Lowry Beer Garden (7577 E. Academy Boulevard, Denver) officially opens tomorrow, May 23rd, but last night I had the pleasure of attending a “special preview opening,” and it was a great time.

Upon first hearing about this place, my initial thought was, “Where the hell is Lowry?” Living downtown, I tend to frequent establishments that are more in the Central Denver area.  But I had to check out the “first beer garden” in Denver and, once I saw a picture of their giant pretzel, I was sold.

Lowry Beer Garden has 16 craft beers on tap, on a rotating basis.  I was thrilled to see Avery’s Maharaja and Odell’s Myrcenary, both of which are served in a full pint.  At 10.3 and 9.3% ABV, respectively, those are not for the lightweight drinker.  After a couple pints I decided it was probably in my best interest to soak up a little of that alcohol with one of their GIANT pretzels.  Served in a pizza box, this thing serves numerous people.  Four of us split it, and there was some leftover.  I was too busy devouring it to bother taking a picture, until later after we did a significant amount of damage to it.  It’s good stuff, and they have a bunch of tasty sauces to go with it.  It came with a jalapeno cheese sauce, but they also have a condiment stand for your dipping pleasure.  We tried all the mustards: blueberry, honey, and apricot.

In addition to the 16 beers on tap, they offer around 30 different bottled beers, plus a full bar.  Here’s their current tap list:

• Avery IPA, Karma, Maharaja & White Rascal
• Breckenridge Avalanche
• Copper Kettle Bavarian Helles
• Dales Pale Ale
• Deschutes Mirror Pond
• Left Hand Milk Stout
• Odell Myrceary, 90 Shilling, St. Lupulin & Easy Street
• Paulaner Hefe
• Sierra Nevada
• Spaten

Lowry Beer Garden is extremely spacious, with enough picnic tables to seat over 300 people.  Also, you get the choice of sitting in the sun or under a pavillion, which is very nice (and will be helpful on those rainy days).  I think this place is going to do very well, and I look forward to keeping up with their ever-changing tap list.  If you like drinking beer outside and eating giant pretzels (yes, they do offer other food too), go here.