If you’re a recent transplant, you’re probably tired of longer-time Denver denizens remarking with wide-eyed wonder at the changes this city has undergone in the last decade. But forgive us the earnest indulgence, because whether we were born and raised here or just moved 10 years ago, we still can’t…
It’s been a while since Ron Tarver first announced plans to open Denver Distillery (244 South Broadway), but after almost six years, the time has finally come. “This is all my design from out of my head from over five years ago,” says Tarver, as he shows off the finished…
Next Door Lounge (not to be confused with Next Door American Eatery, which has several locations around town) is a small but mighty bar that you might just miss if you aren’t paying attention while driving along East 17th Avenue in Uptown. Sandwiched between sister restaurant Bread-N-Butter and Jack’s Uptown Grille,…
There have been big changes recently among the ranks of Denver’s brewers. Among them is the temporary departure of Little Machine Beer’s co-founder and head brewer Brett Williams, who is taking a leave to live in Mexico with his wife. Although Williams will work remotely on several aspects of Little…
Bars have played a big role in Westword‘s forty-year-history, too. In fact, our offices were once over the Wazee, which will soon close.
Charlie Papazian, the man whose energy and words inspired tens of thousands of homebrewers and helped create the craft brewing industry, has said he will step down from the Brewers Association in exactly one year, on January 23, 2019, his seventieth birthday. Papazian made Colorado the center of the world for…
Here are the fifty Denver bars we can’t live without, our chaser to Eat Here, our list of 100 favorite restaurants.
Let’s all acknowledge that the only drawback to happy hour is its timing: sure, you can score rounds of food and drinks for cheap for a couple of hours a day, but that’s assuming you can cut out of work during what’s really still the afternoon. Moreover, if happy hour…
Not everyone likes to have their picture taken. Some people — grumpy brewers in particular — would rather toil away in peace or solitude, and not as the subject of a photographer. Others enjoy the spotlight, even trying to pose for pictures instead of being themselves in front of the…
I used to frequent the Atomic Cowboy (the original one, at 3237 East Colfax Avenue) when I first moved to Denver more than ten years ago — and so did nearly everyone else in my Congress Park neighborhood. Back then, the Atomic Cowboy was just a simple but hip bar for…
A flight of wine presents three or more glasses of wine that share common characteristics served together for comparison and enjoyment. What constitutes a great flight? That’s the question I posed to Logan Silbert, wine director at Boulder’s Black Cat Bistro (1964 13th Street). There are several ways to assemble…
The Colorado Brewers Guild has elected four new members to its eleven-member board of directors — all of whom will get a lesson in civics as the legislative session begins at the state capitol this month. They are Carrie Knose of Living the Dream Brewing, Mike Lawinski of Fate Brewing,…
At some point in working-life trajectory, happy-hour transitions from being mostly an excuse to get sloshed and fed on the cheap to being mostly an excuse to take the last meeting of the day over a couple of drinks (or skip out on the last meeting entirely, especially on a…
Nothing gives us a warmer, fuzzier feeling than the thought of trying brand-new beers from some of Colorado’s 350-plus craft breweries — especially when the weather is cold and the nation’s mood is stormy. From coffee beers to hazy, New England-style IPAs to even a sake beer, there is a…
Since founding Casey Brewing & Blending in 2014, owner Troy Casey has focused primarily on the “Blending” part of his company’s name. Casey makes his wort — unfermented beer — at other mountain breweries, including Bonfire, Roaring Fork and Capital Creek, and then trucks it back to Glenwood Springs, where…
In Aurora’s Mission Viejo neighborhood, if you look hard enough in the back corner of a nondescript shopping center off South Chambers Road and East Hampden Avenue (across the street from the Jumpoline Family Fun Center), you just might find the hidden gem that is G’Ducks Bar. The sign for…
Crazy Mountain Brewery, which opened its pioneering Vail Valley taproom in 2010, closed the Edwards taproom suddenly over the weekend, saying it has plans to open a new location nearby. “Crazy Mountain’s location in Edwards, Colorado is now permanently closed. We are relocating our brewing production and will be opening…
It’s hard to remember a time when Colorado didn’t have dozens of options when it comes to canned craft beers, but that time wasn’t really very long ago. And the rest of the country? Well, other states are still catching up. But things are changing quickly, according to economist Bart…
After some logistical hiccups and growing pains during its first year in Breckenridge in 2017, the Big Beers, Belgians and Barleywines Festival, which took place January 4 through 6 at the Beaver Run Resort, has clearly re-settled itself in its new home, and the event — one of the nation’s…
Brrr, it’s cold out there — a cozy wine bar is just the place to take the edge off winter. Metro Denver has several wine bars with a warm, inviting ambiance and plenty of interesting vino. Here are five of our favorite cozy wine bars. BookBar 4280 Tennyson Street 303-284-0194…
Welcome to 2018. It’s time to fulfill some of those New Beers Resolutions, and it never hurts to get an early start. This month, you can get your fill of barrel-aged beery goodness at three different festivals focused on the style, or you can marvel at a brand new venue…
On the second-to-last day of 2017, I found myself at Sam’s Bar & Lounge (6801 Leetsdale Drive) with my roommate, celebrating my return to Denver after a holiday trip to the East Coast to visit my family. The day before New Year’s Eve is not known as a big bar-going day,…
