During my recent trip to Denver I realized there was a Rock Bottom Restaurant and Brewery right around the corner from my downtown hotel. The closest Rock Bottom to my home is in Arlington, and although the various locations have gotten good reviews from local beer drinkers, but I've never gotten around to visiting. I decided this would be a good time to correct that.
The Denver brewpub is located in pedestrian mall setting among quite a few bars and restaurants. On my walk over I decided to stop in one of the other establishments and check out their beer list. Neither the hostess, the waitress she asked, nor the posted menu could inform me what was on tap. I decided it wasn't even worth a walk back to the bar, and continued on my way to Rock Bottom. (Was walking out rude?)
When I arrived the place was pretty crowded for a week night I thought. I found one of the few empty seats at the bar, and surveyed the beer list and the surroundings. The fermentation tanks are behind a glass wall behind the long bar. There was no activity in the brewing area during my evening visit. Very quickly one of the bartenders arrived to take my order. I selected the brewery's Falcon Pale Ale. The beer is a copper-orange color with a thin head. I detected a slight hop aroma backed by bready malts. The dominant flavor is the biscuit malt with some bitter hops at the finish. A very drinkable beer, it has an "east-coast" profile rather than the zesty, citrus hop flavors more typical of west coast pale ales.
I ordered a Brewer’s Club sandwich to go with my beer. The turkey, ham, and bacon sandwich on focaccia bread arrived quickly and was quite tasty. I enjoyed it while wondering how it would be rated by my turkey-aficionado friends. I hung out for a while watching the Celtics take the NBA championship. I knew that my buddy Frank, an avid Boston sports fan, would be watching the game where ever he was. I sent him a text message telling him I was watching the game from a bar in Denver. Sure enough a few minutes later I got a reply. He was indeed watching the game - from a bar in Naples, FL!
The food and beer at this Rock Bottom was tasty and served in a pleasant atmosphere. The service at Rock Bottom was quite attentive, at least from my observation post at the bar, no one sat with an empty glass, unless by choice. I wouldn't hesitate to visit another Rock Bottom brewpub given the opportunity. In fact, I'd probably search one out and try a few more of their beers.
I work for Rock Bottom and really enjoyed reading your story about your trip to our downtown Denver Rock Bottom Brewery. Just a little fun fact, the Rock Bottom you write about was our first Rock Bottom and there is a story about how we got that name. When we were opening the restaurant, we didn't have a name for it. At the time, the building was predominently occupied by Prudential and was known as the Prudential tower. As the story goes, our founder and owner, Frank Day, was sitting at the almost complete bar and decided that since we were opening a restaurant at the bottom of "The Rock" building that we needed the name, Rock Bottom.
ReplyDeleteJessica,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the interesting historical information. I guess it's only fitting that I started my enjoyment of RB at the place it all began.
Cheers.