Denver has just come off the high of the sold-out Great American Beer Festival and a week’s worth of equally beer-geeky events, but that doesn’t mean the town has run out of brews. In fact, quite the opposite. There is still a ton going on. If you’re a brewery, though,…
Colorado returned to form at the 2013 Great American Beer Festival, taking home a whopping 46 medals — spread out across breweries of widely varying ages, sizes and locations. The medal count was also up significantly from 2012 — when the state won only 35 medals as part of a…
There may have been a few too many beer events this past weekend as part of the Great American Beer Festival. And Oskar Blues may have suffered from the excess, given that its two-day concert, Fuh-can Beer and Guitars, benefiting the Love, Hope, Strength Foundation and victims of the recent…
At 10 p.m., when the drunken revelers began stumbling out of the Colorado Convention Center, a woman grabbed her crotch and started twerking. Her partner in crime lunged as consumers, most of whom were already weaving, futilely attempted to stay out of his path. And so went night two of…
With around 2,700 beers to taste, Great American Beer Fest attendees have to burn off the calories somehow. One great, alcohol-friendly way to do it: play some table tennis. On Wednesday night, representatives of 32 breweries gathered at Ace for a Left Hand tap takeover and ping-pong tournament. If the…
Its very name strikes fear into the hearts of men and women: Long Island Iced Tea. Five syllables that are shorthand for blackouts, poor decisions and even poorer drinks. It’s the patron cocktail of lounge lizards, spring breakers and people who have had two already. As cocktails like the martini…
Left Hand Brewing altered the beer-drinking landscape two years ago when it announced during the Great American Beer Festival that it had come up with a way to inject nitrogen into its bottled Milk Stout so that it pours smooth and creamy, like a draft beer. Milk Stout Nitro quickly…
Drunken throngs amassed on Colfax last night to celebrate the arrival of the newly refurbished Squire Lounge. While the Squire had a reputation for being one of Denver’s diciest dive bars, it was nevertheless beloved by its regular patrons, many of whom would schlep over to 7-11 instead of using the bathrooms. It wasn’t the nicest place and sometimes homeless people shouted at the patrons, but they cheap drinks, a great staff. It was the ideal environment to host what used to be called “the meanest comedy open mic in America.”
As times change however, so must the Squire Lounge. Owner Sudhir Kudva partnered with X-Bar’s Steven Alix to create a more inviting space, and if last night’s crowd is any indication, the Squire 2.0 will fit right in with the changing character of Colfax.
Westword went to check out the new Squire, photograph some revelers and chat with owner Sudhir Kudva. “This is basically the same Squire, except it’s cleaner,” Kudva reassures. “That balance will be a big deal to us going forward.”
The city’s convention and visitor’s bureau has finally answered some beery prayers — agreeing after several years of negotiations to allow the Great American Beer Festival to significantly expand the amount of space it uses at the Colorado Convention Center. Beginning in 2015, GABF will add 90,000 to 100,000 additional…
The distillery where Suerte Tequila is made can be found in the highlands of Jalisco, an hour-and-a-half east of Guadalajara in a very small town called Atotonilco El Alto. But long before that location became Suerte’s home, co-founders Laurence Spiewak and Lance Sokol shared the dream of launching a tequila…
The Great American Beer Festival, which starts tomorrow and runs through October 12, is dominating Colorado this week, as locals and out-of-town visitors fill up breweries, restaurants and bars all along the Front Range. But GABF doesn’t just fill up the Colorado Convention Center. The days around it are a…
Barley, hops, water and yeast. And wild sage and dandelion greens, yarrow and golden currants. Oh, and rabbit brush. These are some of the ingredients that were used by seventeen Colorado breweries as part of this year’s Beers Made by Walking. The festival, today at the Wynkoop Brewing Company, is…
As it has done for many years now, the Falling Rock Tap House kicked off the week leading up to the Great American Beer Festival with a beer lovers’ party. The granddaddy of Denver craft-beer bars counted down the seconds on its digital GABF clock before tapping numerous beers from…
As Westword’s Ask the Bartender columnist, I’ve talked with many bartenders for Cafe Society’s “Behind the Bar” series, posing numerous questions to Denver’s top bartenders…and often receiving the same answers: “I love chartreuse,” or “I’m really into smoked cocktails/barrel aging/bottled cocktails.” See also: A bartender by any other name…is still…
UPDATE: Congratulations to Jordenroman, who won the contest by telling a tale of a beer so delicious it had to be taken into the shower. Thanks to everyone else for your stories of beer love. Cheers. Tickets to the Great American Beer Festival, which takes place October 10-12 at the…
If you’ve been to the Great American Beer Festival before, then you know the drill: Wait, with bated breath, in a line that wraps around the Colorado Convention Center, get inside, get your tasting glass, take a deep breath and hit the tasting tables — hundreds upon hundreds of them…
The organizers of the Great American Beer Festival — and craft beer fans — will face an unusual situation when the three-day event returns to Denver for its thirty-second year on October 10: Not all of the hot, hard-to-find brewers will be inside the convention center hall. There are several…
You know you’re doing something right when the mayor drinks your beer and gives you a high-five. So brewer Chad Yakobson must be doing okay. On Friday, Yakobson will open his new showpiece brewery, Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project, inside the Source, an indoor market in River North. Yesterday, he…
The calm Denver weather belies a beer storm that is brewing. The Great American Beer Festival, and the week of revelry that surrounds it, are on their way. Breweries, bars and restaurants all along the Front Range are getting ready, but preparations can’t be made on adrenaline alone. Here are…
Tim Myers and Chris Hill are in double trouble. They’ve both been brewing a Scotch ale (a strong, sweet, caramel-colored beer) called Caber Toss and selling it out of their respective breweries — Myers at Strange Brewing and Hill at Odyssey Beerwerks. Rather than turn this trouble into a legal…
Lakewood’s annual Cider Days celebration, which takes place this weekend, has been home to tractor pulls, harvest fare and fresh-pressed apple cider for 37 years, but not the alcoholic kind. Until the few years ago, “cider” simply meant glorified apple juice. But that’s changing as hard cider becomes more popular…
As Westword’s Ask the Bartender columnist, I’ve talked with many bartenders for Cafe Society’s “Behind the Bar” series, posing numerous questions to Denver’s top bartenders…and often receiving the same answers: “I love chartreuse,” or “I’m really into smoked cocktails/barrel aging/bottled cocktails.” See also: A bartender by any other name…is still…
