A Craft Beer Gold Mine at Tommyknocker Brewery

I love checking out new craft breweries, but it's important to also recognize Colorado's iconic craft beer brands that helped pave the way. Tommyknocker Brewery and Pub is one such noteworthy establishment, and it's been churning out approachable excellent craft beers for 20 years. Located in the mountain town of Idaho Springs, about 45 minutes west of Denver, Tommyknocker makes a great pit stop for anyone traveling to or from the Rocky Mountains along Interstate 70.

The brewery's name taps into the gold mining history of Idaho Springs. A tommyknocker is a mythical elf-like creature that was said to live in the cracks of the mines, helping the miners know where to pick for gold. The legend of the tommyknocker is playfully reflected in the brewery's label art, branding, beer names, and brewpub decor. However, clever branding wouldn't mean much if the beer wasn't consistently great. In the bar, Tommyknocker exhibits the large collection of medals its beers have won at the Great American Beer Festival. The brewpub's food also holds up with the best of them, with a wide variety of reliably delicious pub food on the menu.

Over the years, I've tried just about all the year-round Tommyknocker beers, and a handful of seasonal releases. I stopped in recently and tried two of their seasonals, the Oaked Bock and Pine Bough Pale Ale. For the Oaked Bock, Tommyknocker takes the recipe from its Butt Head Doppelbock lager, an old favorite of mine, and adds oak chips in the brewing process. The beer has a malty sweetness, and flavors of vanilla, oak and whiskey. It retains similar qualities to the original doppelbock, but the oak adds layers of complexity. The Pine Bough Pale Ale is light and refreshing, with a crisp hop character and a smooth finish. The hop flavors are grassy, earthy, floral and a bit piney. It's a very enjoyable pale ale that packs a lot of flavor.

Tommyknocker has carved its place among Colorado's best and most well-established breweries. With its ideal location off I-70, it's also possible that many consumers first fell in love with craft beer in the brewpub while waiting out the mountain traffic. Here's to many more years of mountain town craft beer from Tommyknocker!