Dry Dock Brewing Co.

Ragingbull

California

3.74/5  rDev -10.1%
vibe: 3 | quality: 4 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4 | $$

My wife and I stopped in for a flight and a pint at Dry Dock yesterday evening. The atmosphere was decent. It is a tasting room and brewing facility in a strip mall, so they do a great job considering where they are at. There is a nice little "patio" area they have cobbled out front on what would otherwise be the sidewalk. The selection is decent, I think they had 8 or 9 beers available. Maybe more. I can't say for sure as there were multiple lists floating around and some beers were out. The servers were friendly and attentive, but it took a little while for them to get out to us, most likely just because of the hour and the fact that the place was pretty full on a Saturday night. The popcorn machine is a nice touch as there isn't food. Thankfully we knew this and had some dinner first. They do offer the opportunity for you to order food from area restaurants and eat it on their premises which is cool. Pretty good place. We didn't make it here in May when visiting Denver, but I am glad we did this weekend.

07-04-2011 03:52:25 | More by Ragingbull

mulder1010

Australia

3.89/5  rDev -6.5%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 3 | selection: 4 | $

A-- Good atmosphere and a large facility for what is there. Lots of barrels and old wood, that gives it a homey feel. Very clean and tidy though.

Q-- Top notch quality beers. Had the Vanilla Porter and DIPA there. Hard to find fault with the two beers I had.

S-- A little slow and unattentive but that is OK. Got what I needed when ordered.

S-- Just their own offernings. The IPA was out when I was there.

F-- No food, just a popcorn machine. Enough food offerings in the area so that is OK and makes up for it.

V-- Maybe the best tap room in the metro area. Lots of space and a good feel to it. Really good beers from a up and coming player in beer in the Western US. Good prices on the beers and really good growler prices.

06-25-2011 18:21:36 | More by mulder1010

FrankenBeerStein

Colorado

4.39/5  rDev +5.5%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 5 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | $

Definitely a "must hit" place when checking out Denver microbrews. It seems to be bigger every time I go in, and now that I have started homebrewing, it's got even more to offer. They don't serve food, but that isn't a bad thing since it is a tap room and all about the beer. I have yet to try one here that I haven't liked. They'll pour you a taste of anything you want to try, and pints are inexpensive ($3-$5) when you find one you want a full glass of. Last time I was there, I got some tubing and an auto siphon AND got to try their Dry Irish Stout (excellent and highly recommended, but it may have been a St Patty's special run). The atmosphere is that of a neighborhood hangout/clubhouse for beer enthusiasts and you can usually get into a brewing conversation fairly easily, either in the bar itself, or in their homebrew shop, The Brew Hut. Plenty of tables and places to sit weekeday afternoons/evenings, though I can't really speak to Fri/Sat nights as that's when I have to work. When out of town friends visit, this is definitely one of the places I try to send/take them to.

04-26-2011 00:28:38 | More by FrankenBeerStein

brewdenver

Colorado

4.36/5  rDev +4.8%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | $$

A true brewery down to the very core. Before they started winning medals at GABF. They had an area in the back that would only sit about 20 comfortably. I miss those days. Now its changed a lot expanding to the neighbors spots and growing considerably. A true beer drinkers atmosphere. Beer and nothing but beer to drink. with large windows showing their fermenters and boilers. As always next door they have the brew store; selling everything you need to brew your own. Beer quality is exceptional. I have never had a bad beer here. Their Oktoberfest which is very limited is worth even a trip from a neighboring state. It only last the one day it's served. When ordering they write it down and give you the paper. They trust their beer drinkers :). On a side note when you are needing to get your beer supplies and ingredients you can do so while drinking one of their many beers on tap. Always new beers available. I don't think they ever stop brewing at this place. No food is served here. Although within a 2 min walking distance you have a gyro, mexican and chinese restaurant and can bring your food in to eat. If you don't want to walk you can eat the popcorn. Well its beer only so value is awesome.

03-24-2011 16:42:32 | More by brewdenver

northyorksammy

Ontario (Canada)

3.71/5  rDev -10.8%
vibe: 3 | quality: 3.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | $$

Some important pluses and minuses. A small place, a decent and nice bar. The server was very nice, and one of the brewers just came out, poured me an unfiltered altbier before it was going on line, and disapeared (a plus). Kids around ( a plus), very inexpensive. Hwoever, most of their beers though often flavourful, were overcarbonated. In a nice suburb, so lots of free parking. Most patrons walking around, not unfriendly, but a few just too drunk and loud so not a place for my young daughter. Brew their own rootbeer which I liked but not sweet enough for the designated driver (my wife).

02-11-2011 04:50:26 | More by northyorksammy

mytireisfat

Colorado

4.5/5  rDev +8.2%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.5 | $$

I love this place! I've been ther twice now. Both time was packed. Hard to find a place to sit tho. They have an extra bar at the window to sit at, but the tables are to close to get in and out. Now with the good stuff! Good selection of beers. And both time had a seasonal beer which were awesome! Saison was my fave. Good selection of beer glasses they serve in. No food. But all u can eat free popcorn. the place has things like boats and sails all over, which is cool. There is a homebrew shop attatched to the place. Out side there is more seating, and they have a huge heater, which does the job of keeping you warm pretty well. You can get growlers. And now they bottle in bombers. But only had one style in bottles last time I was there. Fun place to go. Great beer, which they have won some awards for. I can't wait to go back!

11-28-2010 21:50:35 | More by mytireisfat

brdc

Wisconsin

3.28/5  rDev -21.2%
vibe: 3 | quality: 3 | service: 4 | selection: 3 | $$

I was taken to this place by a local friend, on a Saturday night. Reasonable amount of people, but definitely not packed.

This is a peculiar place, with good service, but also very hard to recommend.
The place itself looks semi-abandoned and somewhat dirty, with a number of merchandise hanging for sale like dirty clothes in a hanger.
Food is not available, other than a few bags of peanuts.
The service, as mentioned, is good, but it is hard to be great when you do not have food to serve, and the beers are limited.
The beers were unfortunately not the best, and interestingly, some of their awarded beers (listed on the wall) are not available.
This was unfortunately a disappointing place.

11-01-2010 22:34:46 | More by brdc

WhatsNewinBooze

Colorado

4.16/5  rDev 0%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | $$

This place is great escpecially since it is attached to the homebrew shop i always go to. It is great I stop by and pick up my ingredients and then I stop over to dry dock for a few pints of inspiration. The always have something new and interesting on tap, as well as, some of the local favorites. Not sure what to try first that's okay, just ask the bartender! They will surely guide into the best possible style of beer for your palate and mood. If you are ever in the area stop in for a quick pint, or do what I do and start bringing growlers.

10-22-2010 17:11:51 | More by WhatsNewinBooze

clarkm04

Nebraska

4.39/5  rDev +5.5%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 5 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | $$

Dry Dock just rules!

Every beer here is top notch. I have never had a beer I thought was just average. I've been at the brewery at least a half dozen times and have always come away impressed by the selection and freshness of Dry Dock. I love all of their beers but I will say the Vanilla Porter is a particular favorite. Very balanced with just vanilla notes in the smell and taste.

I'm always amazed how busy this place is too since I don't think they keg or bottle their beer. Basically you have to show up to drink it or take it home in growlers.

They have fairly generous seating around the bar and lots of tables both in and outside. Every time I stop by here after 5 PM, the place is just packed.

They have a homebrew store (The Brew Hut) right next door to handle your local homebrew needs. They are really cool to homebrewers too. Lots of their recipes are located on their website and my buddy was trying to clone one of their beers and e-mailed them with some questions and they were very forthright regarding their processes and ingredients.

The only negatives:
- It's far from the the action of all the Denver breweries but well worth a trip in my opinion.
- No food
- Since they are so small and doing suck brisk business they tend to run out of beer fairly quickly so it's best to get what you want when you are there.

A must visit place if you are a beer advocate living along the Front Range or a visitor to Denver/Aurora.

07-28-2010 16:17:35 | More by clarkm04

Domingo

Colorado

4.94/5  rDev +18.8%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 5 | service: 5 | selection: 5 | $$

This is my local brewpub...and it also just happens to be the small brewer of the year award winner from the 2009 GABF. How convenient, huh?

While Dry Dock used to simply be the small area in the back of the Brew Hut (the homebrew shop and sister business), it now has a large tasting room with tons of taps, lots of tables, and a lot of space. There are even 5 picnic tables outside for the summer.
Everything is wood paneled for a cool look. There are 3 HDTV's and a nice railing that runs around the entire bar so that you have a place to sit/stand when it's crowded.
Want to know what's on tap? There are two large chalk boards and taplist/style description lists scattered around.

On to the beer! Dry Dock usually has at least 6-7 beers on tap at any one time. Year round beers include an APA, ESB, weiss, IPA, vanilla porter, "naked" (non-vanilla) porter, UK strong ale, and an apricot blonde. During most seasons there will also be 4-5 limited selections like an alt, pumpkin, brown, doppelbock, honey cream, golden ale, and plenty of others. On some days I've seen upwards of 15 beers ready to go. Pints are $3-4 each and are served in the correct glassware for each style. Are they any good? Absolutely. I've never had anything from DD that I would consider to be less than excellent. The weiss and ESB are among the best I've had anywhere. The Marzen and doppelbock are the best US examples I've ever had. The cask brown, too.
One of the best things about DD is that they're creating great examples of both everyday styles, and unusual ones. While some beers are better than others, I've never picked up anything "off" in any of them. They also never play it safe with boring examples of anything either.
Each Friday they do an experimental single batch of something unusual. It could be everything from a chili-pepper DIPA to a coconut porter. While some of those can get a little zany, you can chalk that up to DD simply creating something fun that may or may not be worth revisiting.
Service? The bartenders knew my name and were running tabs for me without any questions after only a few visits. When new people stop in they're always good about giving recommendations or free tastes of things. They even comp regulars when a new beer is tapped. Can't beat that.

What about food? There's all you can eat popcorn :) Since no food is served (not counting special occasions), they have an old style popcorn machine for snacking and you can bring in any food or snacks you want. Since there are Chinese and Mexican restaurants nearby you'll almost always see people eating inside. You can even get food delivered there if you like.

Dry Dock is my favorite brewpub for a reason. Great beers, great selection, great service, and I can bring in any food I want to pair with any of it.

12-09-2009 18:37:17 | More by Domingo