Golden, Colorado: Coors Plant Tours: Free Beer

The plant tours are closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

Free and fresh beer= Awesome.

One of the first sights you see on the Coors Tour at Golden sits right in front of the brewery, a giant copper kettle that stands at least a couple stories tall. This kettle was hand-hammered and helped brew Coors Beer from the 1890s until 1914 -- when Prohibition started up in Colorado and the cops made them dump all the beer in the river. In the 1990s Coors set the kettle outside, though they won't let you get this much free beer on the tour.

A Golden tourism rep greets you at the parking lot entrance, and at the tourism booth. You meet your Coors tour director, wait around 5 minutes for a shuttle bus that takes you to the welcome and tour center at the brewery. Along the way, they take you through downtown Golden and tell about its history.

Once inside, you will be assigned a tour group and can look around at memorabilia in the lobby/waiting area. The tour lasts 30-45 minutes and, of course, you need to take time for your 3 free drinks (if you are 21 or over), and the gift shop. Take the next shuttle bus back to the parking lot. The whole tour of the town and the brewery will take you from 1-1/2 to 2 hours on average. Enjoy!

A lovely 30 (or so) minute trip through the Coors Beer brewery. My father-in-law and I could barely pull ourselves away from the fascinating history of Coors to go drink our THREE FREE BEERS. This has to be road-trip nirvana. Cheezy souvenirs and free beer! You can even do the "quick tour" where you are directed straight to the bar/lounge/"hospitality area".

I guess this should be your final stop for the day. If you get into Golden too early, go see Buffalo Bill's grave, then come back and get your free beers.