Pete and David. Father and son. Just two guys heading out on a week-long RV trip across the country. Of course, most father-and-son adventures don’t involve a personal driver, like this one does. But then, most fathers and sons aren’t Pete Coors and David Coors. And, frankly, having a designated…
In this interview, Anika Zappe, newly appointed beverage director for Le Grand Bistro & Oyster Bar and the upcoming Punch Bowl, weighs in on transitioning from beer-and-shot bars to craft cocktails, the drink that’s brilliant unless the limes suck, and her most memorable night while managing a punk-rock bar…
Copper Kettle Brewing was a key piece of Denver’s neighborhood brewery revolution in 2011, opening in a business park off of Parker Road and quickly garnering a following of regulars. Over the course of just one year, the brewery has released more than two dozen beers, increased its tasting room,…
There are two kinds of wine drinkers: Some seek out new wines like so many blind dates, eager to make the acquaintance of a lover more intriguing than the last; others are more like serial monogamists — they form long-standing relationships with specific grapes, regions or winemakers to whom they…
Ever since Longmont’s Left Hand Brewing released its Milk Stout Nitro in a bottle before the Great American Beer Festival last year, pouring a pint has been a favorite party trick. Stand on someone’s expensive rug with a bottle and glass and upend that sucker: You’ll hear some gasps, but…
Four-year-old Upslope Brewing is already too big for its current space — a location that doubled in size just a year ago. Owner Matt Cutter is looking for a place in Boulder where the brewery can expand, and hopes to nail down plans this year. But in the meantime, Upslope…
The metro area gained so many liquid assets in 2011, we had to do a lot of drinking before we could choose the winner of our Best New Bar award for the Best of Denver 2012. And even then, the awards kept spilling out for other new spots, including Best…
Longmont won big today when the Brewers Association, based just down the road in Boulder, released its annual list of the top fifty biggest craft brewers in the United States. Left Hand Brewing, which was founded in Longmont in 1993, cracked the list for the first time, logging in at…
“Corrido,” explains Yuri Kato, the director of Tequila Corrido, “is a type of music associated with the tequila smugglers of the border region. It’s romantic and story-telling.” And it’s also the name of a highland-region tequila that launched two years ago in Arizona but, thanks to Kato, is starting to…
“We’ve been in Denver almost five years to the day,” says Amy Kempster of her and her husband, Adam Dunbar. And in that time, the pair has made a major impression in the Denver dining scene: Kempster has worked behind the bars at Jonesy’s EatBar, City O’ City and Colt…
In this interview, Courtney Wilson, bar manager at Williams & Graham and president-elect of the board of the Colorado Bartenders Guild, weighs in on what she’d like to see next for the guild, the drink that makes her forget her aversion to vodka and what she drank when she partied…
Denver’s Del Norte Brewing debuted a new beer, El Guapo, last night at all 25 Old Chicago locations in Colorado. The 5.6 percent ABV beer is a hoppier answer to Bohemia, the Czech-style Mexican pilsner, says Del Norte co-owner Joe Fox. “We were looking through our portfolio and we didn’t…
Happy Place: Paris on the Platte Café and Bar, 1553 Platte Street, 303-455-2451. The Hours: Monday through Friday from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. The Deals: $3 draft beers and well drinks; $5 wines by the glass; $1 off all appetizers. Were we happy? Flip the page to find out…
Bartender Matty Durgin recently landed behind the stick at À Côté Bar a Absinthe after parting ways with Adrift, the tiki bar that just opened on South Broadway. But the rum aficionado immediately began making plans to integrate his favorite spirit into the drink list there — even if those…
In January, the owners of Izakaya Den announced that they had entered into a very involved deal with BW Holdings, the company that controls the Wynkoop/Breckenridge group of breweries and restaurants, agreeing to swap Izakaya’s current location — a stand-alone building at 1518 South Pearl Street — for the now-closed…
A sun-soaked, 75-plus degree afternoon for the Rockies’ home opener. Buds blooming on the trees outside our terrace. Flip-flop adorned feet everywhere we look. Seems it’s been an age since Denver enjoyed a springtime as warm and inviting as this one — and the early onset of balmier temps has…
It took two and a half years, but Robert Thompson, the restaurateur behind Le Grand Bistro & Oyster Bar, the former Argyll and Punch Bowl Social, finally got his wish: Anika Zappe, one of the most respected and high-profile bartenders in Denver, Thompson told me today, is now the beverage…
To give the Colorado Bartenders Guild all the credit for Denver’s flourishing cocktail culture would be wrong, says Sean Kenyon, owner of Williams & Graham and one of the founding members of this state’s chapter. But it certainly helped. “We were officially chartered in February of 2008,” he says, “and…
The third annual Denver International Beer Competition takes place this weekend at the Omni Interlocken Resort in Broomfield, a contest that last year received more than 190 entries from brewers in more than twenty states and six countries. The gold-medal winners will be showcased at the Taste of Elegance Chefs…
Breckenridge Brewery has outgrown its Denver headquarters. The city’s biggest beer maker is planning to build a brand-new, 125,000-square-foot brewery, tasting room, restaurant and visitors center on ten acres in the metro area. The estimated $15 million project would ennable the company to make 100,000 barrels of beer per year…
Russell’s Smokehouse, 1422 Larimer Street, is teaming up with Illegal Mezcal to present a meal paired with its handcrafted, small-batch spirits this evening. The three-course dinner costs $45, which includes cocktails and appetizers; call 720-524-8050 to RSVP. For information on dozens of culinary events around town, visit our online Food…
The owners of Denver Beer Co. found out how long it takes a bike-powered grain mill to chew up barley when they hooked the mill to a stationary bike provided by their Platte Street neighbor, Salvagetti Bicycle Workshop, and fired up the contraption. Read more: Denver Beer Co. uses pedal…
