Vine Street Pub is getting ready to raise the roof on its new brewery. But first it had to lower the floor. “We dropped the whole thing about three feet,” says Brian Hutchinson, head brewer for Vine Street. The goal is to make room for a twelve-barrel brewing system and…
Earlier today, Swirl Girl Kendra Anderson lamented common wine-service flubs in Denver restaurants, berating spots that propagate listless lists and serve poorly temped juice. And while each one of her points rings true with us, we’ve got another bone to pick: the etiquette of the tasting pour…
What the hell is up with the wine service at certain Denver restaurants lately? A slew of recent visits to a number of reputable spots around town resulted in being treated to some pretty egregious wine service faux pas. None of these restaurants were places where you’d know better than…
Craft beer has been the star of a recent documentary, a television series and a couple of YouTube videos over the past year. Now another feature-length documentary is scheduled to be released this summer. Most of these efforts have been serious, noble — sometimes overly so. Leave it to the…
The Fort Collins and Wynkoop brewing companies are the the latest Colorado beer-makers to introduce new black ales, and while the Fort Collins bottle label made me raise a P.C. eyebrow, black ales are definitely becoming more popular. The Incredible Hop Imperial Black IPA is part of Fort Collins Brewery’s…
Happy Place: Annie’s Café, 3100 East Colfax Avenue, 303-355-8197 The Hours: Daily from 3 to 6 p.m., and 9 p.m. to close. The Deals: $2 PBR cans and all draft beer; $3 house wine and well drinks; $5 well martinis and mini margaritas; $3 food specials. Were we happy? Flip…
There’s a battle brewing at Govnr’s Park. On Saturday, from 5 to 8 p.m., the ageless watering hole will host its second annual Spring Meltdown Beerfest, pitting 35 breweries against each other. They’ll be fighting for the love of Gov’s patrons, and the winner gets a draft handle for an…
At 11 a.m., the Wynkoop Brewing Company, 1634 18th Street, will release its new beer, Skull & Crossbones Black Ale, inspired by Real Pirates: The Untold Story of the Whydah from Slave Ship to Pirate Ship, the new exhibit that sets sail today at the Denver Museum of Nature &…
Can’t get enough locally-made craft beer? You’re in luck! Brian and Khara O’Connell plan to open Renegade Brewing this summer at 925 West Ninth Avenue, just off Santa Fe Drive. “We are really excited to be in the arts district and to be a part of First Fridays,” says Brian,…
Old dog. New tricks. The Wazee Supper Club, which has been dishing up Denver-style pizza pies for almost forty years, is adding to, and revamping, its beer lineup to focus more on craft beer. “We used to have twenty taps. Now there are 32, and some of those original twenty…
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…
Some delicious new beers are floating around out there this week, including Myrcenary double IPA, Odell Brewing’s first new year-round beer since 2007, which you can find at Old Chicago and in liquor stores, and Le Terroir, an elegant but powerful dry-hopped sour ale from New Belgium’s Lips of Faith…
While there’s less than four weeks remaining until spring the final days of winter still feel like they are literally crawling by. We’re between major holidays, so there’s not much to look forward to…unless you can find a way to get excited about the tasty, homemade (or, let’s be real…
The Wynkoop Brewing Company’s annual Beer Drinker of the Year competition — in which contestants must prove their knowledge of the brew, not how much they can drink — found its 2011 winner over the weekend: Phil Farrell, a Georgia-based commercial pilot. Naturally, Farrell is also a homebrewer who boasts…
Pliny the Younger, the ultra-rare triple IPA from California’s Russian River Brewing, has already been tapped at the Falling Rock Taphouse — which got seven of the twenty five-gallon kegs allocated for Colorado — and at FreshCraft, which opened one keg last night. But there are still a few more…
One hour, 108 bottles of vodka and two Guinness World Records. That was yesterday for Mark Stoddard, mixologist at Happy/Bitter Bar in Boulder, and seven teammates in the 42BELOW Cocktail World Cup U.S. Final at the Ace Hotel. During the cocktail competition, Stoddard and his teammates set out to see…
It’s that time of year again: Russian River is shipping out small batches of Pliny the Younger, the rare triple IPA with ridiculous ratings and a fervent cult following, to the handful of lucky establishments. Westword’s Beer Man will have the full scoop on that tomorrow — and details on…
Happy Place: The Burnsley Hotel, 1000 Grant Street, 303-830-1000 The Hours: Monday through Saturday from 4 to 7 p.m. The Deals: Half-price beer, wine, and cocktails; $3 tapas. Were we happy? Flip the page to find out…
The only thing that could possibly have made the discovery of a new Pilgrim sandwich any better is that fact that I’ll soon be able to wash it down with a cold Colorado beer. Backcountry Provisions, the oddly-but-rustic-and-poetically-named LoDo sandwich shop, plans to start serving two beers on tap alongside…
Want to feel like a big fish in a little pond? Grab a seat at one of the two (!) bars at Ocean Prime, which docked last month in a prime piece of real estate, right on the corner of Larimer Square. The downstairs bar alone is several times the…
When the Colorado Press Association was in town for its annual convention this past weekend, Visit Denver, the convention and visitors’ bureau, took advantage of the concentration of journalists to host a cocktail party featuring Colorado beer, Colorado wine and Colorado spirits. And while press folk have the reputation of…
Stout Month comes to a close with a variety of tappings and other events at the Vine Street Pub in Denver, and the Mountain Sun and Southern Sun pubs in Boulder — and there are plenty of other sudsy celebrations to lift your spirits as well. Here’s what’s on tap…
