It seems like there’s something for everyone in and around Golden, Colorado. Although it can be a challenge to pick a tour that several people will enjoy, our group agreed on two. John and Pam, Sue and David and their son Jesse, Steve and I agreed to check out the huge Coors brewery tour in town, and the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in nearby Boulder. And hey, they were both free!
Coors Brewery Tour
Golden, Colorado is home to Coors beer. Don’t say yuck, the Coors Banquet beer was actually pretty good. But I’m getting ahead of myself. With our ears glued to audio devices that described each brewing process, we enjoyed the self-guided tour as we learned about how Coors beer is made.
This is the largest single brewing facility in the world, and there were many sights, sounds and smells for us to enjoy along the way.
According to its promotional materials, Coors has brewed its iconic American lager with Rocky Mountain spring water since 1873. The Banquet style is brewed only in this facility. And I honestly liked Banquet!
The tour ended with free beer, and not just one but three ! 10 oz. beers were available for tasting. We decided one sample each was enough, as someone has to drive.
National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)
On another day the group drove northwest to the town of Boulder, where we found the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) up on a mesa above the city.
The facility displays various exhibits relating to climate and atmospheric projects underway at the lab. The kid in me enjoyed playing with the interactive displays as I learned about the weather around us.
At noon we took a one-hour guided tour, starting with a video about the non-profit facility and its mission. Then the guide walked us around and described the displays in more depth, as he gave the group lots of interesting information bout our climate and atmosphere.
I found the tour interesting, as we see such a variety of weather phenomenon while traveling through parts of the country. With all of the weird weather we’ve seen the past few months it’s hard to imagine that folks wouldn’t find something interesting here.
One display that caught my attention was this graph showing how warm the earth has become in a relatively short time..
The setting of this building complex is phenomenal, with hiking trails just outside the door and killer views of the flatirons and the city of Boulder below. I wouldn’t mind working here just for the view and quiet environment.
We capped our afternoon with some shopping at Boulder’s Pearl Street Mall, while waiting for our chosen restaurant – The Bohemian Biergarten – to open. The 4-block pedestrian mall is obviously a popular destination for locals and tourists alike. It’s home to a number of businesses and many restaurants, as well as the Boulder County Courthouse.
Steve finally found us a small Wok that will work with our induction cooktop and fit in our kitchen drawers. Yay, back to cooking some of our favorite healthy stir fry meals!
An excellent early German dinner at Bohemian Biertgarten completed our day of touring and shopping. Great food and beer with great company. Life is good!
Lowes Travels 
Great review and pics of our “backyard”. Sounds like you found our favorite kitchen store – Peppercorn.
I just can’t get over that they give you three glasses of beer. Most places you are lucky to get a shot full.
What? People don’t like Coors? Why not? And all the better for being free!
Great post MonaLiza! You captured our tours perfectly and I love the pictures.
On your way back through CO after SD you’ll need to tour the New Belgium Brewery in Fort Collins. Great tour and the campground at Horsetooth Reservoir is really nice 🙂
Life is good with special friends:)
Enjoyed reading it and the pictures! Looks like a nice city to tour through.
So much fun to see this day from two different view points. In both cases it looks like you had a wonderful time. I would have been the other one passing on the free beer. Wish I could use an induction burner but I love my revere ware copper glad pots and pans.
I think we would really enjoy exploring the NCAR. Looks like some gorgeous trails there, too that would be fun to hike. How did you know I thought “yuck” when you first said Coors? But maybe I’ll have to give the banquet brew a try sometime. I can’t imagine more than one, though — I’d have to wander off to find a place for a nap in the corner of the brewery!
The NCAR sounds very interesting but I would say ‘yuck’ to the Coors beer as well. After craft beer nothing else will do!