“When a distiller gets married, you want to bring some special things,” says Todd Leopold, “because that’s what your family and friends are going to expect.” The wedding he’s referring to was actually his own, and the special thing that he brought was a bitter, scarlet-colored aperitif that he distilled…
American Craft Beer Week plows forward over the next few days, and while the designation is hardly needed anymore in Colorado where every week is essentially an American Craft Beer Week, the nationwide festival — which celebrates small and independent brewers — is certainly important in other states. Which is…
Chain Reaction Brewing, which will celebrate its one-year anniversary next month, gave itself an early present last week when it installed a seven-barrel system that it bought from friends at Lone Tree Brewing. The twenty-year-old system has no bells or whistles and has been used by at least three other…
I’m Not a Pirate, at Euclid Hall Bar & Kitchen It’s no surprise that beer cocktails make up a fair chunk of the drink menu at Euclid Hall, known for its extensive and eclectic beer program. The bar staff collaborates on drink recipes, contributing seasonally inspired combinations of beer and…
One of the best rums in the world is produced right here in Colorado. Montanya Distillers was notified in April that its Platino Light Rum, produced in Crested Butte, had been selected as ‘Best White Rum’ at this year’s World Rum Awards. “It’s probably the coolest award we’ve won so…
Colorado’s independently-owned breweries and liquor stores love the fact that supermarkets and convenience stores here aren’t allowed to sell full-strength beer at most of their locations: the decades-old system, they say, protects small and medium-sized businesses and allows for a much wider selection of beers on store shelves. It’s a…
From cosplayers to opthamologists, when the Colorado Convention Center fills up with one convention or another, so does Stout Street Social. Right across from the Big Blue Bear on the ground floor of the Embassy Suites, it’s the closest place to get a beer and a decent meal for the many…
Golden City Brewery — which was founded in 1993 as Golden’s “2nd Largest Brewery,” has been slowly changing and expanding over the last year, eliminating the kitchen, renovating the taproom, adding new fermentation and serving tanks and walk-in cooler capacity, expanding its distribution and ramping up its packaging with a…
River North Brewery, which opened at 24th and Blake streets in February 2012 as the first new beer maker in the district, may become a victim of the neighborhood it is named after. But that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Brewery founder Matthew Hess says that the owners of his…
TRVE Brewing (2015 winner of Westword’s Best Brewery Tap Room — Beer) cranked up its new production facility for the first time last week, brewing a saison that will be released later this month. Until now, TRVE, which was founded in June 2012, has made all of its beer at…
The Human Fly at Central Bistro & Bar Anika Zappe got heavily into punk rock way back in the day when she was bouncing around the halls at Evergreen High School. One of her favorite bands was the Cramps, a garage-punk outfit that became part of the emerging punk rock…
While all kinds of craft distilleries are popping up in Colorado, none of them manufactures actual tequila. That’s because in order to qualify as tequila, the spirit must be made in Mexico, from Mexican agave. But there are Colorado-based companies that sell tequila, most notably Arta Tequila, which Denverite Tony…
The homegrown Rio Grande Mexican Restaurant chain Rio, founded in Fort Collins 29 years ago, is kicking off an entire month of Cinco de Mayo specials starting on Friday, May 1, at all seven of its cantinas around the state (Rio on the Rocks at Coors Field is not included…
The happy hour at Highland Tap & Burger is unstoppable, garnering Reader’s Choice awards in our Best of Denver section for Best Late-Afternoon Happy Hour two years running, as well as a host of other awards. Newer and more exotic happy hours pop up all the time, yet HTB enjoys…
When a wall of water surged through downtown Denver at around 8 p.m. on June 16, 1965, it destroyed hundreds of homes and businesses and changed the course of the city’s history. One of the businesses that was wrecked in the flood (the subject of this week’s Westword cover story,…
Oskar Blues and residents of Longmont, Colorado, and Brevard, North Carolina, raised $7,000 last week at fundraisers designed to help Michelle Wilkins, the Longmont woman who was attacked by Dynel Lane, who was pretending to sell baby and maternity clothes on Craigslist; that story made national and international headlines because of…
The Colorado craft-brewing scene is growing — which means that several head brewers are going. There have been several high-profile changes recently at the area’s top breweries. The first took place when Great Divide head brewer Taylor Rees, who had been with the brewery for ten years, teamed up with Austin…
The Airedale at Ophelia’s Electric Soapbox Before Mike Henderson started thinking of names for his cocktails at Ophelia’s Electric Soapbox, he was thinking of a name for the brand new restaurant itself. Henderson and owner Justin Cucci bounced around hundreds of possible names for the restaurant — located in a building…
If you can sit in the lounge of Guard and Grace and order well drinks and small plates without feeling outclassed, you’ve passed the test. Troy Guard’s paean to fine cuts and chops and 2015 Best Steakhouse winner certainly caters to the well-heeled crowd (literally — shoe game on point, ladies and gentlemen),…
Brüfrou, the food-and-beer extravaganza featuring pairings from Colorado breweries and chefs, kicks off its second annual festival at Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space museum on Saturday with two sessions and a separate pre-event forum called TastyTålks, where local food and beverage experts will discuss current restaurant and beer trends…
The 32nd annual Craft Brewers Conference just wrapped up, and if things seemed a little quieter in Denver last weekend, that was because hundreds of local brewery-industry folks were in Portland, Oregon, to participate in the trade show. At the CBC, OvalOptions for Conflict Management, a Denver firm, announced that…
Tommyknocker Brewery, whose logo and location in the Colorado foothills have given it a rustic, mountain-town image over the past two decades, has begun exporting that image overseas — to Helsinki, Finland. In March Captol Invest, a Finnish restaurant-investment group, opened the Tommyknocker Craft Beer Bar in Helsinki, serving eight different…
