Since moving to Cheyenne, Wyoming, in 2022, we’ve been steadily making our way through a list of local experiences we want to have while we’re in the area. Recently we were finally able to cross the Coors Brewery Tour off the list. It’s been almost 20 years since I toured the brewery, and Heather had never been before.

The 1.5-hour drive down to Golden, Colorado, was easy with less traffic than expected, and we arrived early for our afternoon brewery tour. The tour is by advance reservation only, and we were lucky to find a time slot since it tends to fill up about a month out.

The parking for the tour is free and there is an attendant who directs you to an open spot and keeps an eye on the lot. There are also bathrooms in the parking lot, which was a nice touch after our drive.

We were among 15 people who boarded the Coors Brewery Tour Bus at 3:45 p.m. – the last tour of the day – and we rode around the block prior to entering the brewery complex. 

Coors has been brewing beer in Golden since 1873, and the brewery complex is the largest in the world. Brent was our tour guide, and after sharing some facts about the area and the creek that runs through the brewery, he led us inside for a safety video.

The tour includes three 8 oz tastings for those over 21 and our first was a choice between Blue Moon and Colorado Native Amber. Both were on tap on a landing overlooking the enormous copper brew kettles.

We both chose the amber, having had Blue Moon before, and were pleasantly surprised. Usually amber beers aren’t our favorite, but the Colorado Native Amber was one of the best we’ve tasted.

We had never heard of the Colorado Native series before and learned it’s a line of beers – only sold in Colorado – that contain only ingredients that are grown in Colorado.

After Brent explained the process of making wort, we continued the tour past the quality control lab and into our second tasting area where the choices were Coors Banquet or Coors Light.

We’d had both of these before but likely never this fresh, and we both went with the Banquet.

Our next stop was the canning and packaging area, which was operational during our visit.

It was amazing to see the volume of cans quickly moving down the conveyor belts and being packaged into cases before zipping by the window.

The last stop was in the tasting lounge where there were several beers available on tap. The bartenders were nice enough to let us sample a couple very small pours before deciding on our final 8 oz tasters. I ended up with the Colorado Native Pilser and Heather tried the Colorado Native Cerveza Nativa.

We had barely received our beers and were beginning to look at the old advertisements on the walls of the lounge when the loudspeaker announced closing time. We were the last tour of the day, and our tour guide had made a comment to the bartender at the first tasting stop that he was going to move the tour along so they could finish their day.

We rapidly finished our beers and skipped the gift shop to catch the bus back to the parking lot.

It was disappointing to be rushed, particularly at the end, so I would recommend avoiding the last tour of the day. I also would have liked more history about how the company survived prohibition and the Molson Coors merger.

Overall it was an interesting tour and held up to my memory of touring the brewery a couple decades ago. Golden is in a beautiful area of Colorado, and touring the brewery was a nice excuse to spend a fall afternoon in this area.