Dry Dock — a fantabulous brewing two-fer
Last weekend, I had the ultimate pleasure of taking a ski trip out to beautiful Vail, Colorado. This was my third trip out west, and believe me, no visit to Colorado is complete without checking out the Denver beer scene. (Just ask Denver resident and fellow Hop Press dude PJ, whom I finally got to meet this weekend!)
Our very first stop after our flight landed was Dry Dock Brewing Company, a fantastic brewery/homebrew shop combo located just outside of Denver in Aurora. I fell in love with this place pretty immediately.
Firstly, the homebrew shop rocks — extensive inventory, self-serve specialty grains, plenty of kegs and carboys, and pretty much anything else you can imagine. (Seriously, they had absinthe kits!) Now, I love my local homebrew shop dearly, but this place was just on a whole ‘nother level.
And then there’s the beer. Oh, the beer… Not sure if you guys heard, but Dry Dock won Small Brewing Company of the Year at GABF this past year. There is most certainly a reason for that.
First beer I tried was their HMS Victory ESB because the gravitational pull of ESBs is simply impossible for me to escape. And holy wow this one delivered. Smooth, toasty, bready, a hint of caramel, the perfect amount of bitterness. Really hit the spot.
There were many, many other beers on tap to choose from, but I eventually decided my next beer would be the Bismark Alt, a 2009 GABF gold medal winner. It was easy to see why it won the gold with its lovely malt character, dry finish, and perfectly balanced bitterness.
I enjoyed the atmosphere of Dry Dock as well. They don’t serve food on premises, but they do have a binder available containing menus of all the local take-out restaurants, most of which are happy to deliver right to Dry Dock. The bar overlooks the brewery, which consists of lovely copper-clad vessels.
If I lived in the Denver area, I would likely be a regular at Dry Dock. The homebrew shop would draw me in, and the beer would keep me there for hours afterward. I’ve been to many a brewery in Colorado, but this one was, without a doubt, one of the best.
6 Comments to “Dry Dock — a fantabulous brewing two-fer”
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They also had an amazing Hefewiezen. A good Hefewiezen is hard to come by.
The only problem with Dry Dock is that it’s located in the hell that is Auroa. That’s why I rarely Denver to go there.
Nice to hear you had a good time @Drydockbrewing. They are as close as I get to a LHBS (Local Home Brew Shop), and I try to visit every time we are in the area. It’s 120 miles from our house, and I’ve made that trip just to go to the Brew Hut (the Brew store attached to DryDock). The maritime theme sits very well with a land locked sailor at heart like me, and their beer is hard to beat.
But seriously…You should have taken one of the Absenthe kits home with you!
I hope I can coordinate a little better and buy you a pint of that ESB the next time you are in town.
Yes, next time! This was such a quick, whirlwind of a trip, so it was pretty hard to meet up with people. We’ll likely be out there again sometime in the summer/fall!
I discovered Dry Dock in 2006 when I was staying in Aurora for a three-week residency. I couldn’t find it when I first looked for it so I thought I would stop and ask at the homebrew store. Surely they would know. Needless to say I was really surprised to find that the brewery was literally the backroom of the homebrew store. It looks like the bar area has been upgraded since then.
But the beer is great. I use their ESB recipe whenever I brew that style myself. I always recommend that people make the trek out to Aurora to visit Dry Dock.
Ah, Dry Dock! My wife and I love it there, and stumbled upon it by accident when I was first looking to get in to homebrewing. After a few trips to pick up some basic homebrew supplies, we decided to sit down and have a beer at Dry Dock. Now we make sure to pick up a growler at least once a month, and enjoying bringing new people there. Absolutely wonderful beer coming out of that place; I’m glad it is only about 15 minutes away, not too far in to Aurora.