For the first time ever, Denver will host the annual Craft Brewers Conference, the industry’s biggest trade show. The conference, a four-day-long series of seminars, networking events and parties, will bring 7,000 beer-minded people to town April 8 through April 11. To show off the Centennial State, the Colorado Brewers…
The name Los Chingones — “The Badasses,” more or less — suggests that Troy Guard’s new restaurant is populated with tequila-slamming roughnecks. Yet its paloma, a tequila drink made with pink grapefruit and soda, is not exactly chingón, shall we say. The gentle yet addictive paloma has single-handedly caused my…
Three of Colorado’s fastest-growing craft breweries — Dry Dock Brewing in Aurora, Upslope Brewing in Boulder, and Crazy Mountain Brewing in Edwards — have all recently released year-end numbers as well as projections for 2014 that should see each of them reaching an annual production of 15,000 barrels or more…
Renegade Brewing announced last week that it will begin bottling some of its beers for the first time; the initial offering will be released next month. The brewery’s Conviction Series will include 22-ounce bombers of four limited-release beers: Sunday Morning, a coffee-infused American strong ale; Alpha Maiden, an India wheat…
Tincup American Whiskey screams Colorado. The bottle makes multiple references to the state, as does the leaflet that comes attached to the neck. Its website is plastered with whiskey bottles positioned picturesquely in Colorado mountain backdrops, and the company boasts of its connection to Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey co-founder Jess Graber,…
Former Future Brewing, which officially opened on February 1, celebrated its grand opening last weekend, complete with food trucks and board games — in addition to five beers on tap, all embracing the idea of modern spins on older styles. In fact, that’s the theme of the entire brewery. Westword…
Philip Phifer and Scott O’Hearn are a couple of pros, and they’re bringing their serious professionalism to Lowdown Brewery + Kitchen — along with some serious fun. The new brewpub opens on Tuesday, February 11 — although it will host a series of soft opening events over the weekend –…
As Westword’s Ask the Bartender columnist, I’ve talked with many bartenders for Cafe Society’s “Behind the Bar” series, posing numerous questions to Denver’s top bartenders…and often receiving the same answers: “I love chartreuse,” or “I’m really into smoked cocktails/barrel aging/bottled cocktails.” See also: A bartender by any other name…is still…
Uncle Jacob’s Stout is one of best beers made in Colorado — if not the best. That’s not an opinion. It’s a fact, or as close to a fact as you can get when it comes to beer. Made once a year by Boulder’s Avery Brewing, Uncle Jacob’s has garnered…
Our Mutual Friend Malt & Brew is planning to create a series of barrel-aged wild and sour ales later this year exclusively for The Populist, its neighbor in River North. And although the first beer won’t be available for at least six months — and the Populist needs to decide…
Upslope Brewing got its start five years by focusing on traditionally-styled beers that it packaged in cans. Since then, the Boulder brewery has grown both in size — it now has two locations — and in scope, making some huge, Colorado-style beers. Crooked Stave started four years ago with a…
Have you seen a lot of natural-wood tap handles recently? So has Adam Draeger, the brewmaster at Arvada’s Yak & Yeti Brewpub, which is why he decided to replace his handmade wooden Ys (rep the double Y’s in the Yak and Yeti) with one-piece molded urethane-based handles finished with a…
Ten years ago, after Avery Brewing founder Adam Avery and Russian River co-owner Vinny Cilurzo discovered that they were each making a beer called Salvation, the two decided to shake hands and brew a collaboration beer rather than fight in court. The result of that Colorado-to-California handshake was Collaboration Not…
Last year, at the inaugural DSTILL, an event that celebrates American craft spirits and cocktails, revelers — and there were hundreds of them — quickly compared it to the Great American Beer Festival, high praise for a first year event. And now DSTILL, a joint partnership involving the Colorado Distillers…
New Belgium didn’t become the nation’s third largest craft brewer without exerting a stiff competitive punch, but the Fort Collins beer maker has always been more than just another company, imbuing everything it does with a playful spirit and a high level of conscientious thoughtfulness. In fact, that ethos is…
James and Sarah Howat will launch the past into the present when they open Former Future Brewing tomorrow on South Broadway’s Antique Row. The spot will specialize in “futuristic interpretations of historical styles,” both in its look and feel and in its beer recipes, which will incorporate both the old…
As part of its legal settlement with a similarly named homebrewing shop in Massachusetts, Denver’s Strange Brewing Company got its Facebook page back today. Strange had been using another page that it created, the cheekily-named That Brewery on Zuni, since last June when a trademark dispute between the brewery and…
Is there any liquor with a reputation as misleading as absinthe? Sure, it may be a hip, edgy cocktail ingredient today, but not long ago it was blamed for everything from Van Gogh slicing off his ear to Ernest Hemingway moving to Idaho to the L.A. Rams’ 1992 season. America’s…
Lone Tree Brewing unveiled plans last week to begin canning two of its best-selling beers, Lone Tree Peach Pale Ale and Mountain Mama Golden Lager, beginning in April. The brewery bought its own canning line and plans to distribute the beers throughout the Denver metro area, along with the bomber…
Fort Collins is home to two of Colorado’s five largest craft breweries, but there are about a dozen other breweries or breweries-in-planning there as well, a sign of a growing depth and breadth that makes Fort Collins one of the best beer towns in the country. One of those, the…
Craft beer has made major inroads in restaurants and bars over the past few years, but the industry has had trouble breaking into other venues, including sports stadiums and airlines, which need to sell huge amounts of beer very quickly. But last weekend, Southwest Airlines joined Frontier and Alaska by…
Bill Eye, an award-winning brewer who became a part owner at Prost Brewing when it opened in the spring of 2012, has resigned as brewmaster. Eye specialized in brewing German-style lagers and gained attention at Dry Dock Brewing when the Aurora company won a series of Great American Beer Festival…
