Crooked Stave brewer Chad Yakobson is known for his sours—which come in light, dark, hop- infused, and saison varieties. Benjamin Ramussen

Beer geeks, listen up: Bypass Portland and Brooklyn and head instead to Denver, where ale quaffers from foodies to former rocket scientists are coming out with the funkiest, most highly wrought hops you’ve ever tasted, including burgundy sours aged in whiskey barrels and 1800s-era saisons. Colorado has more home brewers than any other state, and a dozen new breweries launched in 2012, with another 60-plus in the works. The top two must-visits on a Denver bar crawl? The classic Wynkoop Brewing Co., co-founded in the 1980s by laid-off geologist and now Colorado governor John Hickenlooper (1634 18th St.), and Crooked Stave’s very current tasting room, helmed by hipster beer king Chad Yakobson, pictured (1441 W. 46th Ave., Unit 19).

Yakobson's Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project is yielding traditional saisons, imperial pale ales and Baltic porters that are as funky and unique as anything being brewed in Colorado—and beer geeks nationwide are taking notice. “You can’t describe his beers in three words,” says Andy Parker of Avery Brewing in the nearby city of Boulder. “You need three paragraphs.” Near Crooked Stave is Prost Brewing, which entices with German-style lagers (2540 19th Street, Denver), while the trendy RiNo (River North) neighborhood is home to Black Shirt Brewing, which is known for its red ales (3719 Walnut Street, Denver). Any boozefest should end with dinner at downtown’s Euclid Hall, which stages beer pairing dinners and has cicerones–sommeliers of beer—on staff (1347 14th Street, Denver; 303-595-4255; entrees, $13-$16.50). “The clientele in Denver is so savvy about beer,” says Euclid Hall’s chef Jennifer Jasinski. “Cities like San Francisco, they wish they had our beer scene.”