Last night we went to Denver’s first brewpub, the venerable Wynkoop. My uncle from Oregon was in town and as we were walking down Wynkoop Street he asked if it was pronounced Win-koop or Wine-koop. I’ve never actually thought about it before, but told him that I’ve heard it both ways, but most people I know call it Wine-koop. I’m going to venture a guess that the longer you’ve been in Denver, the more likely you are to pronounce it Wine-koop.

We sat down and ordered a round of beers (Monkey’s Fist IPA for me and Uncle Mike and a Somergras Citrus Ale for C.) and when the waitress came back, Mike asked her the same question.

Her answer was that the Brewery itself is called the Win-koop but the street is usually pronounced Wine-koop. Why the distinction? Well according to our waitress, they don’t want the brewpub to be confused with a wine bar. Something about the word brewery in the restaurant’s name seems to negate that concern.

I’m not really happy with that answer, so I’m going see if I can figure out how our first sheriff (and the brewpub’s namesake), Edward W. (Ned) Wynkoop pronounced his name.

Does anyone know? How do you pronounce it?