First visit: Oct 2024
I received an email a couple of weeks ago from International Hotel Group (IHG) that my "loyalty points" were to expire unless I did something about it. Regular readers will recall (they don't exist but I like to pretend) that I spent a night last December at the Kimpton in Washington DC ahead of a business trip. That was a treat for myself, and an expensive one at that. Kimpton is part of the IHG group. I find it annoying they are chasing me already for activity. Whatever the case, I didn't have enough points for a free night, but I had too many to forfeit. So essentially if I stay one night I'll get another free later. Since Mrs. RJG is in Arizona, it seemed like the perfect time. I'll dig in the Denver record shops until early evening, eat, and crash there.
IHG's most known brand is Holiday Inn, and they are much cheaper than Kimpton that's for sure. In researching which one to stay at (and I was willing to stay anywhere in the metro area, it didn't matter to me), I discovered their hotel in Centennial has a burger and beer place attached. Well how perfect is that? I don't even have to drive or leave the hotel. This is where I'm staying then. Incidentally I was only a few blocks from Pat's where I had lunch, though I spent most of my day near downtown.
After checking in, I went back downstairs and began my dinner excursion. It's not what one would call a cozy hotel bar. It's way too open, and too much lighting. It feels more like a breakfast buffet setting, and that's exactly what it doubles as. No matter, I grabbed a bar stool, and began to order my first beer. They have a nice looking selection of taps, so I asked the bartender for the beer list. They don't have one. OK then, what do the taps house? She had no idea. No one trained her. My goodness. You specialize in craft beer and the bartender doesn't even know what they have. A classic example of absentee management. I was able to figure out most of them out once I took a close look at the taps, with one mystery left behind. By the way, the server/bartender was super sweet and helpful. She just wasn't trained, that's all.
The beers all proved excellent, but how would the food go? Let's hope the cook has cooked before... I went for their signature BT Boss with fries, which is loaded with infused cheese and layered cheese on top, and their own sauce. I come to find out while ordering that the cook doesn't speak English, but my order was well understood as it turns out. Fingers crossed.
Oh wow - was it great! One of the best burgers I'd ever had. You just never know sometimes. The data inputs were all wrong, but the output was amazing. The burger was very flavorful, and it got better as it went. It was a bit messy (not for Mrs. RJG) but I had a grand time eating it. The fries were excellent as well.
There aren't going to be a lot of nights I need to spend at a Denver hotel, but if the opportunity presents itself, I'm going here for the burgers and beer.
10/26/24 (new entry)
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