K is for Steep Brewing LaKeside TiKi Bar

If you're following along on the A to Z Series of Posts, and read L is for Landlocked Ales, you know we skipped over "K".

It just so happened that there wasn't really anything close to our house on the Colorado Brewery Map & List that would really work for us.

But ... we had plans to stay up in the mountains over Labor Day weekend, and my wife (aka the SheppyBrew Beer Model) came up with a fantastic idea.

We were staying up in Copper Mountain, which is a short down-hill bike ride down to Lake Dillon.

So, we brought our bikes, and on Saturday morning we headed down to visit ....

K is for Steep Brewing LaKeside TiKi Bar

You probably know this if you follow my socials at all, but I'm riding 1000 miles over September to help raise money and awareness for Childhood Cancer Research with my Great Cycle Challenge.

So, in addition to checking off "K", I was also able to get my Great Cycle Challenge miles in.

If you'd like to help out with a donation, or just follow my progress, check out my rider page at

https://greatcyclechallenge.com/riders/EricShepard

The ride is spectacularly beautiful. We were sort of expecting the bike path to be crowded on the long weekend, but it really wasn't at all.

My photos probably don't do the scenery justice ... 

The ride is all down-hill to get down to Lake Dillon.

We did stop quite a few times to enjoy the views and take some pictures.

With Colorado being in a pretty severe drought, Lake Dillon is very low, but still beautiful. We're hoping for a snowy winter in Colorado to hopefully help fill our reservoirs.

Eventually, after a leisurely hour long ride, we made our way to Steep Brewing LaKeside TiKi Bar.

From their website ...

"Tiki culture lives in beach towns. The whole genre is a postwar tropical-fantasy-meets-rum thing born in Hollywood, California in the 1940's. Most tiki bars sit at sea level by design.

We're at 9,017 feet. The reservoir's surface is the elevation of a respectable Colorado fourteener's halfway mark. Aspen sits at 7,908. Park City, Utah at 7,000. Vail Village, 8,150.

We checked the records. The Tonga Hut in North Hollywood, the oldest tiki bar still operating, sits at 707 feet. Don the Beachcomber's various locations: all at sea level. Trader Sam's at Disneyland: 360 feet.

So when we say highest tiki bar in the U.S., we mean it as a stat, not a marketing slogan. The mountains do the work for us."

The bar is located right by the water with a little marina for boats and/or personal watercraft to come right up.

And, of course, it is right on the bike path.

They have many drinks, but the beers are mostly from Steep Brewing, which is located in a nearby ski town, Keystone.

If I'm honest, the beers we had were not the best. They were fine, just not spectacular. The view is the star of this place.

The food was pretty good.

Of course, the ride home was quite a bit more strenuous, as most of it was uphill. The Beer Model has her e-Bike Pedego, so it was quite a bit easier for her than me. 

Still, it was spectacularly beautiful.

And ... now we've checked "K" off our list. And we have already done "L" as well (L is for Landlocked Ales).

We're up to "M". The Colorado Brewery Map & List has a couple good choices, but I don't know what we'll pick

Stay tuned on Sheppy's Blog: A to Z and find out what we pick.

As always keep watching the regular SheppyBrew Channels to see what is happening with my BBQ, Beer, Biking: SheppyBrew's Facebook Page; Sheppy's Twitter Feed; SheppyBrew's Instagram Page; and SheppyBrew's Website.Of course, don't forget to visit this blog often as well!