Updated: Sep 16, 2022
In a city full of breweries in Colorado, a beer garden that has tap beers from a bunch of them all in one place tops our list of pubs! Serving a wide variety of beers with a great selection of food, plus a lunch special that’s almost too good to be true, the RiNo Beer Garden is a don’t-miss pub while visiting Denver.
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Where is RiNo Beer Garden?
The RiNo Beer Garden is nestled in the River North Art District in downtown Denver, Colorado, at 3800 Walnut St, Denver, CO 80205. This area of downtown, endearingly referred to as RiNo, was once an industrial neighborhood of foundries that helped uphold Denver’s economy. After those businesses moved out of downtown, their warehouses sat empty for a while before artists started moving in. Now, it’s a thriving community with tons of murals, art studios, and breweries!
How to Get There
Denver’s Regional Transportation District (RTD) has the A line running with a stop just a 5 minute walk away, so leave your car at home and take public transportation to RiNo Beer Garden. The 38th & Blake stop is the one you want, a mere 4-minute ride on the A line from Union Station.
If you have to drive, they have a small parking lot, and I’m sure you could find other parking garages nearby, but remember that you’re going to be drinking so that may not be the best idea!
Reservations at RiNo Beer Garden in Downtown Denver
You probably don’t need a reservation for RiNo Beer Garden, but according to their website, you can call to make one. And according to Google, there can be up to a 30 minute wait for a table during prime time on their busiest nights, which are Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. While there is a huge outdoor patio with large picnic tables conducive for communal dining, their indoor space is fairly small, so if you’re going on a day that’s supposed to have bad weather, I would definitely try for a reservation. Although there was plenty of open space when we went for lunch on a Wednesday, we got the distinct impression that the place gets fairly busy on a regular basis.
Our Experience
We’d heard about the RiNo Art District from a few friends that live in the Denver area, full of crazy murals, amazing graffiti, and more breweries than you can shake a stick at, so we knew we had to go visit the area and do our own little bar crawl. After some intense research (Phoebe’s specialty), we discovered the best place to start would be the RiNo Beer Garden.
While the RiNo Beer Garden does not brew their own beer, they do have a massive selection of 60 beers on tap from around the world, but focusing mainly on Colorado breweries. In addition to their regular selection of draft beers, they feature a rotating ‘Brewery of the Month’, with six beers on tap from that brewery, plus a ‘Featured Seasonal Brewery’, which usually includes some seasonal flavors such as pumpkin. The beers we tried were quite tasty, including the Blood Orange IPA from Tommyknocker Brewery in Idaho Springs, Colorado, and the Sippin’ Pretty Fruited Sour (with Acai, Guava and Elderberry) from Odell Brewing Co. in Fort Collins, Colorado.
For your non-beer drinking friends, RiNo Beer Garden also has a full bar and cocktail menu. They offer happy hour all-day on Mondays and from 3pm - 7pm, Tuesday - Friday. This currently includes $1 off drinks and $2 off appetizers plus other specials Tuesday - Friday, such as $12.95 fish & chips (discounted from the regular $17) and $10 for a flatbread and a beer. That’s all subject to change, of course, so check this page of their website for the most up-to-date info.
What brought us to the RiNo Beer Garden was the promise of a $6.95 lunch special that includes a burger, french fries, and a beer (or well drink or soda). Granted, it’s now $7.95 (inflation), but it’s still the best lunch special in Denver. The burger was juicy, the fries were crispy, and the beers were delicious. Our only hang up was that Phoebe doesn’t eat fries, so the server suggested she substitute their mac ‘n’ cheese as a side instead. We were expecting an upcharge, but they ended up charging us $5 to swap out the fries, which seems ridiculous when the lunch special was $6.95. It should’ve been more clear how much the upcharge cost was going to be. That being said, the mac ‘n’ cheese was exquisite, just be aware of the impending cost. The lunch special is from 11am - 3pm, Monday - Friday and currently all-day on Wednesdays too. Again, we don’t have control over it if they change their specials, so check their website for the most current info. We each got the lunch special plus another round of beers, and our bill (before tip) came out to be just under $30!
If burgers aren’t your thing, RiNo Beer Garden does have a full menu, with fried pickles, cheese curds, nachos, poutine, a beer cheese dip, and more as appetizers. For mains, expect salads, wraps, reubens, chicken sandwiches, steak pitas, and a bunch of burgers to choose from, including a PB&J burger with peanut butter, bacon, and strawberry preserves that sounds absolutely delicious. They also have fish & chips, chili, chicken strips, burritos, and a variety of flatbreads.
Weekend brunch is from 10am - 2pm on Saturday and Sunday and features a small selection of items not offered on their regular menu, but it’s unclear if the lunch and dinner menu is also offered at that time. Next time we’re in Denver, we are both looking forward to enjoying brunch on the patio here!
After we finished our lunch (and that second round of beers), we took a walk down the street to admire all the street art and go to one of the many breweries serving their own beer in the area, which we will be covering in our Thirsty Thursday segment next week! Make sure you’re subscribed to our newsletter so you don’t miss it 😉
Our Verdict
RiNo Beer Garden is a great place to start a day-long bar crawl through the RINo Art District, which is what we did and will do every time we go to Denver from now on! With how easy this place is to get to via public transit, the unbelievable lunch special, and the ease of sampling beers from a ton of local Colorado breweries all in one place, why would you NOT go?!
Quick Reference Guide
What | |
Where | |
How to Get There | RTD-Denver’s A line runs a block away, making it easy to get there via public transportation. They have a parking lot attached to the building for those who need to drive. |
Time Commitment | Lunch specials last from 11am - 3pm, just in time for Happy Hour to start, until 7pm. It would be easy to make a day of sampling beers here or you can just come in for an hour for lunch. |
Cost | Beers range from 10oz to 22oz pours, going from $4.50 to $10. Their lunch special is $7.95 for a burger, fries, and beer, but they also have a full menu with entrees averaging around $16. |
Reservation Info | No reservation needed for lunch, but you might want to call and make one for prime dinner time on Thursday-Saturday nights. |
Our Verdict | Great selection of local beers and an unbeatable lunch special. Start a RiNo Arts District pub crawl at RiNo Beer Garden! |
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