Butter Beer at Green Russell “People come here for the showmanship, and for all the touches we put on drinks,” says Alex Lerman, bar manager at Green Russell, Denver’s first speakeasy-style cocktail bar. Those touches made for some sophisticated sipping, but they took time, too. Guests loved the intricate potions poured…
When the clock strikes four, restaurants all over the city start slashing prices and bringing out drinks and snacks to those looking for some mid-afternoon or late-night comfort. The happy hours arms race in Denver means that whether you’re headed to a dive bar or a chef’s flagship restaurant, you’ll…
Oskar Blues, which is one of the fast growing independent breweries in the country, said today that it has purchased Perrin Brewing, a medium-sized Michigan brewery that had been in business less than three years. Management of the two companies got to know each other late last year through their…
You can throw off the checkered tablecloths and add a fresh coat of varnish, but you can’t erase the spirit of a good old Italian restaurant. Gaetano’s Restaurant has been ladling red and pouring white in North Denver since 1947, but a change of ownership in 2005 (when the venerable…
Denver will recognize Declaration Brewing today as the first brewery in the city to be certified as “sustainably” green; the designation means it complied with a specific set of environmentally-friendly practices, like donating spent grain to farmers to be re-purposed into animal feed, instituting a heat-recovery process on boilers to…
2U at the Populist In the fall of 2013, Rob Corbari was busy getting the Populist ready to open at 31st and Larimer Streets. He literally built the bar he still works behind, which included installing floor tile, plumbing, electrical and even the bar top, made of thick, dark, heavy wood. But…
The eclectic chophouse LoHi SteakBar helped name and define the Lower Highlands before it became the gourmand destination it is today. Now, six years after opening and six months after the restaurant changed ownership and got a revamped menu, SteakBar is introducing a meaty new happy hour menu, served twice…
Bierstadt Lagerhaus – probably the next brewery to open in River North — got a big boost late last week when the owners took delivery of eight huge tanks and a whirlpool that will be used to make German-style lagers. Cranes lifted the tanks into the brewery, which will be…
For the last few years, Colorado craft breweries and their allies at local liquor stores have worked on convincing state lawmakers to keep grocery and convenience stores from being allowed to sell full-strength beer, wine and booze. Now these small and medium-sized businesses are cracking open a consumer campaign in advance…
On the occasion of a certain green-hued, ethnically dubious drinking holiday, I expected to be safe from the craziness in the bamboo-walled space of Adrift, Denver’s only true tiki bar. But the popularity of this South Broadway misfit at happy hour is a sign that Adrift isn’t just a goofy…
Colorado Craft Beer Week roars back into the state this weekend, with dozens of events at breweries, beer bars and restaurants. The kickoff – which has sold out – is Collaboration Fest at Sports Authority Field, featuring 75 one-off collaborative beers made by Colorado breweries working with in-state colleagues, some…
Peaches and pumpkins are popping presently. But raspberries have always been a popular ingredient for Colorado breweries, whether it was Great Divide’s Wild Raspberry Ale in the mid-’90s, Twisted Pine Raspberry Wheat in the early 2000s, or New Belgium’s Frambozen raspberry brown ale, a recurring favorite. And 2015 will see…
The Hunter’s Mule at Comida Years ago, Ted LaMontagne didn’t know much about flavors. He was bartending at Trattoria Stella, where he started to learn about good wines and to develop his palate. “I was the pickiest eater you could ever imagine,” he says, “until I started working at that Italian…
Here’s a Colorado conundrum: Wanna buy a joint for a penny? You’ll have to drink a beer first. For the last several weeks, Grass Station, a north Denver pot shop, has been offering customers the chance to buy a joint for one cent if they bring in an empty can…
The never-ending feud over whether or not the Cherry Cricket has the best burger in town won’t be slowing down anytime soon; the Cricket is one of the five finalists for Best Hamburger in our Best of Denver 2015 Readers’ Poll. And you can test it for yourself the next time…
“Here’s why Collaboration Fest is a great event: if you’re there, you are only drinking one-of-a-kind, one-off beers,” says Wayne Waananen, the head brewer at Denver’s Station 26. “That’s the joy of it.” A couple thousand people will get to experience that joy on Saturday, March 21 at the second…
It’s considered a crazy idea to go to a nightclub for a decent meal. Certainly, whatever’s coming out of that kitchen in Boogie Nights doesn’t look so good. Dorchester Social Eatery, in the heart of Market Street’s nightilfe scene, is pairing a clubby atmosphere with a menu that name-checks all…
Black Bottle Brewery in Fort Collins will release bottles of its latest Cerealiously beer today (the brew has already been tapped on draft as well): Cerealiously Lucky Charms. The brewery has garnered quite a bit of attention over the past six months or so with its cereal beers, especially after General…
Orange Is The New Grey at Humboldt While making cocktails at Humboldt in Uptown, bartender Alex Curry reaches into the cooler behind his bar probably a hundred times a night. Humboldt is a high-volume bar, and Curry prides himself on how fast he can make cocktails. In most of those hurried…
Like a lot of Eastern European immigrants, Ron and Jason Abbott’s great-grandparents brought their love of beer and brewing to the United States when they came here in the late 1800s. Growing up on a farm in Nebraska, the brothers often heard stories about the family’s brewing prowess. Now the Abbotts…
Everybody! Great news! It’s OK to open a taqueria now. Years after Pinche Tacos and its Mexican gourmet ilk caused a headache inducing frenzy for anything on a corn tortilla, the zeitgeist has turned its attention to other things. 1968 had the summer of love, 2011 boasted the summer of…
Like a lot of other people, Danny Wang took to social media after seeing Budweiser’s now-infamous Super Bowl commercial, “Brewed the Hard Way,” which bashed craft breweries with the line: “Let them drink their pumpkin peach ale. We’ll be brewing us some golden suds.” He couldn’t believe that the megabrewer,…
