mmmm....Beer.....

So, today I woke up with the need to do something new and most importantly, not in the house. We got the kids ready to go, piled into the car and Chris said, "Where should we go?"

OK, planning isn't always our thing...

After some thought and a little driving around, I said, "lets go to Golden", we could always go to a museum or something. Up to Golden we drove, as we were passing the Coors plant it occurred to us that the brewery has a free tour and more importantly, free beer! Considering the Coors brewery isn't all that far away we've never done the tour.  The brewery fit the bill perfectly... something new and it wasn't at our house.

The Brewery is located basically in or at least near downtown Golden, right on Clear Creek... fresh mountain spring anyone? Tee Hee, actually they assured us they use water from a source deep in the mountains, under the plant. This water is only used for cooling...

The kids were pretty excited to go, when we told them what we were going to do.  It had all the elements of a fun time: It was up in the mountains (yes Golden is in the mountains and you better not tell my kids different... it saves me a bundle in gas not to have to go to an actual mountain town! LOL), we rode on a 'school bus' (Coors shuttle), we went in a big building, rode in an elevator and had soda... all the components needed for an adventure.

The tour is a self guided tour with a little device that tells one (uno, solo, solitary) person what is going on.. and you have to be over 12 to get one.  Oh, joy, only mommy and daddy got the fascinating device, leaving the kids to argue who got to help listen.  As a bonus, no matter how loud you try to make it, you have to hold it up to your ear to hear.  Luckily the babies lost interest pretty fast and the girls were pretty good about sharing when needed, after the initial volley of, "ME, NO ME, MY TURN!!!" it wasn't too bad.

We learned the history of the brewery and I found it interesting they make everything there. The beer, the bottles and the cans. You really do learn something new everyday.

A lot of the plant was shut down since it was Saturday. But there were still some interesting things. The copper vats where they cook the grains was my favorite. It looked like the innards of some alien ship. The shiny copper vats put out a lot of heat and it was a little humid as well. There was also a high tech control room to monitor everything... all alien ships need one!

 At the end of the tour we got to see some finished product ... for all of you who drink Coors Light, here it is coming off the line.

After about a half hour of looking around we found the lounge and enjoyed a fresh cold one... tasty...I had a Killian's Red.

The kids had soda and assured me that it was very yummy.  Lucas was convinced he had found paradise, a factory that makes 'soda', where you get to see how it's made and then drink some and then ride on a 'soda bus'... I'm still not sure what tour he took.