Breckenridge Brewing gets ready to can Lucky U

Breckenridge Brewing plans to roll out its second canned beer, Lucky U IPA, by the end of the month, adding it to Avalanche Ale, which it began canning last year. “We got the cans on Friday,” says Breckenridge brewmaster Todd Usry. “Distribution will be limited to begin with, just Colorado…

Ask the bartender: How to make a Manhattan

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…

Invesco Field: The Wynkoop’s Rail Yard Ale gets a mile high

Beer holds no grudges, and neither, apparently does Invesco Field. Beginning with the Denver Broncos game on October 17, the stadium will begin serving Rail Yard Ale in cans in its six River’s Edge beer stands. It joins just a handful of other Colorado microbrews in the stadium, which is…

Sean Kenyon is the new king bean behind the bar of the Squeaky Bean

Sean Kenyon, who recently left his bar manager post at Steuben’s, 523 East Seventeenth Avenue, just snagged a new gig slinging drinks behind the bar of the Squeaky Bean, Johnny Ballen’s irreverent food temple and watering hole at 3301 Tejon Street. Not surprisingly, Kenyon, one of the state’s most talented…

Drunk of the week: An open letter to Lakeview Lounge on Sheridan

The morning following my first adventure at the Lakeview Lounge, in mid-December 2008, I awoke feeling gnarly all over and wrote the following love letter: Dear Lakeview Lounge: I like that time forgot you — that you have a functional Budweiser Clydesdales carriage globe-light; that your beer swag is, like,…

Beer and weather: How to drink your way through seasonal confusion

The seasons in Colorado run together like oil and antifreeze on the floor at Jiffy Lube. At the supermarket, Halloween candy debuts in August, while the temperatures are still in the high 90s. Watermelons mix with peaches, while raspberries, pumpkins and roasted chiles mingle awkwardly but respectfully, like football players…

Ask the bartender: All about bourbon

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…

Four delicious French wines to pair with pork

Pork is having a moment. Meals featuring bacon in every form imaginable — including chocolate-dipped — have become de rigueur. Restaurants of every stripe are showcasing menus littered with sausages, charcuterie, salumi, pork belly and suckling pig. And perhaps one day, if you are very, very lucky (and clearly, not…

Four ridiculously tasty (and cheap!) wines

Last week’s Swirl Girl blog taught you everything you needed to know about scoring value wines, which pack the biggest bang for your hard-earned buck. This week, say hello to four insanely good wines that also happen to be good buys…

Ask the bartender: Sherry, baby!

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…

A pair of Hatch chile beers to spice up the season

It’s Hatch chile season, and for a pair of local breweries, that means Hatch chile beer. Boulder’s Twisted Pine Brewing will be making three kinds of beer using the specialty chiles, which are grown around Hatch, New Mexico, and shipped by the truckload to Denver, where fiery food lovers buy…

YouTube-inspired Double Rainbow beer has intense label

Trinity Brewing in Colorado Springs has released the label for its Double Rainbow saison and there’s only one way to describe it: “It’s so intense!” That’s right, the brewery is a beer — due to be tapped on October 24 as a dessert beer during a saison dinner — based…