The look of liquor store shelves across Colorado continues to change. Fort Collins Brewery, which began canning its beers earlier this year, has decided to abandon bottles altogether and move its entire packaged lineup to aluminum. They’ll begin in August with Oktoberfest, a beer that won gold at the Great…
Punch in the Mouth at Steuben’s Food Service You might have had a Punch in the Mouth last summer at Steuben’s. You probably liked it, too. The drink that cold-cocked customers last year kept selling over the winter, and since it was so popular, bar manager Sam Trojanovich is offering…
A week after fourteen craft breweries split off from the Colorado Brewers Guild, which has represented the interests of state beer makers for two decades, Breckenridge Brewery and its new parent company, Anheuser Busch InBev, have released a statement related to the situation. Several of the breweries that left the…
“Have you been here before?” the woman asked, settling into her seat on the patio at Masterpiece Kitchen. “Well, just for happy hour,” her friend replied. “But that doesn’t really count.” Overhearing this made me wonder if happy hour does indeed matter at a place like MK, which opened back…
Last weekend I spotted a crew of visitors to Colorado who’d stocked up on beer at our neighborhood gas station/convenience store and were carting their booty back to their motel. These were clearly visitors to Colorado, because they had no idea they’d just loaded up on the training-wheels of alcohol:…
Hold on to your hats. Longmont’s Left Hand Brewing, the last holdout among Colorado’s largest craft breweries, has decided to start canning some of its beers. Although the brewery has maintained for years that it didn’t have any canning plans — and went so far as to participate in a…
Ryan Evans liked homebrewer Charlie Gottenkieny ‘s beers so much when he tried them for the first time several years ago that he promised to invest in a real brewery if Gottenkieny, a beer educator and beer judge, ever opened one. That promise paid off last weekend when the two…
The Jane at The Cruise RoomThe Cruise Room opened downtown on December 6, 1933, one day after the repeal of Prohibition. Since then, the room hasn’t changed much — nor has its cocktail menu. In the reddish glow of the narrow, Art Deco interior, bartenders sill make cocktails that thirsty…
Trends come and go. Fads fade even faster. But change is inevitable. That is one of the exciting things about craft beer. It is dynamic, it is always different, and it keeps people coming back for the newest thing. The latest flavor? Hazy, juicy IPAs made popular in the past…
The Colorado Brewers Guild, which has represented the interests of the state’s craft breweries for the past twenty years, has imploded in the face of a rapidly changing industry. At least fourteen independent craft breweries, including Colorado’s four largest —New Belgium, Oskar Blues, Odell Brewing and Left Hand — are…
Happy-hour conversation usually doesn’t turn to debates over authenticity. However you want to define culturally appropriate cuisine, it’s rarely an issue when cheap tacos or pork buns are coming fast and furious. There are plenty of deep happy-hour cuts beyond the sangria and Brussels sprouts syndicate — and Paxia Authentic…
When Allison moved here ten years ago, she frequently visited bars in lower downtown. But now Allison, who took Westword on a tour of LoDo one recent Friday night for this week’s cover story, “From LoDo to BroDo,” prefers to escape the bros and go to bars in other neighborhoods,…
Dry Dock Brewing debuted a brand new sour and wild beer series earlier this week, featuring top beers from the barrel program at the brewery’s original South Dock location in Aurora. The barrel program, which includes more than eighty wine and whiskey barrels, are “dedicated to sour, Brettanomyces and mixed-culture fermentations utilizing…
It doesn’t take much to get thirsty Denverites out to happy hour after the 5 p.m. whistle blows. But for the next few months, bright sun and rising temperatures will bring many more out to crowd the patios and partake in drink and dish discounts. But a good summer happy…
LoHi Punch at Brider Some cocktail ingredients grow on trees, and some actually are the trees — and they’re delicious. When Bryan Dayton opened Brider in January, he and general manager Jason Isch left the city and foraged the nearby landscape for fresh flavors, finding them in juniper berries, lavender…
Twisted Pine’s beers have been a fixture on Colorado liquor stores shelves for years, but the Boulder brewery, founded in 1995, has had enough: The company has made the interesting choice to stop packaging and distributing so that it can focus on customers in its taproom and restaurant. That decision…
Oskar Blues brought another Burning Can festival to Bohn Park in Lyons on Saturday. This was the fourth year in a row the brewery that pioneered canned craft beer gathered several dozen other breweries from around the country who package their brews in outdoors-friendly, recyclable aluminum cans. And to prove…
Odell Brewing isn’t known for making rash decisions. In fact, the employee-owned company, founded in Fort Collins in 1989, is sometimes agonizingly slow when it comes to change. Odell only distributes in twelve states, despite being the third largest craft brewer in Colorado, and it only began canning beer late…
Summer is taking its sweet, sweet time coming to Colorado, but the state’s craft breweries will certainly be ready when summer’s finally official: An unprecedented number of brand-new canned and bottled beers have hit liquor store shelves and taproom walls in recent weeks — and more are on the way…
Arriving midway through a restaurant’s posted happy hour presents a 5:30 quandary: limit yourself to eating off the discounted menu or forsake the deals and indulge in a real dinner. Not everyone wants to cobble together a meal, Carl Weathers-style, but smart restaurateurs know how to satisfy everyone for a…
Big things can come in small packages, and Will Curtin and Chris Kirk plan to deliver some big things this Saturday when they open Banded Oak Brewing, one of the smaller taprooms in Denver. Located in a tiny former auto-body shop on Broadway, Banded Oak has room for just 38…
To celebrate New Belgium’s 25th anniversary, the Fort Collins brewery has collaborated with five other breweries around the country — Allagash, Firestone Walker, Hopworks Urban Brewery, Rhinegeist and Avery — to make several different versions of the iconic Fat Tire Amber Ale. For the all-Colorado Avery collaboration, the two breweries…
