Bars & Breweries

Lime XS 730 East 6th Avenue 303-722-5463 www.eatatlime.com…

Rich Grant, the beer-loving communications director for Visit Denver, is looking for the perfect Colorado cocktail. Denver already enjoys a reputation as the Napa of craft brewing — but Grant thinks we could use an emblematic cocktail, too. Something he could pour out for visiting journalists to give them a…

It’s spring cocktail season, and you know what that means: the drinking is easy. And at the Hotel Teatro, which houses Prima and Restaurant Kevin Taylor, sommelier Brandon Tebbe has concocted the Summer-tini, a cocktail shaken with Vodka14, a Colorado organic vodka that’s distilled in the Rockies. “It’s a top…

Jamie Boudreau, a pioneer of molecular mixology, is a bartender’s bartender. That was evidenced by the crowd that gathered yesterday when he stopped by Boulder’s Bitter Bar for a public cocktail seminar on St-Germain, a seductive elderflower liqueur he represents when he’s not shaking or stirring somewhere in Seattle. There…

Cherry Creek Grill 184 Steele Street 303-322-3524 www.hillstone.com…

Strange Brewing Company, Denver’s newest craft beer maker, opened for business Wednesday, pouring its Paint It Black Stout and Strange Pale Ale for friends, family and beer lovers who showed up to toast the place. Located in a business park at 13th Avenue and Zuni Street, Strange was founded by…

Back in February, trudging drunkenly down the middle of High Street in near-whiteout blizzard conditions, Darren and I decided that if the just-opened Jezebel’s could hold on through the winter in its outskirts-of-town location, we’d have found our summer spot, our walking-distance watering hole — the Holy Grail for Cole…

The Mercury Café isn’t known for its beer-drinking masses. Tango dancing, slam poetry, organic snacks? Definitely. Beer? Not so much. But the thirty-plus-year-old club/cafe/community gathering place nevertheless sells more beer made by Wynkoop Brewing than any other place in town – aside from the Wynkoop itself. It beats out the…

The Place: The Avenue Grill, 630 East Seventeenth Avenue, 303-861-2820. The Hours: Monday through Friday from 3 to 7 p.m. The Deal: $5 martinis; $3-4 draft beers; $4-5 house wines; $3-6 appetizers…

Paramount Cafe 519 16th Street Mall 303-893-2000 www.paramountcafe.com…

Racines Restaurant 650 Sherman Street 303-595-0418 www.racinesrestaurant.com…

Changing its approach to business, Desert Moon Vineyards has relocated its Palisade winery to the Front Range. A tasting room and 2,000-square-foot winery are now open at 12656 East Jamison Place in the Denver Tech Center…

About the only thing in life that I love more than wine is my iPhone. For those of you who are similarly gadget-obsessed, there are now 100-plus iPhone apps serving up everything from wine education to straight-up silliness (why is there an app that does nothing besides display a glass…

It’s American Craft Beer Week – seven days that Congress designated for an official celebration of microbrews, and only microbrews – and in Colorado, which has more than 115 breweries, this week is almost a state holiday. Here are ten ways to toast the occasion:…

Two brothers from Iowa plan to bring a hybrid of European beer culture and American comfort food to LoDo this July when they open FreshCraft, a new restaurant in the former Thunderbird BBQ and Burgers spot at 1530 Blake Street. “We are trying to keep it simple: fresh food and…

Marlowe’s 501 16th Street 303-595-3700 www.marlowesdenver.com…

The Denver Roller Dolls, one of Denver’s two badass roller derby leagues, will soon have its own beer, courtesy of the Wynkoop Brewing Company. According to the Dolls, the beer will be a “pre-Prohibition-style lager” that’s “smooth and elegant.” No word on exactly what it’ll taste like, but our guess…

Cucina Colore 3041 East 3rd Avenue 303-393-6917 www.cucinacalore.com…

It took a few laps around the block and a sprint through the rain to find the Flying Dog Brewing Company’s new Denver tap room, at 2330 Broadway, but it was worth the hunt. The tiny but brightly-painted space (it’s on the east side of an apartment/office building sandwiched between…

I’ve cooked in chili cook-offs, competed in a hot wings eating contest and eaten my fair share — and then some — of jalapeno poppers, New Mexico and Colorado green chile. And I’ve sampled at least four kinds of chili beer. Hell, my boss even has one named for her…

The Place: The Hornet, 76 Broadway, 303-777-7676. The Hours: Daily from 4 to 7 p.m. and 11 p.m. to close. The Deals: The early happy hour features $2.50 bottled beers and well drinks; $3 calls, house wines, and vodka cocktails; $1 off drafts; and $3 tapas. The late-night happy hour…

The Cheeky Monk has discovered the New World. The Belgian beer café, which has spots on East Colfax and in Winter Park, plans to open its third location over Memorial Day in Westminster, and the new place will feature more than a dozen hard-to-find American craft beers alongside its Belgian…