The Downtown Denver beer garden at Skyline Park is one of the best places to drink outside (temporarily)

The Skyline Park beer garden opened Friday and I expected it to be completely packed Saturday. It wasn’t, and I could have stayed there for hours.

staff photo
Tables at the beer garden at Skyline Park in downtown Denver. (Dave Burdick/Denverite)

Tables at the beer garden at Skyline Park in downtown Denver. (Dave Burdick/Denverite)

UPDATE: The Skyline Park beer garden is open again this year, but I haven’t been back to check it out yet. If you go, let me know how it is! 

The Denver pop-up beer garden at Skyline Park opened Friday and I expected it to be completely packed Saturday. It wasn’t, and I could have stayed there for hours.

The weather was perfect, and it was the first day of the newest Denver beer garden’s full hours — 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. It’ll be at Skyline Park, at Arapahoe Street between 16th and 17th Streets, through Thursday, September 15.

Here’s what it looked like!

When you first arrive, you have to show your ID and buy tokens.
The ID and token lines at the Skyline Park beer garden in downtown Denver. (Dave Burdick/Denverite)

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There’s the usual wristband.
Getting a wristband at the Skyline Park beer garden in downtown Denver. (Dave Burdick/Denverite)

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These are the tokens. They cost $2.50 each. Most beers are 2 tokens, but a couple of specialty beers cost 3.
Tokens at the beer garden at Skyline Park in downtown Denver. (Dave Burdick/Denverite)
Time to choose a beer. Here’s what was available the first Saturday that the beer garden was open.
Options at the beer garden at Skyline Park in downtown Denver. (Dave Burdick/Denverite)

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I chose a blood orange IPA from Tommyknocker Brewery in Idaho Springs. It felt summery.
A bartender pours a Tommyknocker blood orange IPA at the Skyline Park beer garden in downtown Denver. (Dave Burdick/Denverite)

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There are the long tables you’d expect in a beer garden…
Seating at the beer garden at Skyline Park in downtown Denver. (Dave Burdick/Denverite)

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And four-tops. We picked a four-top where someone had left a little American flag. Here’s my blood orange IPA.
A beer at the beer garden at Skyline Park in downtown Denver. (Dave Burdick/Denverite)
There are plenty of games, and it’s definitely a family-friendly environment — at least it was when we were there, around 6 p.m.
Foosball and other games at the beer garden at Skyline Park in downtown Denver. (Dave Burdick/Denverite)

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The miniature golf supply rack at the beer garden in Skyline Park in downtown Denver. (Dave Burdick/Denverite)

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The mini-golf obstacles are adorably downtown Denver-themed. Here’s the clocktower.
The clocktower miniature golf obstacle in the beer garden at Skyline Park in downtown Denver. (Dave Burdick/Denverite)

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(The real one is directly above.)
The clocktower in downtown Denver, as seen from Skyline Park. (Dave Burdick/Denverite)

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There’s the big blue bear, a.k.a. “I See What You Mean.”
A miniature "I See What You Mean" big blue bear sculpture as a mini-golf obstacle in the beer garden at Skyline Park in downtown Denver. (Dave Burdick/Denverite)

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Whoops — my beer’s empty. Time for another! Here’s an Odell Drumroll American Pale Ale.
An Odell Drumroll American Pale Ale beer at the beer garden at Skyline Park in downtown Denver. (Dave Burdick/Denverite)

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Might be smart to get a bite to eat at this point. Here’s the downtown Denver beer garden’s food menu.
The food menu at the beer garden at Skyline Park in downtown Denver. (Dave Burdick/Denverite)

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Unsurprisingly, there’s Colorado-flag cornhole and giant not-Jenga-for-legal-reasons.
Games at the beer garden in Skyline park in downtown Denver. (Dave Burdick/Denverite)

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And if you’ve done it right, by the end, you’ll be pretty sure that your beer legs have formed a distorted map of the world.
Beer legs in the shape of the Earth's continents. (Dave Burdick/Denverite)

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Cheers!

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