Editor’s note: This is part of The Know’s series, Staff Favorites. Each week, we will offer our opinions on the best that Colorado has to offer for dining, shopping, entertainment, outdoor activities and more. (We’ll also let you in on some hidden gems).
The popularity of Golden’s New Terrain Brewing Company tap room and beer garden among runners, hikers, cyclists and mountain bikers has been fueled almost entirely by word of mouth. And, in at least one case, the sound of live music heard high atop North Table Mountain.
Thomas Eggar discovered New Terrain from a vantage point 670 feet above it while trail running on North Table.
“It was a random Thursday night and I had no idea this place existed,” said, Eggar, 41. “From the top of North Table Mountain, you could hear the faint (sound) of a banjo and drums. I looked down and saw a bunch of lights, a bunch of people.”
Eggar was intrigued, so he ran down to check it out. It happens that New Terrain has a stage with live music on Thursday evenings.
“The trail literally leads you right here,” Eggar said on a more recent visit. “It’s just the perfect place to unwind after a hard run or a hike, grab a beer and some food, and enjoy what Golden has to offer.”
You don’t have to be an endurance athlete to enjoy New Terrain, but its proximity to North Table inevitably makes it a refueling station for those who are.
“You’ll find everybody out here from hikers, runners, triathletes, mountain bikers, avid cyclists,” Eggar said. “That’s the beautiful part of it.”
That was the plan for New Terrain from its inception in 2016, according to Michael Roberts, the brewery’s director of marketing and social media. Owners Josh and Kaylee Robbins picked the location because it’s so close to the eastern access point for the North Table Mountain Park trail system. It’s also adjacent to the Golden Bike Park and a dog park. The motto of New Terrain is “For those who wander.”
“The whole idea of the brewery was to be that Colorado outdoors destination,” Roberts said. “They saw the potential in the land, with it being right next to the dog park, the trail all the way up North Table Mountain, the bike park behind us.”
Specialized Bicycles holds bike demos on the last Wednesday evening of the month, and there are yoga sessions on Monday evenings. A first-time visitor can be taken aback, seeing so many folks at a seemingly out-of-the-way brewery tucked into the Coors Technology Center. The last time they held a Specialized bike demo night, the parking lot (which accommodates 86 cars) was full — as it usually is — and there were at least as many cars parked along the road out front.
Many treat New Terrain as the trailhead for North Table, passing through the New Terrain property en route to the mountain, then stopping for a beer at the end of their ride or run.
“Day one it was kind of, we’re in the middle of nowhere, hopefully people show up,” Roberts said, “and then it just was out of control how many people showed up and continued to show up over seven years. We really haven’t done any advertising at all. During the year this was being built, people coming off that trail, hiking and biking, seeing the brewery (were saying), ‘When are you guys opening?’ It just all built up from there.”
A trail from the back of the New Terrain property leads to the Jeffco Open Space east access trailhead for North Table Mountain Park, which is only a quarter of a mile away. There are two options from that trailhead for ascending the mesa:
Mesa Top trail: From the Jeffco Open Space trailhead, head north 0.2 miles on the Fairmount trail, then turn left onto the Lithic trail. Climb a series of switchbacks 0.2 of a mile to the North Table Loop. Head north 0.45 of a mile and turn left onto the Mesa Top trail. After climbing about a third of a mile on the Mesa Top trail, you’ll pass through a really cool rock gully with a waterfall. Continue another third of a mile to the top of the mountain. Total distance from the trailhead to the top of the mesa, 1.5 miles one way.
Cottonwood Canyon trail: Follow the same directions to the North Table Loop, but from there head south and west 0.9 of a mile to the Cottonwood Canyon trail, which leads to the top of the mesa. Total distance from trailhead, 2 miles.
On top of the mesa, the views are wonderful, and there are several trails to explore. You can even take the Cottonwood Canyon trail to its intersection with the Mesa Top trail and take Mesa Top back down to the trailhead.
When you get back to New Terrain after your workout, there are 20 brews on tap, food trucks for lunch and dinner, and lots of folks who may or may not have had a harder workout than you did.
