Mod Meet 2009 was cancelled and reconfigured into the Denver Meetup, centering around the Great American Beer Festival coming to town. This time I brought my pals Joe(SleazeRocker) and Josh(kelwynshade) with me. We created Crystal Lake together, and Josh has also provided music for my other games like Territory War. They had been wanting to make it out to a Newgrounds meetup so Beerfest seemed like a perfect opportunity.
We flew out on Thursday to get settled in early for the festivities. We started off with some food and drinks from the hotel bar, and eventually met up with some of the NG staff later that night for pool. We called it a night pretty early so we could get back to our rooms and rest up for the next day. And I mean rest up, because we slept in pretty late. But who am I kidding, I always sleep in. We skipped out on Psycho Goldfish's cookout and headed down to Beerfest early to get a place in line.
A small part of the Beerfest line
We were actually pretty close to the front
It wasn't long before we were inside and sampling beers. Upon entrance we were given 1oz sample glasses to take around to the booths with us. As cool as Beerfest sounds in theory, it wasn't actually that exciting. It started off fun but became pretty crowded over time. It became hard to squeeze in and get samples. Not to mention that mixing so many different kinds of beer together isn't so pleasant.
Ready to drink
Time for a break
We skipped out early and found our way to a hookah bar down the road. Everywhere was pretty deserted because apparently the entire town of Denver was attending Beerfest that night. Eventually the rest of the group caught up with us. After some drinks we headed down to a Pizza Hut/Taco Bell combo for some late night food, and called it a night again.
Hookah time
Group shot
The plan for Saturday was to go to the local amusement park, Elitch Gardens. We slept in late again, and weren't really feeling excited about roller coasters. After flipping through the tourist book in our hotel room I noticed an ad for the Denver Art Museum, so we decided that would make a good replacement activity. We browsed centuries' worth of fine art, but ultimately found the modern art section to be the most entertaining. We even created our own photographic art project/montage in the process!
One of the more impressive pieces
Yes, it's art
The intellectual stimulation was a little much, so we made up for it by transitioning straight to bar hopping at 3 in the afternoon. After a standard sports bar we ended up at a British-themed pub. It was complete with novelty decorations, authentic micro-brews, and lovely bicuits.
Lovely biscuits
And lots of alcohol
By this time the amusement park crew was headed back into town, so we met up with them in the main area of town at the Rock Bottom Brewery. Seeing as how we finally had everyone in the same place together, this night was destined for fun. I'll let the pictures tell the rest.
I take on Luis in beer samples
I don't know what I'm up against
Cheers
Group shot at Rock Bottom
Our friend Jason (announcer and musician for Territory War Online) has been wanting to come to a Newgrounds meetup for a while too. This meetup was no different, unfortunately. To make up for it we had Tom send him an endearing text message. Meanwhile Josh and Joe pose for a picture with Jonas, creator of Metal Gill Jawesome.
Tom ridicules Jason
Aluminum Fish FANTASTIC
Things were getting pretty hazy at this point, and involved things like marriage proposals and parking meters. We'll leave it at that. I wrapped up the night with Jonas playing the Tankmen card game. I lost.
We're a mess
Jonas teaches me the way of the Tankmen card game
While I was disappointed we didn't get a chance to check out any real scenery in Colorado, the trip was still an amazing time. It was pretty enjoyable to split the activities, hanging out with the NG crew as usual but also making side trips with my buddies from back home. I might skip out on the actual beerfest from now on but Denver will remain a top travel pick.
Posted to: Adventures