Marijuana advocate Mason Tvert wears a toga outside the Governor's Mansion to denounce John Hickenlooper's promotion of the state brewing industry while publicly discouraging the use of pot Friday, March 21, 2014. (Karl Gehring, The Denver Post)

Beer/pot protest at Governor’s mansion

One of state’s main marijuana activists, unhappy the Colorado Governor’s Mansion recently installed a draft beer system, threw his toga on Friday afternoon and held a “party” outside the official home of Gov. John Hickenlooper.

The Governor's Mansion will have a rotating selection of Colorado beer on tap. (Denver Post file)
The Governor’s Mansion will have a rotating selection of Colorado beer on tap. (Denver Post file)

Private donors paid for the draft beer system in the mansion located at 400 E. 8th Ave., which has three taps that feature rotating Colorado-made brews. The system was finished just in time for a private party at the mansion Friday night.

Sheet-clad pro-pot activist Mason Tvert called the new beer system home-brewed bureaucracy.

“This is just another example of the pro-alcohol, anti-marijuana culture,” said a toga-wrapped Mason Tvert, director of communications for the Marijuana Policy Project.

Others attended the gathering, but Tvert was the lone toga wearer.

Hickenlooper co-founded a downtown brewpub in the late 1980s and frequently mentions his love for Colorado beers.

Tvert said Hickenlooper constantly promotes beer but is still vocally skeptical of adult marijuana use.

“He should be ashamed,” Tvert said “It’s a hypocritical message.”

In response to the toga party, Hickenlooper spokesman Eric Brown said, “We’re trying to round up some Goldfish and Cheetos to deliver.”

Ryan Parker: 303-954-2409, rparker@denverpost.com or twitter.com/ryanparkerdp

This story was first published on DenverPost.com