The Great American Ale Trail - Christian DeBenedetti [64]
THE FALLING
ROCK TAPHOUSE
1919 Blake St. • Denver, CO 80202
(303) 293-8338 • frth.com • Established: 1997
SCENE & STORY
The designated after-GABF victory hall for hordes of visiting brewers and their fans, “The Falling Rock” as most simply call it, is among the most respected (and most visited) beer bars anywhere. Walking distance from Coors Field and the convention center, it’s ideally located in LoDo (Lower Denver). From the spacious outdoor patio to massive tap row of hard-to-find crafts from the United States and abroad (75 handles, give or take), deep bottle list of rarities (130-plus), and pool-table-equipped, college-party-time basement, it can be a lot to take in at once. Service has been—predictably for such a shrine—a bit of a crap-shoot, but let’s face it: You’re here for the beer. Locals sometimes line the bar and get first dibs, but once you make yourself at home, the experience can measure up to a slice of craft beer heaven. There are over 2,000 empty bottles decorating the walls, some comfy leather couches, one or two giant screens, forests of tap handles arrayed in endless rows, gloriously dilapidated bathrooms, and a pervasive sense that the world would be a much better place if we all could simply set aside our differences and try an amazing brew from some far away corner of the world.
PHILOSOPHY
As officially stated, it’s “No Crap on Tap,” and the list generally feels well curated, with a wide geographical and stylistic selection on offer, from mellow session beers to the most cultish, extreme, sour, smoked, and otherwise funked-out brews in the world.
KEY BEER
Certain imported beers seem to show better in the bottle than on tap, so, agitated crowds not withstanding, ask for a few samples before you take the plunge, or at the least, what’s freshest. Staffers sometimes announce a “Blue Light Special” style, which means that something rare and tasty is about to start pouring, so listen up.
A recent winning choice: Boulevard Tank 7 Saison, out of Kansas City. The exceedingly clean and crisp tasting Trumer Pils from Berkeley, California seems to be a semi-permanent tap.
DETOUR
CHRIS BLACK, Proprietor, FALLING ROCK TAPHOUSE
When it comes to craft beer in Denver, Falling Rock owner Chris Black is both king and court jester. The taphouse is a monument, he says, to his friends who love beer as much as he does. He seems to feel like he was born for the job. “When I was in high school I went away to Europe for five weeks and found out what beer was supposed to taste like, at least for that time,” he says. “And when I was in college, at University of Texas in Austin, there was a very early beer bar there called Maggie May’s. I ended up hanging out there so much they gave me a job,” he recalls. After a post-college stint for an importer and several more years of tending bar, working in breweries, beer bars, and for distributors large and small, he borrowed money from his father to open The Falling Rock, starting the work in 1996.
“My goal was to make this one of the top beer bars in the United States within five years, and the best way to do that was to tell all the beer journalists who come here from all over the world every year for the beer festival who have no place to go. So that’s what we did. We built a place for everybody. I built my own favorite place to hang out.” It wasn’t an overnight success. “We were very cash poor, but we did everything ourselves and it didn’t really matter. As this area has grown, and we got a baseball team that started winning, the business has really grown, and the Great American Beer Festival has been a huge part of it. Here we are thirteen years later. I’m seeing all my friends every year, welcoming them into my place to have a good time,” he says. “The highest compliment is when someone brings their mom in. If it’s cool enough for your mom, and you like hanging out here too, I think