With a very limited amount of time in Denver this past fall, I based my non-work time in the city around a couple of late season baseball games and some craft beer sampling. This is the luxury of second visits to places – there’s no need to rush around seeing the sights to alleviate the fear of missing out on something.

Once my meetings wrapped up on a Friday afternoon, I got to work in making the most of my weekend in Denver. First stop: my all time favourite piece of public art – “I See What You Mean” or as it is more commonly known as, “Big Blue Bear”. My weekend was off to a great start.

From there, it was a brisk fifteen minute walk to Woods Boss Brewing. Their tap room was conveniently located on my way to that night’s baseball game. It was a welcoming place that was dog friendly and Canadian friendly as it looked like the interior decorator had taken all of their cues from Roots stores. I enjoyed a solid tasting flight here with the “Curtain With” rye IPA (middle) and the “Draw Knife Porter” (far right) being the standouts.

A quick walk only interrupted by a massive Octoberfest celebration taking up about five city blocks had me at Coors Field to take in some batting practice in advance of a Rockies-Brewers game. Lots of interesting ballpark food on offer here, but I had to try rocky mountain oysters. If you told me these were just flattened dark meat chicken nuggets I would have believed you. I was a bit disappointed, but at least I can now say I’ve eaten bull’s testicles.

This was my first visit to Coors Field, so I roamed around a bit. High up in the upper deck, there’s a row of purple chairs indicating where you are at exactly one mile above sea level.

The view from a mile high isn’t too shabby.

Back down to the lower level, I had a great pre-game experience. Sitting in my seat, a man came up to me to say hi. It was obvious we shared a common passion.

This was Robert, interestingly, from Edmonton, about a five hour drive from my hometown of Saskatoon. We laughed at some shared Montreal Expos memories and posed for that photo above. We promised to look for each other at the home opener when our Expos are reborn.

It was a perfect night for baseball in Denver – about 17C and only a light breeze. I settled into my seat for what was the first of two games.

This Friday night game was an offensive masterpiece. The Rockies won 11-7 in a game typical of Coors Field and its tendency to torment pitchers. One of the highlights was this pinch-hit grand slam in the 6th inning… one of five home runs on the evening.

My Saturday in Denver was all about beer and more baseball. I started my beer tastings in the River North arts District (RiNo) at Odell’s taproom. I brought in takeout from a burger joint next door and sampled a few of the beers that they brew at this location including a perfectly acceptable gluten-free beer (middle).

With the temperatures pushing 25C and nothing but blue skies, I wandered a few doors down from Odell to Ratio Beerworks. Their patio was calling to me and I enjoyed a pint of their “Rented World Session” – full of flavour and under 5% alcohol which was a perfect companion for a pale Canadian soaking up some sunshine.

Making this patio time even more enjoyable was watching a few dogs as I missed my dog back home.

My last stop on my RiNo craft beer explorations was at Epic Brewing. Their “Los Locos” Mexican-styled lager was a great way to wrap up my afternoon in the neighbourhood before a pre-game nap back at my hotel.

For game 2, I was again rocking my Expos hat. And while the Rockies were only playing for pride in this second-last game of the season, the Brewers had playoff positioning on the line so I was excited for the game.

I had snagged a nice seat for this Saturday night game… all the better to see the Rockies mascot, Dinger. Sadly, this was as close as I’d get to him on my visit.

Second game, second great seat, and a second perfect night for baseball in Denver.

This game was outstanding. There were highlight defensive plays throughout. Lorenzo Cain of the Brewers stole a two-run home run by scaling the centre field fence, and there were three runners thrown out at home in the game including the Rockies cutting down a Brewers run below. This game had everything – a comeback by the Rockies in the bottom of the ninth and a walk-off home run in extra innings which relegated the Brewers to a wild card position. This was really baseball at its most dramatic best, and a great way to cap off a short, but sweet visit to Denver.