Brian Smith, the barman at Pinche Taqueria who will also be behind the stick at the resurrected Squeaky Bean when that restaurant opens next year, began his love affair with the bar before he was even legal. “I’ve been bartending at home since I graduated from high school,” he admits…
Back in November, the Wynkoop Brewing Company hosted a membership rally for the Boulder-based National Homebrewers Association — a rally that turned into a giant brewing session: each of the 210 AHA members in attendance pitched a cupful of hops into a boiling brew kettle, making a beer that will…
Nick Nunns isn’t looking to take over the world. He just wants a cool, intimate spot for his brewery where people can hang out and drink good beer. “A dive mead hall,” he calls it. This week, Nunns signed a lease on the former Rule Gallery space at 227 Broadway,…
Happy Place: Wazee Supper Club, 1600 15th Street, 303-623-9518. The Hours: Monday through Friday from 3 to 6 p.m. The Deals: $2-$3 draft beer and shot specials; $2.50-$5 appetizers. Were we happy? Flip the page to find out…
Remember all the snarling and snapping that surrounded Brown Dog Pizza, the Telluride-based pizzeria that attempted to open a second outpost on South Gaylord Street, but laid down. rolled over and eventually limped away whimpering when its liquor license was denied, thanks to the pit bull tactics of the South…
Brothers Jeff and Danny Chayer are originally from Minnesota, but they’ve spent the past four years working in the Texas wine industry. “He was a winemaker,” Danny says of Jeff. “I was a manager of one of the wineries.” There, they learned the ropes of the craft, and, Danny says,…
Lone Tree Brewing Company opens today at 4 p.m., bringing Denver’s craft beer revolution to the southeastern suburbs. Two years in the making, the brewery is owned by business partners Jason Wiedmaier, a high school teacher and former Dry Dock Brewing employee, and John Winter, a homebrewer who met Wiedmaier…
Avery Brewing, which jumped its first hurdle on Tuesday on its way to building a brand new, multi-million-dollar facility in Boulder, has adjusted its brewing schedule slightly to deal with cramped quarters and a rising demand for its beer. Instead of releasing Maharaja imperial IPA in March, Avery will brew…
New Belgium Brewing, Colorado’s largest craft-beer makers and the third largest in the country, revealed in May that it was searching for an East Coast location for a second facility. The company said it would make a decision by the end of 2011. Well, we’re getting close, and New Belgium…
With all the talk lately about Occupy This and The X Percenters, if you’re like us, you’re wondering how to align your gift giving instincts with your urge to support businesses hustling to make ends meet just like you are. And since we can’t imagine a better way to spread…
A year after he started running the bar at Boulder’s Salt, Evan Faber sat down with the restaurant’s owner, Bradford Heap, and divulged a dream. “I told him, ‘One thing I would like to do is open a distillery,'” Faber says. To his surprise, Heap, who also owns Bradford Heap…
Happy Repeal Day, Denver. In celebration of the day in 1933 when United States citizens could finally booze legally again, you might consider raising a pre-Prohibition era cocktail — like a dry Martini, made with equal parts gin and vermouth, or a bittered sling (the old-fashioned Old Fashioned) — to…
Happy Place: Park and Co., 439 East 17th Avenue, 720-328-6732. The Hours: Monday through Friday from 4 to 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. to midnight; Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. to midnight. The Deals: $1 off all draft beers; $2 off wines by…
Prohibition was repealed on December 5, 1933, a day that will forever be celebrated by the drinking public — and there are plenty of ways to raise a toast. You could enjoy a beer by any number of Colorado’s craft brewers, down a drink made with a Colorado-distilled spirit or…
Christmas came early for Bull & Bush Pub head brewer Gabe Molina, who is taking delivery this week on two truckloads of new brewing equipment. They pub is adding four fifteen-barrel tanks and four seven-barrel tanks, along with four fifteen-barrel serving tanks for their draft lines. The additions will quadruple…
Breckenridge Brewing has struck a deal with Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey that will allow it to become the sole brewer in the nation that can use the distillery’s name on its barrel-aged beers. While other brewers in Colorado can still buy and use Stranahan’s barrels, only Breckenridge will be able to…
‘Tis the season for giving – the time of year for fa-la-la-ing, mistletoe-ing and all the other festivities Bing and Nat sing about. But let’s be honest: Decking the halls and making merry can be downright exhausting. So in betwixt the tree trimming and holiday caroling, why not give yourself…
Holiday beers are on tap all around town, and you’ll find some good ones right at the source — at the breweries that make them. Some of the wintery wonders you can try include Ugly Sweater at Wit’s End Brewing, Winter Spice Ale (with star anise, vanilla soaked in rum,…
Sean Kenyon’s Ask the Bartender has been on a break, but Kenyon hasn’t been taking it easy: Over the past five weeks, he’s been traveling (Germany, France and New York City twice), working at Euclid Hall at night and opening Williams & Graham during the day. Now he’s back, plenty…
For obvious reasons, the Denver Broncos are unexpectedly fun to watch this year, especially with a glass of locally brewed goodness. It’s yet another reason Colorado is such a cool place to live. And that will serve you well over the next two weekends, while the Broncos are on the…
Happy Place: SALT the Bistro, 1047 Pearl Street, 303-444-7258. The Hours: Daily from 3 to 6 p.m. The Deals: $3 beers; $4 house wines; $4 element cocktails; $1-$5 small plates; $10-$15 large plates. Were we happy? Flip the page to find out…
Avery Brewing has created an online petition at change.com, urging the brewery’s fans to support an effort in Boulder to change the zoning code to allow breweries, wineries and distilleries located in industrial parts of the city to open restaurants. Right now, those businesses are only allowed to open a…
