I'll be in town all next week for a work conference, and I'm looking for suggestions for fun things to do in the afternoon/evening. The hotel I'm staying at is over near the airport, and I will have a rental car. Possibly looking for recommendations for shooting ranges w/ class 3 rentals, restaurants, craft brew bars, etc.

5280 Armory has full auto rentals.  So does Centennial Gun Club.

For breweries, the sky is the limit.  I like Bruz, Great Divide, Black Shirt, River North, Jagged Mountain.   there are dozens to choose from depending on how far you want to travel and what type of beer you want to drink.  

There is no beer in Colorado...

Just kidding. Denver is packed with places to go- at least 150 breweries in the metro area. A great place that is close to the airport is Dry Dock, the "North Dock" location is only about 5 minutes away from you.  Station 26 is pretty close also makes some great beers.
Ursula (formerly Coda) and Fiction are also close to you.

If you venture downtown, I can recommend Epic, Great Divide Barrel Bar, Ratio, and Former Future.  If you like Sour Beers, you must try Crooked Stave- can get a bit pricey. River North is another good one, just a bit North of downtown.

In the South Metro area, Bull and Bush is an English style pub that makes great beers. Comrade makes great beers.
TRVE is a death metal themed brewery with good beers and a black vibe.

If you like hoppy beers, Odd 13 is great to check out, in Lafayette, about 30 minute drive away.

If you really want to commit to it, Avery is the best place to visit in Colorado IMO. (~45 minutes away)
They have a rowdy bar downstairs and a nice semi-upscale restaurant upstairs, 32 taps, all of them are Avery beer. They run the gamut from light lagers, sour beers, heavy dark beers, experimental brews, and hoppy styles.
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For taprooms, there are a lot of choices.
Falling Rock Tap House is famous, they have bar food and great beers.
Freshcraft has modern food and a good tap list.
Lucky Pie, World of Beer, Yardhouse, Tivoli, Euclid Hall, Star Bar, First Draft Alehouse...

And there's even more. I can also recommend bottle shops if you want to take something special home with you.

Sorry OP, I forgot to mention. you may be able to take the train from the airport to downtown. You can link up to the light rail or do a bit of walking and you wouldn't have to drive.  The train from the airport is very nice.

The terminal stop on the airport train is Union Station, and they have a nice craft beer bar inside union station, ACME deli, and a killer ice cream place.

If you end up downtown, there is an excellent Mexican restaurant (at least in my opinion) called MACHETE TEQUILA AND TACOS.     http://machetedenver.com/   They have two locations - Denver and Cherry Creek.    Downtown Denver location is near the restored Union Station.   Interesting to see if you are a train buff, although more commercialized now.

Food is patterned more along the lines of "Mexico City street tacos".    The variety is excellent, and the multiple salsa's they bring out with the chips are incredible.     The bar also serves up a killer variety of Margaritas.    We used to go in there when my daughter worked there -- she was one of their top waitresses and bartenders, but has moved on to other opportunities.  Caution on them there margaritas -- might need a driver to get you home.  

Just remember Cooper's colors if you plan on hanging out on the 16th street mall after dark. Things getting out of control some nights.

OP, I'd recommend the Launchpad Brewery in Aurora, and Kokopelli Beer Company in Westminster. HTH

If you decide to hit 5280 to shoot, Odyssey Beerworks is only about a mike away.

agree on Machete

almost every time I go downtown (which really isn't much) I go there.

OP, hit me up if you think you can make to the south part of the metro area

Not sure if you are a sports fan, but you could go watch an Avalanche game Tuesday versus the Nashville Predators.  The Pepsi Center is a pretty fun arena, and you can make a night of it downtown and even use the tram.

That actually sounds like fun. Haven't been to a hockey game since the Thrashers were still in Atlanta.



 

Thanks, I'll probably try to check out at least one of them.



 

They're both really good. The Launch Pad is veteran owned, with a NASA/USAF theme. In fact, its just a few miles down the road from Buckley AFB.

Enjoy

Seriously, after all the suggestions, one of these is what you'll check out?  as recommended by a guy from ohio?

Yeah no kidding. I would skip both of those. I'm sure the owner of Launchpad is a good guy though.

Yeah, I'm from Ohio...here in CO on assignment. Pardon me for trying to be helpful

OP, I'd also recommend BeauJo's for great pizza (throughout the Denver area), as well as Da Rivuh in Idaho Springs for great Southern cuisine, which is just down the street from Tommy Knockers brewery.  In fact, Idaho Springs and Georgetown (both off of I-70) are neat little mining towns with a lot of cool history and charm, too.

If you like the outdoors, and don't mind a bit of a drive, check out Turquoise Lake near Leadville, and Grand Lake, both up in the Rockies.

Enjoy your time here

Why would you skip them?

And I have met the owner, and yes, he is a good guy.

I was unaware of Da Rivuh... I'll have to go check it out after skiing one day.

I'll set them straight on their incorrect Cuban sammich

Why would you skip Kokopelli? I've never been but I looked at the beers they make and am pretty interested in them. Seems most of the breweries I've tried have nothing but IPAs.

My favorite used to be Nighthawk Brewery but the last few times I've went in, they got rid of my favorite beers and everything is either a sour or an IPA.

I just want a good hefeweizen or saison.

Because there's literally 100+ breweries that make better beer in Colorado.
I realize you were trying to be helpful but I listed some of the highlights in Colorado earlier in the thread... it's not like there was a vacuum of informed opinions.


I've been to over 50 breweries all over the state of CO and have never seen a brewery that only makes IPAs. Even the ones that are known mostly for hoppy beers like Odell, Oskar Blues, Cannonball Creek, Comrade, Station 26, and Odd13.

For a good heffeweizen you should check out Prost in Denver or Weldwerks in Greeley - it's not an especially popular style but many breweries make them. For Saisons you might try TRVE, Great Divide, River North.

No worries.

Thanks for the info, I'll have to check out Prost and Weldwerks. I've heard good things about them.

Their fried chicken and catfish are both pretty good, and their sweet tea is some of the best I've had, and refills are FREE

They've got a REALLY good selection of brews, and they make really good pizza. My favorite is the Cliff Dweller, with extra bacon of course

And I agree, the whole IPA thing has been way overdone.

Went into Kokopelli last night. Was not disappointed. I will be back many times in the future.