Denver is the second “Best Beer City in America” according to Travel + Leisure readers who voted in the magazine’s “Best Cities in America” survey.

In the “Nightlife” category, Denver ranked 9th and in the overall category of “Food/Drink/Restaurants” category, Denver ranked 13th.

As the magazine noted “a good bar is one thing – but a great beer may be quite another.”

The magazine said that not surprisingly, two of the top three “beer-quaffing towns” were in the northwest.

Squeezed between No. 1 Portland and No. 3 Seattle, was Denver.

Coloradans are “serious beer boosters,” Travel + Leisure said.

“John Hickenlooper cofounded Denver’s first microbrewery, Wynkoop Brewing Company, and then became mayor – and is now governor,” the magazine said.

What struck the magazine editors was although Denverites have a taste for beer, they have not become “couch potatoes.”

Voters gave the Mile High City top marks for its “athletic locals” and the No. 2 slot for “its parks and outdoor spaces.”Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com.