Denver and the metro basically have clusters of good places.
Downtown you've got Great Divide, River North, Denver Beer Co., Strange, Our Mutual Friend, and Im including Prost and Crooked Stave because they're within a short cab ride. Check hours because im not sure if all those places are open on mondays. Id rank them Crooked Stave, Great Divide, River North, Strange, Prost, Denver Beer Co, and Our Mutual Friend. Id rank Our mutual Friend higher if it wasnt a hipster convention in there, There's also some nice bars down there. Falling Rock, Euclid Hall, Freshcraft, Lucky Pie, and Wynkoop are all good. Food is better at the latter four places, but falling rock has the most beer. Don't expect good service at falling rock.
More to the South you've got Dry Dock, Copper Kettle, Breckenridge, Wits End, TRVE, Bull and Bush. Parrys Pizza in the Highlands is a nice spot for beer and food. 62Strat has been down that way for a while so he may be a better resource. I don't get south of Downtown much.
Then there's boulder/Longmont. You've got Avery, Upslope, Boulder Beer, Asher,and Twisted Pine in boulder. 15 minutes away in Longmont you've got Oskar Blues' three places: The Tasty Weasel, Homemade Liquids and Solids, and CHUburger. Left Hand is also in Longmont. The Tasty Weasel is Oskar Blues' taproom at the brewery. Lots of specialty one offs and Firkins. 5 minutes away is Liquids and Solids. It's a BBQ joint with all the OB beers plus 40 other solid taps. I haven't been to CHUburger yet. I believe it's a fast casual burger place with OB beer on tap. Left Hand has a nice taproom as well.
Then there's Fort Collins. You've got New Belgium, Odell, Fort Collins Brewery, Funkwerks, Equinox, and Black Bottle. New Belgium and Odell are always fun. Funkwerks is cool if you like Belgian styles and funk. There's a couple great bars in FoCo as well in The Mayor of Old Town, The Forge Publick House, and Tap and Handle. There's also my favorite place in CO to get a beer and burger: Choice City Butcher and Deli.
This is a good resource to get the lay of the land
http://beermapping.com/a/121Regardless of what you decide, let me know so I can buy you a beer and properly welcome you to Colorado
[This message has been edited by NColoradoAG (edited 5/20/2013 2:27p).]