Osteria Marco bartender Michael McGill hates being whistled at when someone wants his attention. As he told Westword’s Nancy Levine in this week’s Behind the Bar column, “I’m not a dog.” Not every bartender is as cool as McGill. Still, no matter how he or she acts, that barkeep holds…
Michael McGill grew up in Kansas City and moved to Boulder for college, where he poured his first drinks. He has been behind a bar since 1998, and today can be found managing the bar at Osteria Marco in Larimer Square. Now serving: Michael McGill. How did you get into…
Hosea Rosenberg may have won last season’s Top Chef, but his luck didn’t hold for Big Red F colleague James Lee, the Boulder mixologist who placed fourth at this weekend’s Iron Bar Chef contest at the annual Santé Restaurant Symposium in New York. Which means Lee didn’t get the $1,000…
James Lee, mixologist at the Bitter Bar at Happy (known as Happy Noodle House until very recently), is heading from Boulder to New York this weekend, for the annual Santé Restaurant Symposium — where he’ll be competing against against five other bartenders in the Iron Bar Chef contest. The competitors…
There are quite a few things that I look forward to once the weekend rolls around, including football, naps, Pin the Tail on the Pig, toilet papering the neighbor’s house and Bloody Mary bars. And there’s no better Bloody Mary spread in town than the one you see in the…
When I interviewed Frank Bonanno for this week’s Chef and Tell Q & A, we hung out in his kitchen at Luca d’Italia, where he totally seduced me by making housemade burrata, arguably the crack cocaine of cheese. One portion was plenty for two (three if you have a skinny…
Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey, which owns the building where the Rackhouse Pub is due to open next week, bottles a unique product. The micro-distilled whiskey is made with locally grown barley and aged in charred white oak barrels. When a batch is ready–once or twice a month–the distillers put out a…
Cowboys are my weakness. I recently went on a six-hour trail ride in southeastern Colorado with some local ranchers. When one of those ranchers spotted a rattlesnake, he jumped off his horse, grabbed his rope, killed the snake with the rope and cut off the rattle – which he then…
Halloween is always a big day at the Wynkoop Brewing Co., because the pub celebrates its birthday that day (it’s 21 years old this year) and because of the annual Denver Gorilla Run, a 5.6K race in which everyone dresses up as a gorilla and raises money to support the…
The Rackhouse Pub is slated to open next week with a slightly pared-down beer menu, but a seriously cool look. Located inside the former Heavenly Daze Brewery, at 200 South Kalamath Street, the Rackhouse will feature twenty tap handles (mostly Colorado microbrews), rather than the fifty that had been originally…
Caleb Whitmore worked at the Fogo de Chao Churrascaria in Chicago, then moved to Denver this summer to open the Fogo here, bringing his caipirinha-making skills with him. And what’s a caipirinha? “It’s Brazil’s most popular cocktail,” explains Whitmore, “made from cachaca, sugar and fresh limes, shaken and served over…
I have no idea if there are 99 bottles of beer on the wall at this bar, but there were certainly enough choices to keep the bartender busy popping off caps for a good six or seven hours this weekend. Any idea on whose shelves these bottles reside? Bonus love…
Although some people think that mint juleps should only be imbibed in the summer, I disagree. Wholeheartedly. So when I saw a mint julep on the menu at this establishment that’s trying to make a name for itself with an impressive whiskey selection, despite the chilly weather outside, I ordered…
Colorado Bartenders Guild (COBG) is looking for bartenders with noggins full of gin ideas for the Hendrick’s Gin Cocktail Competition. To enter, a bartender needs to concoct a cocktail that includes the base spirit of Hendrick’s Gin (at least 1.5 ounces), with a maximum of seven ingredients (one can be…
There are places to meet friends for drinks … and then there are bars, my friends. Places where the drink is the thing, and the goal is drunk. That in mind, there are some TV bars where you just wouldn’t want to be, like Rosie’s from M.A.S.H. (bad booze near…
I went out last night to try the new fall cocktails at a place I love, but don’t get to nearly as often as I’d like. After I’d tasted a number of delicious drinks (including a yummy red sangria with an orange twist, pictured above), the proprietor handed me a…
Despite 450 years in the grape-stomping business, Mexican wines aren’t exactly flying off the shelves, but the Mexican Cultural Center and Consulate General of Mexico, along with Strings, will attempt to silence your inner cynic tonight, when Strings, 1700 Humboldt Street, hosts a Mexican wine dinner. The fiesta kicks off…
What’s your favorite dive bar in Denver? Drew Bixby, our Drunk of the Week columnist, features nearly a hundred great lounges, taverns and saloons in his book Denver’s Best Dive Bars: Drinking and Diving in the Mile-High City, due out November 3. But while Bixby includes a list of the…
I’m an Equal Opportunity Imbiber, which means that any time friends want to get drunk and watch sports, I’m down, because sozzled sports fans are second to none when it comes to energy and enthusiasm — even if my enthusiasm is for alcohol and everyone else’s for the game. The…
Are you still in summer mode? Having trouble folding up your linen and packing it away in favor of fleece? Still pretending to be warm while shivering on some bar’s patio? Well, here’s a sudsy fact that might shock you into reality: local breweries have already begun rolling out their…
Ken Kodys won the Mix Master competition, but he’s also a champ behind the bar at Bacaro, 921 Pearl Street, where he’s worked almost five years. Here’s the second round of his Behind the Bar interview: How many times do you have to see someone to consider them a regular?…
It took a little longer than anticipated, but the Wynkoop Brewing Company finally got its signature beer, Railyard Ale, into a can in August. And while you can’t drink from the cans at the brewpub itself, you can buy six packs to go. Oh, you can drink the Railyard from…
