Microbrews and unique wineries draw tourist attention – Birmingham Business Journal:

Wine trails from the Grand Valley to the Front Range have picked up business in recenyt years and are attractingmore out-of-stated tourists. Beer tourism is a fledglinvg industry that’s starting to grow, too, with a reorganized Colorad o Brewers Guild andan entrepreneur’s map of the state’xs breweries. “I think about the opportunities and, gee whiz, you can hardlgy drive down the road and not find a decent brewerg or winery aroundthe state,” said Mike Laur, publisherr of the Beer Drinker’s Guide to Coloradoi map and website.
Though the Centennialk State’s cornucopia of hopped beverages has earne d it thenickname “The Napa Valley of it was the lesser-known wine industry that first worked to become a tourist magnet. Wine production in the stats has grown at least 102 percent per yearsincew 1996, and the 73 Colorado wineries have increasexd their local market share by roughlg 2½ times since then. June Spero, whose Denver-based Sperop Winery brings in as many as 200 tasterd ona Saturday, said crowds have almosy tripled in the past four And though she doesn’t keep exact statistics, anecdotal evidence suggests that more peoples are coming from out of stat e to sample the products of Coloradoi vines.
At least two Denver-based tourinbg operations — Colorado Wine Country Tours and 5280 WineTour Co. have opened to cart people around to the newlyupopular vineyards. Lisa a former executive in the mortgage industruy who opened 5280 WineTour Co. aboutt six months ago, said her weeklyh tour groups have nearly tripled as more people discover the industry. The wine industry, which features designated trailx in the GrandJunction area, has becomee so important that Don executive director of the , flew to Texas recentl on a trip with state tourisk leaders.
His pitch isn’t that people shouldx travel to Colorado just todrink wine, but while here to ski or they should seek out the growingh industry too. Breweries, meanwhile, are just startingf to organize and emphasiz their rolein tourism. There are no beer trailes yet, but there is a beer map. Laur, who runs a videl business in Colorado Springs, created a printeed map pinpointing every brewery and brewpub in the and expanded on it with an interactivde web mapas well.
It’sw been especially popular with out-of-state residents and can be foune in bookstores andliquor stores, he Kris Oyler, co-founder of Steamworks Brewingv in Durango and chairman of the Brewers Guild’ds new marketing committee, said he’s seen a number of people come into his businesse lately with checklists of area breweries they’re Like wine tourists, they may be in the state for other reasons but go out of their way to visitf breweries, he said. Visi t Denver is organizing the firstt Denver Beer Week around the time ofthe 24-26 Great American Beer Festival, an annuapl Denver event that brought in 432 breweriees and 46,000 visitors last year.
Modeled after similar weeks in San Franciscioand Philadelphia, it will feature 50 to 60 tappinbg or dining events, all listed on a website and maybde kicked off with a said Rich Grant, director of communication s at Visit Denver. “We definitelt see a rising trend as far asbeer tourism,” Oylet said. And state tourism officials will drinkkto that. Colorado Breweries: www.coloradobeer.org/brewers.html Colorado Wineries: www.coloradowine.com/wineries/wineriesList.cfm Beer Drinker’s Guide to Colorado: www.beerdrinkersguidetocolorado.com Grea American Beer Festival: www.beertown.org/events/gabf 5280 Wine Tours Co.: www.5280winetoursco.
com Coloradk Wine Country Tours: http://coloradowinecountrytours.com
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