Little Machine Beer — Restaurant in Denver

Visited this brewery while doing a brewery tour of Colorado a few years ago and loved it so much we made a special trip out of our way while in Colorado a few days ago just to visit Little Machine. Our first visit was five stars and they got a review on an old account of mine about that. Amazing service and some of the best beer we had on our two week tour.

Sad to say this was not the same experience we had a few days ago. The staff was awful! We sat at the bar, which was about half filled, and not one of the bartenders said anything to us even though they both saw us sit down and walked past us multiple times. They stood right in front of us having a conversation with each other while ignoring us. Tried to get their attention but that failed when some regulars sat down right next to us. The bartenders went right to them and got them served while still ignoring us. After a little bit more time we were finally worth their time, guess they figured we were not going to just leave, and we were able to order. I will say that the female bartender was fairly polite once she interacted with us. We initially ordered a total of 5 4 oz pours, covering a good range of what they offer. To say we were under impressed is an under statement. All of the beers lacked any dept and most tasted like what you expect from a mass produced "craft" beer, not a micro brewery! We went to order another two just to see if we just chose poorly. This was also super fun trying to get the bartenders to help us again. Again they walked passed us even though I was flagging them down and I am not not noticeable, 6 ft, 205 lbs, really great beard :). My wife comments all the time on how well I can get peoples attention at bars. Once we got the next two we realized our first impression was correct, the beers we just plain boring and sad.

I hope they get back to what they were doing a few years ago, but until they do there are dozens of other breweries to try over Little Machine.

UPDATE: Little Machine did reach out to me and I emailed them the info of the event so that they could watch the video. They emailed me back stating that they could see why our experience was "frustrating" and then went on to let me know that some of my statements above were incorrect and asked if I could "amend" my review. So instead of amending my correct review, I figured I could address some of the things they said in their email.

1. "I didn't see either of the bartenders giving priority to regulars over you."

Take a look at the couple that sat down to our left, after we had been there for a few minutes already, that were greeted AND served before us. There was also another person/couple that walked up after we had sat down that was served before us.

2. "And while the bartenders did chat among themselves, they were doing so while pouring beers. They we're just standing around ignoring you."

This is almost a correct statement. One of the Bartenders was pouring beers while the other one was waiting for the same tap. BUT they were literally right in front of us BSing with each other instead on saying anything to us. A simple "Hey guys! Welcome in, we will be right with you" would have be great. We failed to even get that and this was after we had been sitting for a few minutes with them already walking past us several times without saying anything. So yes they were ignoring us while they were BSing with each other and pouring beers.

They also stated that we got there as bingo was starting and that is why the service was poor as "a lot of customers show up at once and it takes our staff a few minutes to catch up with everyone." Well that is great but also should not be our issue as the customer and would still not explain all of the poor service we got through out the rest of the time there. So in the end they saw why our experience was "frustrating" but did nothing to address that, made excuses for their poor service and then went on to accuse us of lying in our review. Poor Beers, poor service, AND...

Seriously what's not to love about this place? They are close proximity to downtown in Jefferson Park (they are basically in the Bronco's parking lot), the décor and vibe are awesome and most importantly the beer is amazing!

I was blown away with how great their beer was right when they opened. It takes most new breweries a while to dial it in and get it right (some never do!), but that wasn't the case with Little Machine. The oatmeal stout, stock ale etc. are all really well balanced and you can tell they don't skimp when it comes to the ingredients. Furthermore, their experimentation with sour beers and nitros is refreshing! I actually liked the sour beer because it was perfect for a novice such as myself, and not so overwhelming that it is only palatable to the beer snobs. The nitro IPA is "controversial" but their motto is "Laid-Back, Hard-Core", so they are all about the juxtaposition.

Since Little Machine is so close to Mile High Field, it will without a doubt turn into a football bar on Sundays (they have several big screens if you want to watch the game there and get all the atmosphere without the high ticket prices). However, a foosball table and a bunch of board games make it the perfect place to kick back with some friends for a few pints on a school night. My wife and I also love how baby friendly it is! One of the bartenders, Casey, loves coming over and seeing our little daughter.

It seems like a new brewery is opening in Denver every week, and unfortunately most of them are producing a watered down swill while employing pompous a-holes that belittle you for not knowing the difference between Cascade and Chinook hops. Little Machine is bucking this trend by having a laid-back atmosphere and...

Today - Dunkelweiss 5.1abv very good, decent banana yeast, low to no clove (overall above average Am-wheat) 16oz ; Sesn-NE-IPA 4.7abv pretty good, nice light fruit hop nose, low hop and lower bitter finish (in a tulip glass) 16?oz ; IPA 7.4abv pretty good, everything is there (but not 'big') served in an unnecessary tulip glass 16?oz Feb2019 Pils 5.2abv pretty good (could be better) 16oz ; E-Pale Ale 5.5abv very good nice hop nose upfront with a bit overly clean finish (almost too hoppy to be 'English' style) 16oz (served in a F-in tulip glass, only in Denver do you see this Bs) ; O-Stout Nitro 5.7abv excellent light roast/malt nose and up front with a full flavored finish 16oz Jun2016 Witbier 4.9abv perfect ; E-IPA almost too big flavor for an 'English' 6.1abv v-tasty (drop the tulip glass, it's completely wrong for the style) ; Oat-Stout 6.6abv Nitro very good ; good wifi ; kid friendly ; some parking ; cannot see from Federal St but right on 20th ; 2 TV's ; outdoor seating ; foosball ; board games ; (16 offerings today, with 7 being Belgo/adjunct type things, menu completely changed from...