Members of the Colorado Distillers Guild and the Colorado Bartenders Guild gathered at the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver last night for the kick-off party for the Colorado Cocktail Project, a joint effort by the guilds, the MCA and Westword to craft the quintessential Colorado cocktail. Colorado distillers will be…
Next Monday is Valentine’s Day, and while most adore this heart-riddled holiday, plenty of peeps loathe everything about it. With all the pressure to be coupled up, there’s only one thing to do to avoid the drama: fall in love with a sexy, enticing stranger with a past. Be warned:…
Regular readers of Cafe Society know that Westword — in conjunction with the Colorado Distillers Guild, the Colorado Bartenders Guild and the Museum of Contemporary Art — has started the Colorado Cocktail project, an ambitious effort to craft the drink that perfectly captures our colorful state. At 7 p.m. on…
Happy Place: Earl’s Chery Creek, 201 Columbine Street, 303-320-3275. The Hours: Monday through Friday from 3 to 6 p.m. The Deals: $2 drafts; $3 well drinks; $4 vodka cocktails; $5 to $7 appetizers Were we happy? Flip the page to find out…
Although plans for the Colorado Cocktail Contest, which will culminate in a two-day event in June at Denver’s Museum of Contemporary Art, are fairly fluid right now, one event is solid: On Monday evening, the contest will kick off with a private party at the MCA, where bartenders will mix…
Nine months after Uptown Brothers Brewing Co. opened on East Colfax, the craft beer and sports bar finally has the gear it needs to back up that name. Last week, owners Paul and Nancy Lumbye bought three 31-gallon fermenters, a brite tank and the other equipment they’ll need to fulfill…
The Super Bowl ain’t exactly designed for wine lovers. Even though wine consumption in the United States is higher than ever, this annual football lovers’ celebration (and the vast majority of its commercials) usually revolves around that good old sporting event standby: beer. Don’t get me wrong; beer is great…
They say that Punxsutawney Phil, the groundhog, did not see his shadow in Pennsylvania this morning, which means it will be an early spring. For those of us who’ve suffered through Denver’s sub-zero temperatures these last few days, that’s hopeful news — but we also know from years past that…
Sean Kenyon knows how to pour out both drinks and advice. A third-generation bar man with almost 25 years behind the bar, he is a student of cocktail history, a United States Bartenders Guild-certified Spirits Professional and a BAR Ready graduate of the prestigious Beverage Alcohol Resource Program. You can…
Jeremy Gobien went to school for ten years, got his Ph.D. in engineering from North Carolina State — and then decided to drop it all and brew beer in Colorado. “I can’t wait,” says Gobien, who plans to open Copper Kettle Brewing this spring with his wife, Kristen Kozik. “We…
Cheap beer. It’s a libation that most of us down during our late teens and twenties. But like all childish things, there comes a time to banish these cheap cans and brands forever. We argued over which beers should and shouldn’t be included on this list, but we eventually came…
Happy Place: The Living Room, 1055 Broadway, 303-339-6636. The Hours: Tuesday through Friday from 4 to 7 p.m. The Deals: $3 house wine, well cocktails, and draft beer; half-price tapas. Were we happy? Flip the page to find out…
Colorado craft brewers are off to a hoppy New Year in 2011 with many new beers on the shelves and the re-release of popular seasonals. In fact, the breweries are cranking out so much stuff, it’s hard to keep track. So here’s a list of beers you can drink right…
There was more cheering and drinking than watching at Govnr’s Park last night, but it was definitely a party. HDNet was finally airing the Denver episode of Drinking Made Easy, and Govnr’s Park had attracted a good crowd for its official watch party. “I’m glad everybody came to support me…
The Americans are poised to overthrow the British yet again. But this time, the revolution is taking place at the Royal Hilltop, an English pub-style restaurant that Tina and James Pachorek opened in Aurora in 2002. “We are changing it over from Aurora’s first British pub to Aurora’s first tap…
As a kid, I loved almost everything about the Fort. The scale replica of Bent’s Fort — a trading post, army garrison and freight stop along the Santa Fe Trail — seemed like a completely awesome adult version of the couch-cushion forts we built when playing now-politically-incorrect Cowboys and Indians…
The owners of a proposed craft-beer bar along Seventh Avenue’s restaurant row were shocked earlier this month when a hearing officer for the city of Denver’s excise and license division suggested that their liquor license request be denied. “There was no public opposition from nearby restaurants and bars. In fact,…
For a week this past June, comedian Zane Lamprey and the crew that helps him create the show Drinking Made Easy got paid to do what many of us have been paying to do for years: drink up and down the Front Range. And tomorrow night the best parts of…
Sean Kenyon knows how to pour out both drinks and advice. A third-generation bar man with almost 25 years behind the bar, he is a student of cocktail history, a United States Bartenders Guild-certified Spirits Professional and a BAR Ready graduate of the prestigious Beverage Alcohol Resource Program. You can…
When Gordon Schuck and Brad Lincoln were trying to decide where in the United States to open a small brewery that focused solely on Belgian-style saisons, one town kept rising to the top of the list: Fort Collins. “Because of New Belgium, you have a lot of people around town…
Last week’s post featuring the wines of the Pinot Posse sparked much debate over the respective merits and flaws of modern, new world-style pinot noir. At one end of the table, we had the new world wine lovers, who revel in bottles bursting with ripe, mouthwateringly juicy fruit, and (though…
At a Sunday night event featuring bizarro go-go girl oompa loompa hybrids, an old-timey popcorn machine and an announcer named DumpTruck, Oak at Fourteenth’s Bryan Dayton and Steuben’s Randy Layman proved to be the biggest attraction. The Bluebird’s main floor was turned into a small, makeshift bar for the regional…
