Denver (Highland: Jefferson Park), Colorado:
Little Machine Beer
Visited on: Saturday 9th June 2018
Bob Thompson
The Mile High Stadium is a very noticeable building around here. The home of the Denver Broncos NFL team stands out this flat area of small industrial premises and parking lots. If you have found the stadium then you’ve found Little Machine Beer which is just north of it. The district is Jefferson Park, yet administratively it is most southern part of Highland, hence the location at the top of the page.
Little Machine comes from the inspirations of Mike Dunkly, Brett Williams and Ben Chenard, the founders. It was the first brew-pub in Jefferson Park and they opened it to thirsty residents and visitors on 29th October 2015.
Although it seems like a very laid-back pub, a lot of thought has gone into everything you see. Take the brewery for instance. The 10 barrel (bbls) plant was built by Bennett’s Forgeworks of Ridgway, CO. The company had never constructed a brewery before, yet it fitted in with their policy of sourcing locally.
As soon as Linda and I had turned the corner from Federal Boulevard we could see our destination as there was a food truck parked outside. It was a hot day and the large fold-up windows of the brewery’s building were open. The pub was very crowded but we eventually found a seat. The walls are covered with colourful artworks and the menu board matches these.
Probably the most notable aspect of the interior is the bar counter. This is in the middle of the room and is almost circular with a small section cut out for staff access. It is made from a slice of the trunk of a honey locust tree.
Looking at it makes me think that it must have been a massive tree. It can accommodate up to thirty patrons and encourages conversation as drinkers are facing each other, rather than in a straight line.
No less than twelve beers were on offer and these were: Sir Veza (5.4%), a Mexican-style lager; YAFI (7.4%), an IPA; Phase Shifter 1.1 (6.4%), an IPA; Spirit of the Game (5.8%), a saison; B.B. Rodriguez (8.3%) a coffee double brown ale; Widget (5.2%), a dry stout; The Gaffer (5.6%), a London-style porter; Supercharger (10.6%), a double IPA; Razz against the Machine (5.3%), a tart raspberry beer; Racerback (5.5%), an English pale ale; Cyberflora (5.0%), a hibiscus gose and The Love Tap (5.8%), a crystal dry-hopped saison.
Of this extensive section we chose four to sample. They were as follows with our comments: Racerback English-style pale ale did not have the taste of English hops and was more like a Kölsch.
Phase Shifter 1.1 IPA had a lemon-like taste yet was not very bitter, at 35 IBU that’s not surprising. YAFI IPA was a very American IPA, citrus and dry, it had a slightly fruity after taste.
Supercharged Double IPA was very smooth for a beer of 90 IBU. It had a nice slightly malty after taste.
Little Machine is well worth visiting although it will probably be packed when there’s a Brocos game on. Food trucks visit every day, please see Little Machine website.
Important Information:
Little Machine Beer, 2924 West 20th Avenue, Denver, Colorado 80211. Tel: (303) 284 7893.
Web: littlemachinebeer.com
Monday–Thursday: 12.00-23.00; Friday-Saturday: 11.00-23.00; Sunday: 11.00-22.00
The pub is less than five minutes walk from the Federal/West 20th Avenue bus stops on Federal Avenue.
These are served by the 31 route which runs from Lowell in the north to College View in the south. The stops are either side of 20th Avenue. Walk towards the intersection and then turn towards the city centre.
You will then see Little Machine on the right with the Mile High Stadium behind it.
Route 31 runs every 15 minutes during the day on Mondays to Saturdays, every 30 minutes in the evening.
On Sundays the route runs every 30 minutes throughout the day and evening.
Decatur-Federal station on the RTD W Line is about 10 minutes walk to the pub along Federal Avenue.
Or you could catch the 31 bus from the station to the Federal/West 20th Avenue stop, then as above.
