Pop Skull at Syntax Physic Opera At Syntax Physic Opera, everything is entertainment. The South Broadway bar and restaurant is also a venue, drawing crowds for stand-up comedy, opera, live local music and burlesque. A stage sits front and center in the dining room, where live performance is woven into the…
You just want to grab a good slab of ribs for dinner tonight. Well hold yer horses, Jethro: barbecue in Denver is a battleground, where endless skirmishes are waged over where to get the good stuff — and some don’t bother to fight at all. Given barbecue’s history as the…
Growler USA CEO Dan White says two of the best things to happen for beer drinkers in America are the surge in beer entrepreneurship — which has seen the total number of craft breweries top 4,000 this year — and the launch of his national chain of tap rooms. That’s…
Although it was founded in Lyons and operates its largest brewery in Longmont, Oskar Blues has always felt right at home in Denver. And early next year, the company will plant some actual roots here when it opens its first property in Denver, a CHUBurger at 35th and Larimer streets,…
Just because New Belgium Brewing is paying a lot of attention to its massive new production facility in Asheville, North Carolina, (slated for completion in early 2016) doesn’t mean that the Fort Collins brewery is ignoring its home base. This fall, the company will break ground on an expansion project…
The annual Great American Beer Festival swept through Denver last weekend, and this year’s version may have been the best I’ve been to in a while. The reasons for that are clear: The organizers at the Boulder-based Brewers Association made some simple but significant changes that really helped change the…
400 Rabbits at MezcalLast May, Mezcal went dark, but the closing of the venerated East Colfax restaurant wasn’t a permanent one. After a three-month remodel, a new incarnation of Mezcal re-opened with a few tweaks to the decor, a few splashes of fresh paint and a revamped menu. When the…
The Great American Beer Festival highlights chefs as well as brewers with its Paired pavilion, which matches food and beer from around the country. The pairings are coordinated by Brewers Association executive chef Adam Dulye. This year, six Colorado breweries and twelve Colorado chefs were part of the mix. Each…
I’ve been lucky enough to attend the Great American Beer Festival for the past nine years in a row. Over that time, I’ve watched it grow bigger and I’ve watched the beers get better. I’ve also watched the traditional opening notes from the bagpipe-and-drum corps during most of those years,…
Colorado is one of the leading craft-beer states. It was also the first state to allow recreational marijuana. So it would only seem natural that the two industries would cross paths at one of the 300-plus breweries here. But so far, we haven’t seen any commercial pot-infused beers — and…
There’s nothing like a first-date dinner. You probably picked a place with dim lighting, something that looked good on Yelp, with food that leans toward the sensual but doesn’t belie any unsavory intentions. You might choose a place like Vesta Dipping Grill, which not coincidentally has been a regular Best…
The organizers of the Great American Beer Festival have released the list of more than 3,000 beers that will be poured at the Colorado Convention Center over the next three days. And while that’s a lot of brews to choose from, there are a few unusual and/or interesting items offered…
When judges rate beers at competitions like the Great American Beer Festival, they are typically looking for how well a particular brew fits its style definition. Does it taste, smell and feel like it is supposed to? Is it cloudy or clear? Does it have the right color, the right…
The swirling winds along South Broadway, which splits Denver in half, carry with them a lot of what makes up the city’s past and present, its culture and its vibe. The aromas of street tacos and marijuana float on those winds, as do the sounds of local bands, light rail…
It 5 o’clock somewhere, and during Great American Beer Festival week, it’s 5 o’clock all the time in Denver. This year’s festival runs from September 24-26 at the Colorado Convention Center, but the fun will begin long before that with dozens, if not hundreds, of events taking place all of…
With all the beer brains at the Brewers Association focused on the best ways to promote craft beer in the U.S., someone still needs make sure there’s great food to go with the amazing variety of brews being produced across the country (and no, that doesn’t mean flipping a coin…
Coloradans have it pretty good. We live in one of the best craft-beer states in the nation, both because our 300-plus in-state breweries are constantly turning out amazing creations and because out-of-state breweries like to try their hand here. Even so, we always thirst for more, and more is what…
Swagger Mai Tai at Metroboom As summer starts to slowly fade away, and the chilly evenings evoke thoughts of colder nights to come, we’re hastily quaffing our last glasses of rose before it’s time to switch to something more suitable to the snowy season. But at Metroboom, an innovative new…
Sure, you can dunk your cookies in a glass of cold milk, but come on, real adults steep their sweets in a frothy pint of beer. Of course, it helps to have an idea about what beer goes with what cookies, lest either be wasted. That’s where Kansas City writer…
Was it that long ago that Sputnik was ground zero for Denver’s outbreak of hipsterism? Were we really so young back then, when bearded men and yoga-panted ladies were perceived as a serious threat rather than an accepted occupying force? Back when Donald Trump was on TV in the boardroom…
The Great American Beer Festival has changed significantly over the past five years, as the numbers of craft breweries and craft-beer drinkers have increased exponentially. To keep up with demand — and changing trends — the Boulder-based Brewers Association, which hosts the annual affair in Denver, has had to make…
The NFL season kicked off last week, meaning that the mania of fantasy football leagues is in full swing. But football wasn’t the only sport being debated in the fantasy realm. The porchdrinking.com blog also held its annual Fantasy GABF Brewery Draft on Sunday, in which a bunch of beer…
