7/20/11

What a wonderful day! And all because I got to spend it with my long lost family who was reunited to me in the wonderful state of Colorado! This morning we went to the Whitesides after breakfast with packed lunches. After visiting with the Whitesides for a while at their house (Don, Mr. Richard's father had lunch and was driving around with a family friend) we had lunch together. We had packed peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Following lunch, Mr. Don Whiteside was dropped back off at the house and we all went to the Coors Brewery in Golden Colorado. We got VIP handicap access with our own tour guide instead of the typical headset! Here Nelson, Megan, Marcus and I stand in front of a huge brew kettle outside the brewery.

Coors and Miller recently have joined forces, but the beers that Coors brews include the Blue Moon family, the Keystone family, Leinenkugel's, Colorado Native (only found in Colorado), Batch 19, and Killian's, among other things. At the beginning of the tour we got to see some of the most popular beers brewed by Coors.
The tour commenced with an area where we were able to see, touch, and smell the main ingredients used to make beer: malted wheat and barley, water, and hops (which give beer that characteristic bitter taste in certain blends). We got to see the beer making process and see the brew kettles and mash tuns.
At the end of the tour, after seeing the packaging plant we were brought to the tasting room where we had wristbands that allowed us to try a glass of 3 beers. They had Coors, Coors Light, Killians, Colorado Native, Batch 19, Blue Moon, and the Blue Moon Summer Seasonal.
It turns out my mom doesn't only like wine anymore. She really enjoyed Blue Moon. It's a wheat beer that has fruitier flavors, but not too strong.
After the brewery we went back to the Whitesides where Mr. Richard's brother was waiting to get Mr. Don for dinner. We dropped him off with them and then headed to an Italian buffet in between our hotel in Westminster and the Whitesides house in Lakewood. The restaurant was called Cinzetti's. It was around $13/person and was really good! They had a wide variety of foods and desserts and even had a girl making crepes. It was a good end to the day! We went our separate ways after dinner and Megan and I watch some TV episodes online together before falling asleep!