There are a few key elements that seem to magically define what makes a perfect spring wine. Much like the lighter foods you’re likely craving come April or May every year, your ideal wine should be as clean, bright and flavorful as a salad of just-picked berries and as aromatic…
Sean Kenyon knows how to pour out both drinks and advice. A third-generation bar man with almost 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…
Happy Place: Reiver’s Bar and Grill, 1085 South Gaylord Street, 303-733-8856 The Hours: Monday through Friday from 3 to 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. to close. The Deals: $2.50-$6 beer specials; $10 buckets of beer; $2.50 cocktails, half-price appetizers. Were we happy? Flip the page to find out…
More than 900 oysters arrived at the Cheeky Monk yesterday on an overnight flight from the Oregon coast — all of them destined to be consumed with Rogue beers. That comes out to a dozen each for the 75 people who bought tickets to the sold-out Colorado Beer Week event…
Many of the bigger craft breweries across the country overhaul their image every three or four years, adding beers to the lineup, changing their look or their labels. But time moves a little slower in Idaho Springs. “We are doing a whole image revamp,” says Steve Indrehus, the head brewer…
Barley, water, hops and yeast. They are the four basics of beer — unless, of course, you’re gluten-intolerant. Then barley is off the table. Which makes it hard to drink beer. In the past few years, however, a couple of companies across the country have begun making gluten-free beer, including…
While some Colorado brewers have been pulling their beers out of other states recently, breweries from other states continue to try their luck in Colorado, where craft beer seems to flow in the streets like water and in the veins of its residents like blood. Since the beginning of 2011,…
Last week, we gave you the lowdown on our picks for Denver’s top five burgers, piquing the ire of quite a few local burger-loving peeps. In the spirit of fueling potentially even more controversy, we felt it only proper for us to spark a whole new debate: What kinds of…
You’re a man, so by definition, everything you do must be manly, right? Wrong. There are hundreds of beers out there to choose from, lining the liquor store shelves and bar taps like kids waiting to get picked for a game of recess football. But only a very few of…
Many of the people who work in Colorado’s craft beer industry believe that brewer-in-chief Governor John Hickenlooper would never sign a bill allowing grocery and convenience stores to sell full-strength beer — even if the legislature passed it. Now they won’t have to worry about it — at least not…
Smashburger is hoping that its milkshakes bring all the boys, and girls, to the yard. While Smashburger has had beer on its menu since the Denver-based chain got its start, the store that opened last fall in the Tabor Center also serves alcohol-spiked shakes and floats ($5.99) that are the…
Happy Place: LoHi Steakbar, 3200 Tejon Street, 303-927-6334 The Hours: Daily from 4 to 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. to midnight. The Deals: $2 Budweiser drafts, PBR, and Coors bottles; $3 house margaritas and well drinks; $5 wines by the glass; $5 sliders. Were we happy? Flip the page to…
Great Divide made beer drinkers in six states cry last week when the Denver brewery acknowledged that it had pulled its beers from the shelves there. In addition to Michigan, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Kentucky, New Mexico and Alaska, the brewer is leaving Washington, D.C. and has significantly reduced its distribution…
We have a quick contest for you on this fine Thursday: We’re giving one Cafe Society commenter two “VIP Mugs” (you and a guest) to this Saturday’s Breckenridge Beer Fest. To find out how to win, keep reading…
Do you sense something? Is that…could it be…summer in the air? Actually, no. But it is spring, and that means spring beer releases. What’s on tap this month? How about Odell Double Pilsner, Left Hand Good JuJu, Ska’s Mexican Logger and three beers from Great Divide, just to name a…
Tickets for one of the newest, but already most buzz-worthy Colorado beer festivals of the year go on sale tomorrow at noon. The second annual Boulder SourFest — with more than eighty different sour ales — will run from noon to 5 p.m. on June 11 at Avery Brewing Company…
You know how hard you’ve been working to master the basics of food and wine pairing? Well, if you’ve been reading the same handful of recent articles we have, then you might be wondering if all that effort has been a big fat waste of time. The flames of this…
Sean Kenyon has issued the very last call for entries in the Colorado Cocktail Contest: Your entry must be received at bartender@westword.com no later than midnight tonight. Once again, the rules: * The base spirit (at least half of the spirit in the cocktail) must be a Colorado spirit –…
Like many other Colorado craft brewers, Boulder’s Upslope Brewing has grown exponentially over the past year. And so Upslope has shut down its tasting room for the next three weeks so that it can knock out walls and expand into space next door. When it reopens on April 26, the…
We tasted a lot of house margaritas in preparation for our Best of Denver 2011 issue, and the marg at El Camino was hands down the Best House Margarita, as well as one of the most simple, true to the classic roots of this Mexican cocktail. At most American Mexican…
Happy Place: Forest Room 5, 2532 Fifteenth Street, 303-433-7001 The Hours: Monday through Saturday from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. The Deals: $2-3 beer; $5 wine and sangria; $5-6 specialty cocktails; $5-8 appetizers. Were we happy? Flip the page to find out…
Craft brewers and craft beer fans have a particular fondness for April’s Fool Day. Here are some of the good jokes we’ve seen so far. From CraftCans.com When [Oskar Blues’s] newest offering, Twen Teny Triple Imperial Stout, hits shelves it will be far and away the strongest canned beer in…
