While my family was out visiting this weekend, I took my dad, brother and his girlfriend all to the Denver Winter Brew Fest.  I had previously been to the Summer Brew Fest a couple of years ago and had a great time.  This time was no different.  There were 39 breweries pouring over 100 different brews for unlimited sampling.  The cost was only $30 ($5 cheaper than the previous time I went), which is a bargain for three hours of tasting.  Upon entering the gates just past seven, we did a quick lap through the downstairs of the Mile High Station.  I found old favorites from Odell and Oskar Blues along with my first sample of Upslope’s latest release, Brown Ale, which was great.

From there we ventured out to the covered patio area for samples of Stone and Great Divide, among a crowd of others.  My favorite of that group definitely had to be the Espresso Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout from Great Divide. I was also glad to finally sample the beers from Strange Brewing Company, including their very unique Cherry Bomb Belgian Stout.  After an hour on the patio, and a couple of power outages, we headed back inside to see what was offered upstairs.  There we enjoyed more offerings from Breckenridge, Ska, and even the Denver ChopHouse and Brewery with their Wild Turkey Barrel Conditioned Stout.  It was once again a great event and I really like that they continue to have bands play.  One thing that could make it even better would be if the breweries brought along even more hard to find beers.