For some of us, spending an hour strolling up and down the aisles of our neighborhood wine store is like a little slice of heaven. Between filling up carts with our latest vino obsessions and ogling that magnum of Veuve we can’t possibly afford, a wine-buying spree is perhaps second…
Denver’s rolling explosion of craft-beer taps is celebrating its first anniversary, since several restaurants that fueled the movement opened a year ago this month. And while one of these new beer bars, Uptown Brothers, didn’t make it, others — like Euclid Hall, Freshcraft, Stoney’s and Hops & Pie — are…
The Global Business Travel Association is in town, and the city threw a big welcoming party for the travel planners Sunday at the Denver Performing Arts Complex, where they were served a drink that could have been a contender in the Colorado Cocktail Project — which Marnie Ward won with…
Sean Kenyon knows how to pour out both drinks and advice. A third-generation bar man with 25 years behind the bar, he is a student of cocktail history, a United States Bartenders Guild-certified Spirits Professional and a BAR Ready graduate of the prestigious Beverage Alcohol Resource Program. You can often…
The Budweiser brewery in Fort Collins announced yesterday that it is moving its Clydesdale training program from the northern Colorado town to a farm in Merrimack, New Hampshire, where it will also start a hitch-driving school. The famous horses — which are a big part of Bud’s Fort Collins brewery…
Sean Kenyon knows how to pour out both drinks and advice. A third-generation bar man with 25 years behind the bar, he is a student of cocktail history, a United States Bartenders Guild-certified Spirits Professional and a BAR Ready graduate of the prestigious Beverage Alcohol Resource Program. You can often…
Happy Place: Blue Bonnet Cafe, 457 South Broadway, 303-778-0147 The Hours: Monday through Friday from 4 to 6 p.m., and Monday through Saturday from 9 p.m. to close The Deals: $2 domestic drafts; $2.75 imported drafts; $2 well drinks; $3.50 to $4.25 margarita specials; $1.99 appetizers. Were we happy? Flip…
If you look at a bottle of Maker’s Mark bourbon, you’ll note that the company spells the word “whisky” without the “e.” That’s a tribute to the history that the Samuels family, who founded Maker’s in the 1950s, has with distilling. Rob Samuels says his ancestors were making Scotch in…
What?!? But it’s only August, right? Sure, it’s August now, but school starts this week, and before you know it, it will be Labor Day weekend, and Sniagrab will kick off at Sports Authority. Then football will be here, along with a chill in the air as our tomato plants…
A great many learned individuals spend a significant amount of their time advancing the notion that the enjoyment of wine is an incredibly serious, sophisticated pursuit. And some of these people, having spent countless hours in pursuit of the ever-nebulous nuances of what makes a particular wine great, work hard…
Denver is one of the best beer cities in the nation, and Colorado is perhaps the finest of the fifty states when it comes to craft breweries. So why, wondered the two guys behind Offie Bottle Shop, don’t we have a dedicated craft beer store? The answer is because Colorado…
As bold beer drinkers continue their assault on the fizzy yellow brews of the world, they have begun to march outside of Denver’s urban core — and into the wild world of the suburbs. The latest outpost: Lone Tree Brewing, which plans to open in October in the Parkway Point…
Canned craft beers have surged in popularity so much this summer that Old Chicago is running its latest Mini Tour based solely on aluminum. Each of the Colorado-based restaurant chain’s 97 locations, spread throughout 22 states across the country, is featuring an interesting mix of eight canned beers…
Happy Place: Izakaya Den, 1518 South Pearl Street, 303-777-0691 Hours: Tuesday through Friday from 5 to 6:30 p.m. The Deals: $5 hot or cold sake, cocktails, wines by the glass, and appetizers; two-for-one Kirin draft beers Were we happy? Flip the page to find out…
Denver Beer Co doesn’t have a kitchen, but the city’s zoning inspectors may be tempted to double check. The brewery, which opens today on Platte Street, serves Kaffir Lime Wheat as fresh and nuanced as any chef’s signature appetizer, a rauschbier that smells and tastes like a plate of smoked…
In the months since a massive fire consumed Boulder’s Oak at Fourteenth, requiring a remodel that would strip the property to its studs, owner Bryan Dayton hasn’t exactly been idling. The former president of the Colorado Bartenders’ Guild has kept up with staff trainings, continued his involvement with the state’s…
Because of Colorado’s increasingly controversial liquor laws, only one outlet of any grocery chain — Safeway, King Soopers, Target, Whole Foods and the like — can sell full-strength beer, wine and alcohol. Target’s spot is in the superstore in Glendale, but until recently, its single aisle of liquid refreshment hasn’t…
It’s a well-known fact in the wine industry that the majority of consumers decide which bottle of fermented grape juice to spring for based solely on their attraction to the label. If you’d count yourself as a member of that particular buying demographic, we feel compelled to tell you’re generally…
Dry Dock Brewing kicked its weekly firkin in a record 49 minutes last Friday, and since the taproom opens at 3 p.m., that means there was none left for anyone who showed up after 3:50 p.m., which can be tough since most people don’t get off work til later. So…
Regulars did some moaning when the popular Perk Hill coffee shop abruptly closed last spring, after a celebrated tiff with the landlord over its funky outdoor seating. But in a few weeks, the place will reopen as a tapas bar. Permits are in and construction has begun on Park Hill…
Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project, one of the most unusual and exciting brewing concepts to start up in Colorado, plans to release its first two bottled beers, Pure Guava Petite Sour and Wild Wild Brett Rouge, on Thursday in Fort Collins. Both “wild” or “sour” beers have been aged with…
Happy Place: Linger, 2030 West 30th Avenue, 303-993-3120 The Hours: Tuesday through Friday from 4 to 6:30 p.m. (Food service begins at 4:30 p.m.) The Deals: $3.50-$7 small plates; $3 select draft beer; $4-$5 specialty cocktails; $5 glasses of house red and white wines. Were we happy? Flip the page…
