Visited on: Saturday 9th June 2018

Bob Thompson

The city of Edgewood is one of those communities once isolated on the periphery of the city of Denver. Although it is still independent in administration, demographically it is now just another part of the urban sprawl that comprises this massive conurbation. Along with its neighbour, the city of Wheat Ridge, I noticed a very odd thing. In my experience street signs seem to be standard throughout the USA, i.e. white lettering on a green background. In these two cities they are sky blue lettering on a white background, see photograph.

Joyride Brewing comes from the inspirations of Dave Bergen, Brent Smith and Grant Babb, who decided on the venture one night whilst having a beer together. The dream became a reality on 16th July 2014 when the pub opened in a retail area of Edgewater, the 25th Avenue business district. The city’s name could not be more appropriate as the pub is to be found on a corner diagonally opposite Sloan’s Lake. This was created in 1861 when farmer Thomas Sloan accidentally dug into an aquifer. It was called Sloan’s Leak at the time.

It has a 10 barrel (bbls) capacity brewery along with eight serving and six fermentation tanks. The pub is long and thin. From the entrance we noticed the bar counter along the right side wall along with a good compliment of stools. In front of the bar is a long tall table with many high chairs. The room narrows further along where there are the usual type of wooden tables and chairs.

There are photographs, paintings and posters on the walls and the tables have flowers placed in traditional German ceramic krugs (not steins as English speakers often call them).

Along the long side of the building are six glass fronted roll-up garage-type doors which are open during hot weather. There is also a small yard for outside drinking. Contrary to its look as an auto repair shop it was built in 1910 as Knoll’s Meat Market. It later became a grocery store and then a record store and its final use was as a pawnbrokers. It then lay empty for two years.

There appear to be six regular beers and these were: Cougar Pale Ale (5.0%), an American pale ale; Edgewater Wheat (4.8%), an American wheat ale; Edgewater IPA (7.0%), an American IPA; Joyride Double IPA (9.0%) with 100+ IBU; Bear Paw Stout (8.0%), an oatmeal milk stout and Antelope Amber Ale (6.0%), an American amber ale.

Six seasonal / special beers were on offer and they were: Ah, Ale Yeah (6.1%), an American pale ale; Center of the Maze (6.8%), a single hop IPA; Ice Cutter Kölsch (5.2%), a German Kölsch; So Fresh and so Cream (5.5%); a cream ale with pineapple; No Simple Highway (5.5%), a brett saison; Summer Wit (5.9%), a Belgian wheat beer; Waterski Wheat (5.3%), a hoppy wheat beer and Shake it Off (6.6%), a milkshake IPA with blood orange and tangerine.

Of the selection available we tried four of them and these are our thoughts. Ah, Ale Yeah was a bit yeasty although quite bitter with a dry after taste; Center of the Maze was very smooth flavour and a very bitter after taste; Double IPA had over 100 IBU yet the bitterness was not sharp, being very smooth and complex; also the bitterness on the tongue was less than the previous two beers. Kölsch has the right basic taste as it was a bit sweet yet also slightly tart.

Although it was very busy when we visited you could tell it would be good to call in at any time, we enjoyed our visit here. Shortly after we were there they started work on a new rooftop terrace with a separate bar, space heaters and a great view over Sloan’s Lake.

Important Information:

Joyride Brewing Company, 2501 Sheridan Boulelvard, Edgewater, Colorado 80214. Tel: 720 432 7560
Web: joyridebrewing.com

Hours: Monday-Thursday 12.00-22.00; Friday-Saturday 11.00-23.00; Sunday 11.00-22.00

The pub is about five minutes walk from the bus stops of Route 28.
This runs every 30 minutes on weekdays. On Saturday and Sunday it is hourly.
The route is from Applewood Village in the west to Central Park station in the east.
It operates through the city centre southbound on 17th Street and north up 15th Street.
Central Park station is on the RTD A line from Union Station to Denver International Airport.
The stop is West 26th Avenue/Sheridan Boulevard which is very close to the pub.
The stops are either side of the intersection they are named after. Walk to Sheridan and turn to the south.
There are shops on either side and you will soon see the lake on the left side, the pub is now on the right.