Mark Twain once said - "Of the demonstrably wise there are but two: those who commit suicide, & those who keep their reasoning faculties atrophied with drink."
Being that we consider ourselves to be amongst the wisest people we know, Shirey and I decided the prudent course of action would be to do our best to stave off suicidal tendencies and adequately atrophy our minds with another stop on the Brewery Tour. Onward to Renegade Brewing!
Renegade opened in 2011 in the Sante Fe arts district - a cool stretch of bars, restaurants and art galleries just south downtown. It's also home to the best Mexican food in Denver at El Taco de Mexico. Cheeks meat tacos what??
Anyways, being so close to downtown definitely makes a good spot for a brewery.
A little look to the right down Sante Fe near Renegade...
...and a little look to the left (I'm very safe when I cross the road).
And the brewery!
Renegade has a nice size tap room - very open with a nice sized wrap-around bar. Will definitely make for a great spot during the summer.
I arrived a little before Mr. Shirey so I thought I'd help myself to a beer just to get "warmed up".
The beer list.
Mmm beer indeed.
Well hello sir.
But wait...What sound doth Renegade's streams appal?
The Shirey's voice they hear;
Before that herald's solemn call
Let soft sleep disappear!
Shirey finally arrived, better late than never. Onward to drinking!
A sampler for me...
...and a sampler for Shirey. Lets breakdown our list of hits and misses.
(Note to our dear readers (all three of you)...at this point in the night my phone start acting real screwy - all my notes keep deleting themselves, and all my pictures look like crap. So I'm going to have to pull this next section from memory, and my memory sucks in general, not to mention when I'm many beers deep)
Winners
5pm Afternoon Ale - Not the most memorable of beers, but incredibly drinkable. Shirey said "I could drink a bathtub full of this".
Midnight in Bruges Belgian Black IPA - All aboard the flavor train! My favorite beer of the night by far.
Hammer and Sickle Russian Imperial Stout - Shirey's favorite beer of the night. Dirty pinko commie.
Losers
None really. Unlike some of the other breweries we've visited, there weren't any beers that just plain sucked. We did like some less than others, but overall each beer delivered.
Notables
As we were finishing up our sampler we noticed some activity up front at the beer board...
Hmm, what is she writing?
Shirey was incredibly curious.
I was less intensely curious.
And here came the announcement. The guy on the right is the head brewer at Renegade, and the half of a human on the left (how about my awesome picture takin skillz?) is the head brewmaster at Wit's End Brewing (still on our list!). Together they collaborated on a new brew...
Judge Whoppner - an imperial malted milk ale. Well holy shit. Looks like we had another beer to try.
Yep, the rim is crusted with Whoppers candy. Note - there isn't actually glowing blue orb in the beer (as cool as that would have been). That's just my camera acting weird. All in all Judge Whoppner was interesting, but a little too sweet for both our tastes.
Verdict
Renegade was a pretty kick ass brewery. The beers were excellent and the tap room was big. It also seemed to do a pretty good business - it was one of the few breweries that we've visited so far that was actually busier by the time we left:
Dare I say...this might be my favorite stop thus far on the tour.
