Recovering From St. Paddy’s Shenanigans at Rockyard Brewing Company

Happy “You Survived St. Patrick’s Day” Day!

Are you recovered from all your holiday shenanigans? We’re mostly recovered, but it was definitely touch-and-go for a bit. We spent a day celebrating the holiday with our Colorado Parrot Head Club friends. Our group participated in the Denver St. Patrick’s Day Parade, so the celebration started early and continued all day long! We spent the night at a Denver hotel so we could safely imbibe with a room within stumbling distance. Did we have fun? You bet your shamrocks we did! 

St. Patrick’s Day Parade Fun

The Denver St. Patrick’s Day Parade is one of the largest this side of the Mississippi, and the Colorado Parrot Heads have one of the biggest entries each year. It’s a good thing we participate because I doubt we have the stamina to be a spectator – some years this parade lasts around 4 hours! Not to say participating is easy. Planning for the parade began months ago, followed by several weeks building, painting and getting all the pieces together. It’s really an amazing accomplishment! We’re fairly new to this club, but we love being part of such a dedicated group of people.

This year the Colorado Parrot Head Club float named “Parrots of the Caribbean” was a tribute to famous Irish Pirate Queen Grace O’Malley. It was a full pirate ship, complete with a sail that we could raise and lower as needed to sail under the traffic lights. You know we also had a bar, serving beer, pirate rum punch, and margaritas from daybreak until well after the parade ended. Afterward, our pirate krewe invaded our sponsor bar, The Fainting Goat Pub. That’s when the Guinness, Harp, and Jameson showed up to the party. At some point, their buddy Jägermeister even made an appearance. Not surprisingly, the party spilled over to the nearby karaoke bar. It was a day-long party that spilled over into a wild night, and all we can say is thank goodness St. Patrick’s Day is only once a year!

Hair of the Dog at Rockyard

This morning we awoke bleary-eyed and filled with that general feeling of regret that comes with a crazy night of drinking. What did we do? What did we say? OMG did we sing karaoke!?! Ugh…

It was lunchtime when we finally got ourselves moving, showered, and checked out of the hotel. As we made our way home to Castle Rock we realized what we needed: a big, fat burger and some fries in our bellies, ASAP! We stopped at our favorite neighborhood brewpub, Rockyard American Grill & Brewing Co. Rockyard has great burgers, and we were in need of a fix. We had no intention of having a drink. Honestly, it was the last thing on our mind. Whelp… I’m sure you can guess where this is going.

You know you’re a beer geek if you can’t possibly dream of having a beer… until you notice a limited release brew is on the menu, then you MUST HAVE IT. We were ready to go booze-free until we saw that Rockyard still had their St. Patrick’s Day special release on the menu, the Blarney Rock Irish Ale. Yes we ordered it. In fact, we also ordered a Redhawk Ale, too, just in case the Blarney Rock didn’t hit the spot. Blarney Rock was a smooth and slightly sweet Irish Red, very tasty. The Redhawk, a well-balanced red is one of our favorites. Both were good and we have no regrets.

Less than an hour later and we were full and happy and ready for a long nap. I can’t say if it was the cheeseburgers or the beers, but we left Rockyard feeling much better than we did when we arrived. We felt human again. We were definitely going to survive.

Check Out Rockyard Brewing Company

We like Rockyard Brewing Company for their good craft beers and tasty food. Next time you’re in Castle Rock shopping the outlet mall check them out for yourself. We recommend the Redhawk Red or the Hopyard IPA, paired with burgers or a big bowl of their cream of jalapeño soup. Yum! We can’t promise it will cure what ails you, but you never know until you try.

Rockyard Brewing Company
880 Castleton Rd
Castle Rock, CO 80109

Sláinte!