Did you guys know that Colorado has a lots of craft brewers and it's fun to go on a brewery tour, and taste all different kinds of beer?

And beer enthusiasts don't give off the elitist vibe some wine drinkers do? And brewpubs serve fried food? Wow! Who knew?

This week's Time magazine has a relatively amusing — if ten years too late — travelogue from Joel Stein about going on a brewery tour in the Denver area.

I am being a little too harsh here, I suppose — it's actually a decent story about the state of modern craft brewing. And it is written from the perspective of someone who isn't a beer drinker — thus the gee-whiz factor.

Anything to raise the profile of craft beer on such a large scale is a good thing.

But I can't help seeing a South Park episode unfold in my head as I read along. Maybe it's the Denver setting or something.

The whole thing reads a tad bit smug to me.

For instance, all craft beer enthusiasts are not benign hippie-types who listen to the Grateful Dead all day or have bushy beards. Some of us also high-strung and may have Judas Priest, the Replacements, and Massive Attack on our iPods.

Yes, Denver is a kick-ass beer town. But everyone knows the best city for a such a tour is Portland — a quirkier metropolis that also is pretty much ground zero of the American craft brew movement.

The fact the Portland is full of brewpubs that don't sell bottles commercially is a virtue — they can make whatever they like and find an audience without making compromises to reach the outside marketplace.

And I am baffled as to what Denver being the home of Coors has anything whatsoever to do with a craft beer tour, unless it is to show in bold relief how much better craft beer can taste than mass market suds.