Bars & Breweries

Despite their higher alcohol content and the fact that they resemble regular porters or even stouts, in both look and flavor, Baltic porters are not a common style in Colorado. Perhaps it’s because they are lagers, which means they can take up to twice as long to ferment. In Poland,…

Pliny the Younger, one of the rarest, most sought-after beers in the world, makes its annual return to Colorado in February when California’s Russian River Brewing trucks a precious few kegs of the cult beer over the Continental Divide. Russian River has been sending the highly-rated triple IPA to Colorado…

Boulder’s new-brewery scene was quiet for the majority of 2016. While existing powerhouses like Avery Brewing, Twisted Pine, Boulder Beer and Upslope all made news, no new breweries opened their doors during the first eleven months of the year. The most recent had been Vision Quest Brewery, which kicked things…

The West Highland Neighborhood has changed immensely over the years, but Mead Street Station has been a fixture for locals since 1994. I have always appreciated the bar for remaining casual and friendly in the sometimes hoity-toity strip of West 32nd Avenue near Lowell Boulevard that seems to sprout new…

Some of Colorado’s oldest breweries — including New Belgium, Great Divide, Avery and Left Hand, have revamped their beer lineups in recent months, and now one of the younger ones will make a big change as well. Boulder’s Upslope Brewing will stop canning Upslope Pale Ale — the first beer…

The building at 2376 15th Street has held a saloon since 1873. For the last 47 years, it’s been My Brother’s Bar. And although ownership is changing, this Denver icon will remain a landmark. And a great bar.

Craft beer has always been about the little guy. That’s part of its appeal, part of what attracts people — not just to the breweries themselves, but to the culture around them. So, it makes sense that a tiny craft-beer distributor might be able to forge a path as well,…

For the first time in its 23-year history, Great Divide Brewing made less beer during a twelve-month period than it did the year before — and not just by a little bit. The brewery produced 35,300 barrels of beer in 2016, down 16 percent from 41,900 barrels in 2015. “We…

A historic church building that was at the center of a long and bitter zoning dispute in Highlands Square will finally welcome a new tenant this year — one that may be the answer to some neighbors’ prayers. The owners of Oasis Brewing, which has a long history of its…

Despite working in the surrounding neighborhood for years, I had never made it to Phil’s Place. My coworker and I recently decided to stop in for a drink on a Friday after an event over at our office, which is just blocks from the unassuming little bar that sits on the…

We lost a lot of movie stars in 2016, but we also lost a lot of beers — beers that we were used to seeing on tap handles and on liquor-store shelves around town. They included not just all of the packaged beers from Wynkoop Brewing and Twisted Pine, but…

It’s only 38 miles from Vail to Breckenridge, but it was a huge leap for the Big Beers, Belgians and Barleywines Festival, which moved to Summit County this year after sixteen years in Vail. The change came with complications — finding new sponsors, a new venue and new partners —…

Still hurting from a bruising dispute last year that nearly split the organization in half, the Colorado Brewers Guild, which advocates for and represents more than two thirds of the state’s craft breweries, will enter the 2017 legislative session this week without an executive director. John Carlson, who led the…

The Best House Margarita became even better when Adelitas Cocina y Cantina, a three-time champ,switched the house tequila from Cimarron. But that’s not the only innovation at Adelitas: Founder Brian Rossi also came up with a winning formula for his back room, which is now Palenque Mezcaleria. After Adelitas hosted Guillermo Erickson Sauza at a special dinner last week, we checked in with Rossi for more tequila talk.

After thirty years, Sage Hospitality and its restaurant group finally has control of the Cruise Room.

Colfax Avenue may be the longest, wickedest street in America, but it’s not long enough — or oriented in the right way — to make it to Centennial. That doesn’t mean the owners of Lost Highway Brewing can’t relocate to the southern suburb, though. James and Tina Pachorek, who opened Lost…

As the 2017 Big Beers Fest gets under way in Breckenridge — for the first time after more than a decade in Vail — unofficial hosts Broken Compass and Breckenridge Brewery embody the changes in the craft brewery industry.

When I go to the Hornet, it usually involves one of two things: Either I am there on a Tinder date, or I run into one of my friends who lives in the neighborhood. Or actually, three things, if I include summertime visits for a show during the concert festival…

Breweries nearly replaced local bars as community gathering places and watering holes in many towns and neighborhoods across Colorado in 2016 — a trend that isn’t likely to slow down any time soon. But what is even more stunning than the number of breweries that currently operate in the state…

Two Colorado breweries closed their doors in December, which wouldn’t seem that unusual aside from the fact that almost no breweries have shuttered over the past five years. One of them, 1933 Brewing in Fort Collins, will reopen under new ownership and with a new concept in a few months…

Like a stressed-out dad who ignores the fact that his kids smell of pot whenever they come home from school, the Brewers Association has been dodging the issue of marijuana for a while. Although the Boulder-based organization, which represents the craft-beer industry nationwide, is located in the first state to…