Downtown Denver brews a renaissance

From CNN Correspondent Valerie Voss

DENVER (CNN) -- If you have a taste for beer, especially microbrewed beer, think about paying a visit to the Mile High City.

Denver now boasts seven brew pubs downtown. Colorado has 82 brew pubs and microbreweries, ranking third behind California and Florida, states with much larger populations.

"It's part of the entertainment fabric of the city," said Denver Mayor Wellington Webb. "And it's youthful and it provides a vibrancy to the city."

In Denver, the trend began in lower Downtown, or "Lo-Do." Once a seedy warehouse district, in 1988 it was declared a National Historic District.

Entrepreneurs were attracted to the area's reasonable real estate prices, and combined with a growing economy, the area experienced a rebirth.

"What the microbrewing and the brew pub industry renaissance is creating is a return to the sense of a neighborhood brewery," said David Edgar, director for the Institute for Brewing Studies.

Besides brew pubs, art galleries and book stores also have sprouted in the area.

"I've always believed in downtown, you know, trying to find ways to revitalize urban areas, so by going back to the historic way of making beer -- putting it in historic buildings -- seemed like it could be a good catalyst for downtown," said John Hickenlooper, owner of Wyncoop Brewing Co. "And also, the rent was very cheap."

Hickenlooper is a pioneer in Colorado's craft brewing industry. In the 1980s, he lobbied the Colorado Legislature to change a law that prevented brewing beer and serving food in the same place.

When the law was changed, he opened the Wyncoop Brewing Co. in 1988 and it's now the largest brew pub in the United States.

'This is my favorite stop'

Another one of "Lo-Do's" brew pubs is in Coors Field, which opened in 1995 and named for the brewing giant. The Coors Brewing Co. runs "The Sandlot" at the corner of right field.

"This is my favorite stop in baseball and basically it's because of the brew pubs," said Andy Musser, the announcer for the Philadelphia Phillies.

Hickenlooper said on any given day, there are 100 beers in Denver that aren't available anywhere else on the planet.

"I can't think of another city in America where you can walk to as many good ones as you can right here in Denver," Musser said.

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