for Humanity will be on hand from noon to 4 p.m. And finally, the first 25 people through the door will receive a free Rumpus can-style glass, "and if all goes to plan with our Crowler equipment, we'll be releasing a limited number of twelve-ounce cans of our Great Great Great Gam Gam starting at noon," the brewery says.
Saturday, June 24
Renegade Sixth Anniversary Block Party
Renegade Brewing
918 West First Avenue
A lot has changed since Renegade Brewing opened its doors on June 26, 2011. The west Denver brewery has grown from its initial taproom and a staff of three to having a separate production facility, a full lineup of canned beers that are distributed in five states, and a staff of twenty. To celebrate, Renegade will hold its Six-Year Anniversary Block Party from 1 to 5 p.m. at its production facility in a business park at 918 West First Avenue (the brewery has held its previous anniversary parties at its taproom on Ninth Avenue). This time around, the evening will be ticketed, and there are several levels, ranging from $40 to $70, but all of them get you unlimited beer tastings, a $5 voucher for any of the food trucks that will be on the premises, and some type of drinkware. There will also be live music from Hangman's Hymnal. For tickets and more information, go to renegadeanniversary.com.
Renegade Brewing
Avery Sour Fest
Avery Brewing
4910 Nautilus Court, Boulder
303-440-4324
The Seventh Annual Avery Sour Fest runs from noon to 5 p.m. at Avery Brewing in Boulder, and this "celebration of all tangy, horsey, funky and face-puckering beers" is worth the $80 ticket price. That's because this is simply the best sour festival around — and one of the oldest. Not only does Avery pull out all the stops on its own beers, but breweries from around the country bring their rarest, best brews to share. Proceeds will go to Attention Homes, a nonprofit organization that works with at-risk youth to provide safe shelter and access to crucial services.
