Always drink Colorado

Booze, glorious booze. Last night the fine folks from the Denver Independent Network of Restaurants (DINR), the Colorado Wine Board, the Colorado Brewers Guild and the Colorado Distillers Guild held a Colorado wine-, beer- and spirits-tasting event that packed the Walker Fine Art Gallery with more than sixty different wines,…

Summer Brew Fest on tap tonight

Over 22 breweries and 70 different beers are on tap at the Summer Brew Fest, which comes down tonight at Mile High Station, 2027 West Lower Colfax Avenue. The indoor/outdoor event begins at 7 p.m. for general admission ticket holders ($30 in advance; $35 at the door) and at 6…

Southern comfort at the Kentucky Inn

Sometimes you wander into a neighborhood joint and find the stools occupied by a gaggle of sleepy, surly, set-in-their-ways regulars all too ready to give your sudden presence the dreaded stink-eye. “Who the fuck are you?” their silence and stares say, “and what the fuck are you doing in here?”…

Tonight: A half dozen South African wines at Solera

Solera Restaurant & Wine Bar, 5410 East Colfax Avenue, is hosting a wine tasting happy hour tonight from 5 to 7 p.m. in the bar, which is as good a place as any to sip from a half dozen (or more) different South African wines, for $15 per person. (And…

Sober and not-so-sober observations from the Taste of the Nation

Yesterday afternoon, Denver’s best chefs rolled out the culinary red carpet and rubbed tongs with smitten admirers and other do-gooders who showed up in droves at Share Our Strength’s Taste of the Nation, a charity event that benefits anti-hunger organizations in Colorado and across the nation. The celebration was chef-chaired…

Taste of the Nation mixologists shake, stir and pour for a good cause

At last night’s Taste of the Nation event at Mile High Station, nine Colorado mixologists muddled, shook, stirred, poured, begged, stole and offered bribes to the throngs of charitable party-goers who voted with dollar bills and tokens to determine which mixologist had whipped up the top cocktail. The contenders –…

Westword.com’s Map of the Bars

View Westword.com’s Map of the Bars in a larger map Because we are, by and large, a bunch of drunks, every week we feature at least one bar in our food section. One week, it’s Drew Bixby braving some unchartered watering hole with his “Drunk of the Week.” The next,…

Mountain Mojito at Primebar

Primebar brought a big new concept to the old Palomino space. And when I say “big,” I mean huge: 12,000 square feet, with 400 seats inside and 100 more on the patio that fronts Skyline Park and looks out on the 16th Street Mall, as well as bars in the…

El Taco de Mexico grows by a patio

El Taco de Mexico, the iconic taqueria at 714 Santa Fe Drive, just quadrupled in size, thanks to a new patio — so new, in fact, that when I stopped by yesterday evening for my requisite smothered al pastor burrito, the price tags were still dangling from the tables. And…

The blues of brews at Blues & Brews

The Blues & Brews festival on Old South Pearl Street was one hell of an outdoor party Saturday, with blues bands jammin’ from noon to 10 p.m. and the stumble-close residents of the Wash Park and Platte Park neighborhoods tripping — or riding the abundant pedicabs — from bar to…

Silos at Oskar Blues, Stranahan’s go against the grain

Silos. The word brings to mind grain. Grain and nuclear warheads (at least if you lived through the Cold War). But in booze-happy Colorado, silos will soon mean something else. In Longmont, the Oskar Blues Brewery is getting ready to debut its second restaurant, Oskar Blues Homemade Liquids & Solids,…

Beer Pong at Tambien takes true grit

It’s not about winning. It’s about fun. Especially when you get your ass handed to you both by Denver’s monthly lifestyle magazine, 5280, and by the Tambien Beer Pong girls, who use every asset to their advantage. If Westword had won, it would have been about winning and fun. But…

Len & Bill’s Lounge

Inside Len & Bill’s Lounge (2301 South Broadway), time has seemingly stopped. And I’m not just saying that because it’s a lazy way of describing how run-down everything is. When I wander in on an enervated afternoon, cop a lean on the creaky wooden bar and watch as John, the…

Last night’s “panic hour” at the Lancer Lounge

The Lancer Lounge is crowded, but you can sidle up to the bar easily. Which is sort of surprising, given that it’s “panic hour,” where well drinks and draft beer are free. I guess it helps that it’s 10 p.m. on a Monday — no time for an upstanding citizen…

Breckenridge Brewery: Yes they can

Cans of Breckenridge Brewery’s Avalanche Ale began rolling out of the plant this week and into liquor stores, just in time to catch the heart of the summer season. Breckenridge, which is borrowing its canning line from Ska Brewing Company in Durango, will also supply concert venues, golf courses and…

Where am I drinking?

I rarely drink rum, but during a recent dinner at an unnamed Denver restaurant whose food happens to pair very well with rum, I broke off my commitment to wine and beer and sipped several sniffers of the potent stuff, which seemed like a smart idea at the time, but…

Il Posto adds more hours to its happy time

Il Posto, the Italian trattoria at 2011 East 17th Street, already has expanded hours (at least, by Denver standards), offering dinner Sunday through Thursday until 11:30 p.m. and until midnight on Friday and Saturday, and now, the buzzy Uptown restaurant has stretched its daily happy hour to include an extra…

The Rackhouse Pub to open in former Heavenly Daze

Denver will get a new tap house later this summer when Eric Warner opens the Rackhouse Pub in the building recently purchased by Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey. Warner, the former head of Flying Dog Brewery (which moved from Denver to Maryland in 2008), says the place will have fifty beer handles…

Where am I drinking?

While some people are enjoying the great outdoors this weekend, others of us are enjoying the greatest of the indoors: dark, dissolute bars. Where am I drinking?…