ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH : WITH ALL ITS BREWPUBS AND MICROBREWERIES, DENVER IS THE HUB FOR HOPS.

Byline: Susanne Hopkins Daily News Travel Editor

Down at Denver's lively Breckenridge Brewery, some of the folks at the bar are debating the merits of the pub's brews. Which is better - Oatmeal Stout, India Pale Ale, Mountain Wheat or Avalanche Ale?

Stuart Close, a managing partner in the 3-year-old brewery, votes for Oatmeal Stout in winter and Mountain Wheat in summer.

But the guy seated on the next stool, his hand firmly fastened around a glass of rich brew, scoffs at that.

``Avalanche is the best,'' he says with great certainty. ``Don't listen to him.''

Forget the Broncos and the Rockies, Aspen and Vail. The great debate in Colorado these days centers not on sports and skiing, but suds.

Colorado is practically awash in the stuff. And it's not just Coors, the behemoth brewery that pumps out more than 17 million barrels of beer each year from its facility in Golden, or Anheuser-Busch and its Budweiser brew produced in Fort Collins.

Tourist officials point out that you can visit the state's major ski resorts - Aspen, Telluride, Vail, Crested Butte and Steamboat Springs - and find a brewpub (a restaurant that produces less than 15,000 barrels of beer annually) in each town. Other areas boast microbreweries (brewpubs that also bottle their beer). Altogether, the state counts 20 brewpubs and 28 microbreweries. Combined with the two major breweries, that makes Colorado the nation's king of beer production.

But it's Denver, the Mile-High City, that is the hub for hops. (And you thought it was Milwaukee.) There are at least six brewpubs and a dozen or so microbreweries in the area - and several of them are open for tours and tastings. On any given day, it is said, there are at least 30 beers on tap in Denver that cannot be found anywhere else. Beer has become so big here that the city annually hosts the Great American Beer Festival, the Super Bowl of beer in which as many as 1,500 beers from across the country are judged, and the LoDo (Lower Downtown) BrewFest in which Colorado-made beers are celebrated.

Why Denver?

``Must be the altitude,'' jokes Jon Levy, bar manager of Breckenridge Brewery. Then, more seriously, ``I just think it's got a pretty eclectic urban population, and a lot of people are moving here that are pretty young. And people are used to really good beers.''

And there's that other thing - the water, he says, echoing Adolph Coors himself.

If you're planning to visit the town they're calling the ``Napa Valley of Beer,'' here are some hops stops for tasting and touring.

But a necessary caution: Please avoid drinking and driving. Denver has an efficient bus and light-rail system to help you out.

Coors Brewery: ``I smell malt,'' says one woman as about 20 of us wait at the Coors off-site parking lot for a shuttle bus to the processing plant. Indeed, it pervades the crystal-clear air of little Golden, a small town of 14,000 people just 12 miles northwest of Denver.

We're just a few of the 250,000 people a year - more than 10 million since 1948 - to tour Coors, one of the nation's largest breweries, with a production of more than 20 million barrels (each barrel holds 31 gallons) of beer a year.

The shuttle bus takes us on a mini-tour of Golden's sights before depositing us at the plant, where we join C.J. (Charles Johnson) for our tour. As we make our way to the brewhouse, where starches are converted to sugars, C.J. gives us a little history - how Adolph Coors founded the brewery in 1873, selecting the area for its pristine mountain water (Coors uses 3 million gallons of water a day), how Coors kept going during Prohibition by making near-beer and producing alcohol for hospitals and how Coors beer was once so rare, available only in Colorado and Texas, that it was bootlegged from one state to another.

In 30 minutes, we go through the 4-1/2-month procedure to make Coors beer. Via illuminated displays, C.J. introduces us to beer's four ingredients - barley, which gives beer its basic color, body and flavor; hops, which gives it its flavor and aroma; cereal grains, which make the beer smooth and drinkable and provide remaining starches to begin the brewing process; and water.

From an upper floor, we view the two-story, stainless-steel tanks where barley is soaked; the kilns where malt (barley that has sprouted) is toasted; and vast copper kettles (they look like giant plungers) in which beer ingredients are cooked separately. We see packaging machines putting together thousands of six-packs a minute, and C.J. makes sure we know all the names of Coors' 20 or so products - including its newest specialty brews, Blue Moon Honey Blonde Ale, Nut Brown Ale and Belgian Ale, which were introduced in September.

The brewery is at 13th and Ford streets, Golden. Free tours are offered continuously from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Tastings - three 7-ounce glasses of beer - are free. Information: [phone].

Breckenridge Brewery: The sign on the door of the conditioning room at Breckenridge Brewery tells the story: ``If you brew it, they will come.''

True enough. When the brewery opened in an old warehouse in December 1992 in LoDo, there wasn't much in the area except derelicts - people and buildings. ``We were kind of the pioneers in the neighborhood,'' says sales representative Close. Then in April 1995, Coors Field, home of the Rockies baseball team, opened across the street.

The transformation of LoDo took off - buildings were spruced up, new businesses opened. And the people came. Now, the cafe-bar-brewery is packed, especially on game days. Walk into trendy Breckenridge Brewery now and you might have to wait for a seat. No matter - you can always watch them make beer in the copper and stainless steel tanks that take up about one-quarter of the building.

Breckenridge, which calls itself a ``brewery that serves food, not a restaurant that brews beer,'' produces about 15,000 barrels of beer a year - five standard beers ranging from ales to stouts and a few seasonal brews, as well. Take a brief tour and you'll see the 1910 mill where the brewing process begins; the mash tun, the stainless steel tank where sugar is converted to starch; the brew kettle where the wort (the liquid derived from malted barley, water and hops) is boiled; the fermentation tanks; and the bottling line.

You can taste Breckenridge beers here or elsewhere in Colorado. But they haven't yet reached California, Close says.

Breckenridge, at 2220 Blake St., Denver, offers free tours on Saturdays by appointment. A sampler tray, 5 ounces of all the beers, is offered for $6. Information: [phone].

Rock Bottom Brewery: This is Denver's yuppie brewpub. It's right in the middle of the promenade mall that stretches for a mile along 16th Street. There's an outdoor cafe here, but the brewery machinery is inside, encased in glass. You can just walk in and take a tour. All the personnel are trained to tell you how beer is made, says Dawne Perry, marketing manager.

(You might get a bonus. If your timing is right, you could see jazz groups performing on an elevated stage above the brew kettles.)

Rock Bottom produces 4,200 barrels of beer a year, all of which is dispensed through the brewery's taps. It's not available in bottles. And while other brewpubs often serve imported or domestic beers or even some beers from other microbreweries, Rock Bottom only serves its own beers, Perry says. The brewery, which opened in November 1991, always has five brews on tap. As at other brewpubs, these tend to be designer beers. You can get beer with spicy, fruity, even chocolaty flavors at a brewpub.

``We have (in season) a Jazzberry Ale that's made with raspberries,'' Perry says, adding that at Christmastime, the brewery produces Blitzen Ale, a beer with a spicy flavor.

Rock Bottom names its brews after Denver landmarks or personages - such as Molly's Titanic Brown Ale, named for one of Denver's notables, Molly Brown, a survivor of the Titanic sinking, and the most popular, Red Rocks Red Ale, a tribute to the Mile-High City's famous amphitheater.

You'll hit Rock Bottom at 1001 16th St., Denver. Tours are on a walk-in basis and take about 15 minutes. You can buy a sampler of five or six 4-ounce glasses of beer for about $5. For free tours, call [phone].

Wynkoop Brewing Company: Situated in a cavernous brick structure that once housed a furniture showroom, Wynkoop is the granddaddy of Colorado brewpubs. It opened in 1988, the brainchild of seven geologists who were inspired by an Oregon microbrewery and dubbed their pub Wynkoop after Maj. Edward Wynkoop, commander of Fort Lyon, who lost his command after resisting orders to attack the Cheyenne Indians at Salt Creek. The brewery now makes six standard brews, including its flagship Railyard Ale, Splatz Porter or Scottish and Sagebrush Stout.

About 95 percent of its 5,000 barrels of beer is dispensed right from the taps at the brewery's bar. ``The big difference is getting it ... fresh from the tanks,'' says brewer Eric Roy, as he leads me through the brewery. He points out the malt mill, the hopper, the mash tun and the brew kettle - even the cellar where a Christmas beer is aging.

Roy will tell you a bit about the brewer's life, too: No time for breakfast? Some mornings, he takes a little of the mash from the mash tun and - presto! - breakfast cereal.

Wynkoop, at 1634 18th St. in LoDo, offers free tours between 1 and 5 p.m. Saturdays as the brewer is available. Those on the tour get a free pint of beer of their choice. Information: [phone].

On Location Want to visit more brewpubs and microbreweries in the Denver area for tours and tastings? Check out:

Broadway Brewing, 2441 Broadway, Denver; [phone].

Champion Brewing Co., 1442 Larimer Square, Denver; [phone].

Great Divide Brewing Co., 2201 Arapahoe St., Denver; [phone].

Lonetree Brewing Ltd., 375 E. 55th Ave., Denver; [phone].

Tabernash Brewing Co., 205 Denargo Market, Denver; [phone].

The LoDo Brewfest is usually held in August. For more information about breweries or beer festivals, call the Denver Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau, [phone].

And, if you have a bit of time to spare, you can make the drive north to Fort Collins - a little over an hour away - and visit the Anheuser-Busch Brewing Co., 2351 Busch Drive; [phone]. You can visit the legendary Clydesdale horses here, too.

CAPTION(S):

Drawing, Photo, Box

Drawing: (Color) no caption (BRECKENRIDGE Bee r)

Illustration by Perry Perez/Daily News

Photo: A brewery worker stirs a vat full of ingredients that will soon become beer.

Susanne Hopkins/Daily News

Box: On Location (See Text)