While no micro-brewery, the Miller/Coors Tour was a must-do on my trip to Denver. Located in Golden just a 20 minute drive from Westminster, the place is huge. You park first and then catch a bus to the factory. No purses or backpacks are allowed but make sure you have your ID! Usually I don’t like taking a listening device but on this tour it was interesting and helpful. You walk through on your own, at your own pace, and did I mention it is completely free! At the first station you learn about the main ingredients used in all beer preparation and how they are used in the prep of specifically, Coors beers. You can even touch and smell them in a bucket to get to know those raw ingredients that make up the most delicious drinks on earth. The tour continues showing you in live time the production of Coors from fermentation to packaging. Packaging is cool. It is amazing how many Coors are prepped and shipped each day. When the machine is moving you can hardly look away. My favorite part of the tour was learning about their sustainability efforts. Coors has been doing business in a sustainable method long before it was expected of companies and corporations. Recycling has always been a part of the Coors philosophy. In 1959 Bill Coors, the president of the company at the time, introduced the recyclable aluminum can. The company also used to have an incentive program for those that recycled their materials, providing cents per can. Today, the company continues finding ways to reduce waste in packaging. In 2015 the company reduced packaging by more than 7,500 tons of aluminum and glass. Usually I am not a Coors drinker but hearing something like this makes me more supportive of Coors and its success! My least favorite part of the tour was getting to the specialty tasting room, as it was closed. But, maybe with better luck you’ll be able to try their experimental beers when you visit! The final part of the tour includes three free beers of your choice. I chose the German Lager, the Colorado Native and a Blue Moon (owned by Coors). Again, though not Craft beers we decided to try to taste them as we would a craft beer, noting every flavor that was so meticulously chosen for to create the best product possible that would sell in millions. The German Lager was what I would expect for a lighter draft beer. It was light with a plain lager taste. The Colorado Native was a slight amber at taste, a little bit darker and heavier than the German and I liked it better. Lastly, Blue Moon is Blue Moon, with an orange it is one of the best draft beers a person can have, with the brilliance of the orange flavor brought out with that simple orange slice. Once the tour is over you the bus and takes you to your car. If three beers is a lot for you and you’re driving you may want to wander around the adorable town of Golden for a little while. Surrounded by smaller Colorado mountains, our bus ride to the factory gave us a mini tour of the city. As east coasters we chuckled at the “history” of the buildings. The oldest ones were built in the 1850s! The town is filled with great restaurants, craft breweries and shops. There is even a cupcake shop that will have you craving cupcakes for the rest of your Denver stay if you do not pop in and get yourself one, right then and there (true story).
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