Consumer Products and Services

RJ Reynolds' Colorado launch of new e-cigarette not inspired by marijuana, company says

Since the early days of Colorado's marijuana legalization movement, the prospect of Big Tobacco moving into the state and taking over the pot industry has concerned activists. So it was only natural that when RJ Reynolds, among the most powerful of the nation's tobacco companies, announced that it h ... More >>

Here's to American Craft Beer Week, and something wet in every cup

Here's to American Craft Beer Week (which began Monday), the annual salute to small independent brewers that the Boulder-based Brewers Association (with help from Congress!) created seven years ago to increase awareness of craft beer. Of course, in Colorado, as some people say, every week is craft b ... More >>

Beer calendar: Renegades, superheroes and American Craft Beer Week

Did you know that Italy has a thriving craft-beer scene? Neither did I. But Brian Jansing and Paul Vismara, two longtime suds slingers at the Falling Rock Taphouse, did, and they've traveled all over Italy, researching the movement as it grew from fewer than twenty craft breweries in 1996 to nearly ... More >>

On Vinyl

Colorado breweries stay steady on the list of the nation's biggest craft brewers

Colorado craft breweries have remained steady on the Boulder-based Brewers Association's annual list of the top fifty craft-beer makers in the country. New Belgium Brewing in Fort Collins is still the third-largest craft brewer in the nation, while Longmont's Oskar Blues rose from 29th on the list ... More >>

The Craft Brewers Conference wraps up with an award for New Belgium

It's been quiet out there in the craft beer world this week -- primarily because most of the movers and shakers from around the country are in Washington, D.C. for the annual Craft Brewers Conference, and industry-only event hosted by the Brewers Association. This year's version -- the thirtieth on ... More >>

Phish Dick's Sporting Goods Park August 30 - September 1, three nights, Labor Day weekend

Phish is at Dick's Sporting Goods Park on Labor Day weekend for the third consecutive year. Tickets ($49.75-$60) for the shows go on sale March 30 at 10 a.m. via TicketHorse, or in person at TicketHorse kiosks at Dick's Sporting Goods stores and the box offices at the Pepsi Center and 1STBANK Center ... More >>

Beer calendar: Belgian pales, barrel-aged beers and Colorado Craft Beer Week

The Mountain Sun group of pubs in Boulder and Denver have always been quirky (they don't take credit cards, for instance), but the clear, oversized mason jars they use instead of growlers have long frustrated fans who want to take their beer to go. Mountain Sun's delicious beer goes flat fast in the ... More >>

Third Shift lager, a new MillerCoors beer, got its medal-winning start at Denver's Sandlot

Tom Hail loves beer. He loves lagers especially, which is why he stays very late on a lot of nights to work on his passion projects. One of these is a traditional German-style marzen -- a recipe that he's been tinkering with on and off for eighteen years. It's a tasty beer -- so tasty that Hail, on ... More >>

Beer calendar: Avery salutes the dictators; Denver Beer Co debuts its new barrel room

Kim Jordan, the CEO of New Belgium Brewing in Fort Collins, is no longer the majority owner of the company she co-founded in 1991. Instead, Jordan is just one of 456 owners as of December 28, when she sold her family's 59 percent stake to the now 100 percent employee-owned entity that runs the compa ... More >>

Ten biggest Colorado craft beer stories in 2012

Colorado craft breweries and their many fans enjoyed a spectacular year in 2012, as the options for consuming locally made beer continued to grow and fill our tastebuds with joy. If the state's 160-plus breweries weren't expanding, then they were adding new beers or welcoming friendly competitors. A ... More >>

Is Colorado the center of the "crafty" beer universe?

Colorado -- home to the Great American Beer Festival, the Brewers Association and 161 breweries -- is the center of the universe when it comes to craft beer. But is it also the center of the "crafty" beer universe? On Thursday, the Brewers Association, which represents small brewers nationwide, fi ... More >>

Strange Brewing faces a trademark threat from a Massachusetts homebrew shop

Something strange is going on. In September, as Denver's Strange Brewing was gearing up for a small expansion as well as the Great American Beer Festival, owners John Fletcher and Tim Myers got a letter from a lawyer demanding that they change their name. See also: - De Steeg Brewing will open on ... More >>

Denver Post & MediaNews Group: Fallout from partner Journal Register Company bankruptcy?

Almost exactly a year ago, the Journal Register Company's John Paton was named CEO of MediaNews Group, owner of the Denver Post, with a new entity called Digital First Media taking over management of both firms. But the first birthday of this deal hasn't been a happy one. Yesterday brought word that ... More >>

Free money! Denver bands have unclaimed SoundExchange royalties. Are you on the list?

The bad news is you didn't win a gazillion dollars last night in Powerball -- some lucky jerk in Michigan did, apparently. The good news is, however, you may still have some cashola coming your way that you weren't expecting. Think of it as finding a crisp twenty in the pocket of pants you haven't w ... More >>

Chicago's Goose Island will brew some of its signature 312 beer in Colorado's 970

Goose Island, a Chicago craft brewer that was bought last year by Anheuser-Busch InBev, will brew some of its signature 312 Urban Wheat Ale at the AB InBev plant in Fort Collins, according to a federal filing. 312 takes its name from the Windy City's area code and is described on Goose Island's webs ... More >>

The Dark Knight Rises: Your guide to getting your Batman on this Thursday

The Dark Knight Rises is the epic conclusion to filmmaker Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy, starring Christian Bale, Anne Hathaway, Morgan Freeman, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and more. The movie premieres at 12:01 a.m. Friday, and on Thursday night fans will have several ways to go to bat for Batma ... More >>

A Toast to Beer

Three Colorado winemakers worthy of Drink Local Wine week love

A little more than nine months ago, we ruffled a lot more than a few feathers by voicing our opinion on the local wine industry. Everyone from the Front Range Winery Association to hobbyist vintners juiced over where we got the balls to speak our minds on such an -- unbeknownst to us -- unbelievabl ... More >>

$714 million a year and other fun facts about Colorado's craft beer industry

The Colorado Brewers Guild provided proof today of what most Colorado residents have known for a while: beer is good for us, economically at least. On Tuesday, the Guild, which represents craft breweries in the state legislature, said Colorado's 139 licensed craft breweries pump $714 million a year ... More >>

Left Hand named a top fifty U.S. brewer; Oskar Blues is second in Colorado

Longmont won big today when the Brewers Association, based just down the road in Boulder, released its annual list of the top fifty biggest craft brewers in the United States. Left Hand Brewing, which was founded in Longmont in 1993, cracked the list for the first time, logging in at number 49. The ... More >>

Jerry Grilly to retire as president and CEO of the Denver Post

Jerry Grilly, the president and CEO of the Denver Post, is retiring -- and not for the first time. Grilly had been lured back to the Post three years ago, shortly after the closure of the Rocky Mountain News, which ended the joint operating agreement that yoked the two papers. It's a different worl ... More >>

Is keg wine the next keg beer?

When the Kitchen [Next Door] opened in Boulder earlier this year, it didn't have a single bottle of wine on the beverage list. Instead, the restaurant installed a keg system from which it pours three whites and five reds. Frasca Food & Wine's Bobby Stuckey and Lachlan MacKinnon-Patterson pursued a s ... More >>

John Paton named MediaNews Group CEO: What's it mean to MNG's pay-wall experiment?

John Paton.​In late August, we noted that the search for a new MediaNews Group CEO to succeed Dean Singleton had stretched out for seven months, with no end in sight. At last, the situation has changed. John Paton, a director of the Journal Register Company, has been named the firm's CEO as p ... More >>

Artists like Springsteen and Dylan can start applying to regain copyrights of 1978 recordings

​When copyright law was revised in 1976, there was a provision that gave artists control of their work after 35 years, provided they applied two years in advance. The law didn't go into effect until 1978, but now artists like Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Tom Waits and Loretta Lynn can start a ... More >>

Google further monetizes YouTube, which means enduring ads on every music video

​After a four year legal battle with over 3,000 independent music publishers, YouTube has agreed to pay licensing fees to the National Music Publishers Association. While this doesn't affect YouTube's preexisting contracts with the four major labels, it does change the way YouTube and its pare ... More >>

MediaNews Group experiments with digital pay walls -- but not yet in Colorado

Dean Singleton.​In an interview earlier this year, MediaNews Group executive chairman Dean Singleton talked about experimenting with pay walls at his various newspaper properties. These efforts are now about to get a public try-out at 23 MNG properties -- although none in the company's home st ... More >>

Three reasons why Colorado wines still suck (and three Colorado winemakers who are getting it right)

​Last month we attended the first annual Colorado Winefest - Denver, and for the first time tasted a number of truly delicious, locally produced wines we could recommend to you without pause. So you can certainly understand how we were legitimately fired up about an already scheduled wine-tast ... More >>

Righthaven finally acknowledges relationship with MediaNews Group in Brian Hill filing

Brian Hill.​This week, Righthaven, a Nevada firm specializing in copyright-infringement litigation, finally acknowledged its relationship with MediaNews Group, owner of the Denver Post, in a filing on view below related to a dropped lawsuit against chronically ill, mildly autistic hobby blogge ... More >>

MediaNews Group-Freedom talks break down, but don't be shocked by a comeback

Dean Singleton.​For months, newspaper insiders have been abuzz about Denver Post parent company MediaNews Group potentially acquiring Freedom Communications, owner of the Colorado Springs Gazette and the Orange County Register -- two properties that synergize nicely with MediaNews strongholds ... More >>

7News, Azteca America affiliates in CO for sale: McGraw-Hill looks to peddle broadcasting group

​Update below: KMGH-TV, better known as 7News, is on the block -- and so are Azteca America affiliates in Denver, Fort Collins and Colorado Springs, according to an announcement by McGraw-Hill, the stations' parent company. Officially, the move is part of a "portfolio review" -- but the real ... More >>

Five Colorado wines (finally!) worth drinking by the case

​Have you ever gotten the impression that Colorado wines kinda suck? If you're really, really honest with yourself, you probably answered yes - and you're not the only person who feels that way. A glance at the wine list of many of Denver's top-rated dining destinations routinely reveals fewer ... More >>

Comment of the day: Why did the People's Fair choose Miller?

​While most folks go to festivals like the Capitol Hill People's Fair mostly for the bouncy-castle and the shirtless ambiance, Bree Davies is partial to the finer points of festival vending, like hats for dogs and paintings of sheep in trench-coats; in her recap of the fair yesterday, she brou ... More >>

Four perfect-for-summer Italian wines

​Italian wines can be hard to love. They're unabashedly old world, full of mouthwatering acidity, brazenly tannic, and as terroir-driven as they come. They're also endlessly intriguing. Each of Italy's winemaking regions tells the unique, richly historic tale of its evolution from independent ... More >>

New Belgium, maker of Fat Tire, plans a second brewery on the East Coast

FacebookNew Belgium headquarters in Fort Collins.​Two of the nation's biggest craft brewers, both based in California, have revealed the details of some major expansion plans in the past couple of days, and Colorado's New Belgium Brewing, the country's third largest craft brewer, could be clos ... More >>

Twist & Shout named among top record stores by Rolling Stone -- after being snubbed last year

​Man, what a difference seven months makes. After being completely glossed over last fall along with all of the other record stores on the Front Range, Twist & Shout got a nod this morning from Rolling Stone as one of the Best Record Stores in the U.S.A. Not sure what changed in that time, but ... More >>

Taste of Vail

How liquor stores support Colorado craft breweries

Dean Singleton, Denver Post publisher, shoots down rumors of national copy-editing center

MediaNews Group​In an interview last month about stepping down as CEO of MediaNews Group, Dean Singleton talked geographical expansion and consolidation. These words echoed after MediaNews bought the Longmont Times-Call's parent company days later -- and fears of job losses were heightened by ... More >>

Pinot Posse wines spark Old World vs. New World debate

​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 ... More >>

How the music industry will change in 2011

​In the past decade, the music industry has seen a lot of changes, but it has struggled to keep pace with technology, piracy and consumer demands. Already this year we've started to see a few more changes take shape, from crackdowns on piracy websites, a resurgence of interest in the currently ... More >>

MediaNews Group subsidiary buys Lehman Communications, Longmont Times-Call

Dean Singleton.​In an interview earlier this week about stepping down as CEO of MediaNews Group, Dean Singleton said his new position as the company's executive chairman would allow him to focus on "opportunities for expansion, which I have always enjoyed doing." And how: Today, Singleton anno ... More >>

Hickenlooper's Inaugurale will be delivered via horse and carriage

​Not only is the Wynkoop Brewing Company making a special beer to commemorate brewery co-founder John Hickenlooper's gubernatorial inauguration party on Tuesday, it will deliver that beer, Hickelooper's Inaugurale, via horse and carriage. The party, which is being held at the Fillmore auditor ... More >>

Colorado gubernatorial ball will have a beer list that's a mile higher than any other state

​Of all the inaugural balls taking place next month around the country, Colorado's has to have the best beer list. And why not? The new governor, John Hickenlooper, is a brewer and the co-founder of the iconic Wynkoop Brewing Company. In addition to Hickenlooper's InaugurAle -- which is bein ... More >>

LimeWire shut down by permanent injunction

​Looking for WMAs of Third Eye Blind? You're going to have to look elsewhere. Effective immediately, LimeWire, the popular peer-to-peer file sharing service, has gone the way of pagers, payphones and the Walkman. In 2006, the music industry filed a suit against the service for a "massive sca ... More >>

Smoke Detector

Anne Landman has dedicated her life to being a pain in the ash. Will it make a difference come election time?

Digital Dilemma

Will new royalty fees kill Web radio?

Doing a Slow Burn

The Colorado AG grabs a hot potato in the state's tobacco lawsuit--and hopes she won't get scorched by the legislature.

The Marlboro Hombres

Last June in Costa Rica, the tobacco lobby was berry, berry good to two Colorado legislators.

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