The Great American Beer Festival begins in three days, and if you want to be ready for it, you should check with Café Society every afternoon for our survival tips. Because let’s face it: For the average, beer-drinking Joe, the Great American Beer Festival can be a sweaty, draining sausage-fest…
With Denver Beer Fest under way, the city is overflowing with beery events. Tonight at 6:30 p.m., Avery Brewery is sponsoring a Beers, Brats & Burlesque: Tastings & Tassels extravaganza at Lannie’s Clocktower Cabaret, 1601 Arapahoe Street; while Avery experts guide you through a full selection of their beers, you…
Esquire magazine has unleashed its annual roster of the Best Bars in America, a compilation of the top 100 degenerate dives, sultry saloons, blue collar pubs and highbrow haunts across America, including Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, that are apparently worth their weight in fine (and not so fine)…
The Great American Beer Festival begins just six days from now. If you want to be ready (and believe me, we are soooo ready), you’ll need to check in here every afternoon for some lowdown, some insight and some tips on how to do it right. In the meantime, here’s…
What do you get when you cross a framed Farrah Fawcett photo with Jesus candles and bottles of Jack, Knob Creek and Colorado’s own Stranahan’s? If you’re anything like those of us sitting at the bar where the above pic was snapped, there’s only one answer to that question: Drunk…
“These are my peeps,” proclaimed Mayor John Hickenlooper, the geologist-turned-brewpub-owner-turned-politician. He gestured to the crowd of brewers and other beery folks who’d gathered at the Wynkoop Brewing Co., the brewpub that Hick and a hearty crew of entrepreneurs started in LoDo more than twenty years ago. The Mayor is no…
The Great American Beer Festival begins a week from today. If you want to be ready (and believe me, we are soooo ready), you’ll need to check in here every afternoon for some lowdown, some insight and some tips on how to do it right. Last year, I dissed on…
Denver is really reaping the benefits of Harvest Week. Chefs aren’t the only ones doing wonders with local produce; bartenders have gotten into the act, too. Last night I had the most glorious smoked Colorado bass with heirloom tomatoes, green chile goat cheese, pepitas and peach dressing at one of…
Vince Martinez of Maloney’s Tavern nabbed first place at the Hpnotiq bartender competition Tuesday night at Suite Two Hundred, beating out eight other local bartenders. Each had to create a drink that featured Hpnotiq, a liqueur made from a blend of vodka, cognac and tropical fruit juices. Martinez got top…
The Summit, a longtime steakhouse that knows how to sell the sizzle as well as the steak (it puts a pat of butter on the steak sizzling on a hot, hot platter) has redecorated and renamed the bar portion of its space at 2700 South Havana Street in Aurora. The…
The Colorado Mountain Winefest kicks off today and continues through Sunday, September 20, in Palisade. Head to the hills for workshops, competitions, grape stomps, tours, jazz concerts, artisan booths, a bicycle tour of the vineyards and much more. For more for information on the festival, and to see just how…
I smell fall. I know the temperature is still in and out of the ’80s, but it’s Harvest Week in Denver and the scent of roasting green chiles fills the air, so fall must be just around the corner. I can’t wait for the cool nights and those marvelous mornings…
I HEART Harvest week. If there’s one week to go out to eat, it’s this one. The harvest menus available at your local independent restaurants are exceptional — and the cocktails are great, too. In fact, the cocktail in the above shot was so good that I actually forgot to…
I took my judging job seriously during the DeKuyper Mix Master Bartender Contest at Saturday’s Denver Food & Wine event, tasting eight cocktails. Really tasting eight cocktails, since these were complex concoctions (a DeKuyper product had to be part of the mix) that demanded my full attention. The ultimate victor:…
With entrees like coffee-rubbed Kurobuta pork chops and horseradish crusted salmon, 1515 Restaurant, located at 1515 Market Street., has long been one of Denver’s premier fine dining establishments for New American cuisine. But don’t forget about the wine.1515’s wine list has received Wine Spectator’s “Award of Excellence” nine years in…
Don’t let the camera angle fool you. That’s a GIGANTIC margarita, made with well tequila and sweet and sour straight out of a gallon jug. Is it delicious? Nope. Not even close. But this venue has been serving these golden jugs for years. And the crowds can’t seem to get…
Holly Hartnett has been a fixture on Denver’s restaurant scene for a long time, working at Table 6 and its previous incarnation, the Beehive. Last October, she finally opened her own place, Venue, at 3609 West 32nd Avenue, and with that came a new set of challenges for Hartnett, including…
Denver is playing host to the Olympics of beer games this month — and it could be a historic one if the city’s fortieth annual Oktoberfest also turns out to be its last. Larimer Associates, the real estate company that owns Oktoberfest as well as Larimer Square and numerous other…
At 8 p.m. tonight, Suite Two Hundred, the upscale club up in in Larimer Square, will be the site of a bartender competition hosted by Hpnotiq — you know, the blue, 35-proof liqueur made from vodka, cognac and fruit juices. ‘Tenders will compete for their drink to become the official…
El Grito — the day when Mexicans across the world commemorate that country’s independence from Spanish rule — isn’t until September 16, but Richard Sandoval, chef-owner of Tamayo, La Sandia and Zengo, is getting an early start on all the celebrations. Beginning today and continuing though Sunday, September 20, all…
For proof that summer’s scorch is coming to a screeching halt, all you have to do is look to Tambien, the Cherry Creek Mex in the city at 250 Steele Street that’s been turning out rockabilly and ribs to the faithful every Sunday since April 26. This was one of…
Judge Nancy Levine, at your service. The bartending competition will come to order! Bartending competitions are one of the many things I love about the spirit industry (you don’t see busboy competitions, do you?). And I particularly love judging them, watching bartenders perform their magic within the limitations of the…
