With Labor Day behind us and summer’s sun-soaked days and sizzling temperatures vanishing before our eyes, we aren’t traditionally all that psyched to welcome the month of September with open arms. This year, though, we’re seeing things differently, given the tantalizing array of wine events around the state in the…
Oskar Blues is one of the fastest-growing craft brewers in Colorado and makes some of the most sought-after, buzzworthy beers in the country. The Longmont brewery started the canned craft beer revolution in 2002, and it still leads the way in the market…
Last May, while Denver Beer Co, 1695 Platte Street, was still in the planning stages, owners Charlie Berger and Patrick Crawford bought more than a hundred baby hops plants and gave them out to anyone who was willing to grow them in their back yards as part of an urban…
Colorado’s bartenders keep upping our state’s cocktail credibility, competing in national contests and besting some of the country’s most formidable spirits professionals to bring big prizes home to the Rocky Mountains. The latest accolade? Burton Daniel, a bartender at Boulder’s Bitter Bar, out-crafted 250 of his peers nationwide to land…
Jake Norris, head distiller and an original partner, left Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey last month. The brand was purchased late last year by Proximo Spirits, distributor of big brands like 1800 Tequila, Kraken Rum and Three Olives Vodka; after the sale, Norris said he planned to stay on…for a while. Norris…
Dry Dock Brewing is getting ready to bottle its next seasonal beer, a whiskey-barrel-aged version of its HMS Bounty called Bligh’s Barleywine Ale, and brewery founder Kevin DeLange says it’s going to blow people out of the water…
Growing up in New Jersey, I was a punk-rock kid. I started with Iggy and the Stooges, the Ramones and the Clash, and moved on to Bad Brains, Fear, the Misfits, early Bad Religion, then into NY hardcore, Black Flag, Dead Kennedys, etc. As the ’80s progressed, so did my…
Happy Place: Marco’s Coal-Fired Pizzeria, 2129 Larimer Street, 303-296-7000 The Happy Hours: Monday through Friday from 3 to 6 p.m. The Deals: $3 draft beers, $4 wines by the glass, $5 specialty cocktails, $5 appetizers. Were we happy? Flip the page to find out…
After serving alcohol to a minor three times in three months, Se7en, the Asian fusion restaurant located in the Beauvallon, has been slapped with a 25-day suspension of its liquor license. Rather than going nearly a month without selling alcohol, the restaurant has opted to stretch the sentence out, going…
German beer makers like rules. They like them so much that in 1516, the state of Bavaria imposed the Reinheitsgebot, the beer purity law that prohibited using anything but water, barley and hops in brewing the national beverage. And while Reinheitsgebot (which is no longer in effect) is fun to…
With Labor Day right around the corner, summer is officially drawing to a close. But there are still lots of warm, languid evenings to look forward to before we say hello to fall. And while you’ve clearly figured out that porch pounders are the perfect early evening sipper on a…
For the past five years, Cheeky Monk Belgian Beer Cafe owners James and Tina Pachorek have been showing Coloradans the Belgian specialty beers, some of which had rarely, if ever, been chugged in this square state. On Friday, the Belgians will honor James (what, no female knights?) for his service…
The Great American Beer Festival was made for social media, and the Falling Rock Taphouse was made for the Great American Beer Festival. So, it only makes sense that Falling Rock owner Chris Black plans to fall face forward into Facebook, Twitter and YouTube (despite his preference for in-person contact…
Jeff Crabtree wants to party with anyone who likes his beer. But the owner of Crabtree Brewing in Greeley can’t always be there — not in person, anyway. So Crabtree Brewing’s newest bottled beer, a German-style sour wheat called Berliner Weisse Ale, will feature a massive QR code on the…
Last week, Funkwerks Brewing, a relatively new and innovative brewery in Fort Collins, sparked an international incident when some of New Zealand’s native Maori people bashed the name and label on one of its beers, Maori King, an imperial saison made with Rakau hops from that country. The beer, which…
Saturday was a big day for William F. Cody, the Old West icon who became the country’s first true action figure, and a marketing genius who pedaled the brand of Buffalo Bill around the world. The Buffalo Bill Museum and Grave, a Denver-owned facility dedicated to his memory, was recently…
There are wild hops that grow in them thar mountains of Colorado, but that’s not the only ingredient you can find by hiking in the wilds. There are also pinon nuts, sumac berries, prickly pear cactus and chokecherries. And if those don’t sound like beer ingredients to you, think again,…
Beer name changes have become more common as craft brewers try to protect their legal rights (see stories on Oskar Blues, Dry Dock and Bell’s breweries). But complaints from the Maori people of New Zealand wasn’t something that Funkwerks Brewing in Fort Collins expected when it named its latest beer,…
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 staff wanted to make a whiskey,” explains Eric Dutton, bar manager at Vesta Dipping Grill. “It’s what we drink.” Dutton discussed that very sentiment with Todd Leopold of Leopold Brothers, and a casual desire soon turned into a full-scale restaurant project: Leopold invited the staff down to the distillery…
There are a handful of unusual, newly-released and very rare, Colorado craft brews on liquor store shelves right now — if you can find them. Syzygy Barrel-Aged Black IPA Crabtree Brewing, Greeley This one is just landing in stores today after a release party last week. It’s an 8 percent…
Upslope Brewing in Boulder began canning a fifth beer this month, but it will only be served in at Centro Latin Kitchen & Refreshment Palace, the Boulder restaurant operated by the Big Red F Group, which also runs Lola, West End Tavern, Zolo Grill and Jax Fish House. Centro will…
