DENVER -- Spring is now in full effect, which means summer is really just around the corner and what better way to beat the heat than with a cold glass of beer?
Colorado is not only home to a Coors brewery and a Budweiser brewery, but it also houses approximately 300 other licensed breweries, according to the Colorado Brewers Guild.
The question is: Where can you get free beer as temperatures rise across the state? These are just some ideas:
Coors Brewery
Coors has been making beer in Golden, Colo., since the 1870s. The brewery experience includes a 30-minute self-paced tour highlighting the malting, brewing and packaging processes.
Tours are free and at the end, visitors who are 21 years and older are allowed to sample three beers.
Budweiser
Anheuser-Busch offers free tours at its brewery in Fort Collins.
At the end of the tour, visitors who are 21+ get one, six-ounce pour for free. (It's $5 to get two full-sized beers.)
The Fort Collins brewery has two special attractions that many other breweries do not. It has a Biergarten where you can buy food, and the Fort Collins brewery is the home base for a Clydesdales team. Watch the website for announcements on special events involving the Clydesdales.
New Belgium Brewery
New Belgium Brewery, the company known for its Fat Tire Ale and other brews, started in a Fort Collins basement in 1988 and went commercial in 1991.
While New Belgium charges for tasters, pints and growlers in the Tasting Room, if you take a free 90-minute, guided tour, you get 3 to 4 tasters along the way. The tasters are four, or so, ounces each.
Tour reservations recommended.
Equinox Brewing
This Fort Collins brewery is a fan favorite and customers who step through the doors rave about their nice, chill atmosphere.
While the tastings are not free at Equinox, you do get a tray for about $12.
If it's also not too busy, you can ask for a tour.
Ska Brewing
Ska Brewing was inspired by Ska music and beer, and we honestly can't think of a better combination.
The Durango-based brewery's tasting room has 20 beers on tap and upstairs seating is available if you're bringing a big group of people along with you.
The kicker? The brewery also has a restaurant and a merchandise shop with some cool swag.
There are daily tours at 4 p.m. and you get a free beer at the end!