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…
UPDATE: Congratulations to Jordenroman, who won the contest by telling a tale of a beer so delicious it had to be taken into the shower. Thanks to everyone else for your stories of beer love. Cheers. Tickets to the Great American Beer Festival, which takes place October 10-12 at the…
If you’ve been to the Great American Beer Festival before, then you know the drill: Wait, with bated breath, in a line that wraps around the Colorado Convention Center, get inside, get your tasting glass, take a deep breath and hit the tasting tables — hundreds upon hundreds of them…
The organizers of the Great American Beer Festival — and craft beer fans — will face an unusual situation when the three-day event returns to Denver for its thirty-second year on October 10: Not all of the hot, hard-to-find brewers will be inside the convention center hall. There are several…
You know you’re doing something right when the mayor drinks your beer and gives you a high-five. So brewer Chad Yakobson must be doing okay. On Friday, Yakobson will open his new showpiece brewery, Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project, inside the Source, an indoor market in River North. Yesterday, he…
The calm Denver weather belies a beer storm that is brewing. The Great American Beer Festival, and the week of revelry that surrounds it, are on their way. Breweries, bars and restaurants all along the Front Range are getting ready, but preparations can’t be made on adrenaline alone. Here are…
Tim Myers and Chris Hill are in double trouble. They’ve both been brewing a Scotch ale (a strong, sweet, caramel-colored beer) called Caber Toss and selling it out of their respective breweries — Myers at Strange Brewing and Hill at Odyssey Beerwerks. Rather than turn this trouble into a legal…
Lakewood’s annual Cider Days celebration, which takes place this weekend, has been home to tractor pulls, harvest fare and fresh-pressed apple cider for 37 years, but not the alcoholic kind. Until the few years ago, “cider” simply meant glorified apple juice. But that’s changing as hard cider becomes more popular…
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…
As Denver’s recent craft beer revolution continues to ripple outward, the city’s southern suburbs are finding themselves at the forefront of the next wave of breweries. The latest city to land its own taproom is Littleton, where the owners of 38 State Brewing have just signed a lease for a…
When did you first start drinking coffee? The sudden realization that this dark and mysterious beverage that brings your parents to life each morning is actually delicious is a mark of growing up, not unlike turning 21. The first tentative sips begin a new identity — cream? sugar? — and,…
There’s a harvest of autumn restaurant openings that I’m looking forward to, but the one that I’m most excited about — the one that I’m tracking with intense anticipation — is Session Kitchen, a new restaurant from Breckenridge-Wynkoop that’s tentatively slated to open in Platt Park on October 29. We…
Epic Brewing will open its soaring new taproom at noon Saturday, September 28, welcoming thirsty Colorado beer drinkers who’ve been curious to get a peek inside the $2 million facility that the Utah-based company has been working on for months. In addition to 25 taps of Epic beer and two…
Harry Smith, a longtime brewer at Breckenridge Brewery, opened his own place today, just a block from his old employer and with its full support. Black Sky Brewery, which dishes up Connecticut-style pizza along with more than ten taps of local beers, was a long time in the making, Smith…
Size is relative when it comes to most things, and breweries are no exception. Over the past couple of years, Breckenridge Brewery has made some commercials poking fun at the big boys of beer for their sales techniques, and now Yak & Yeti is doing the same to Breckenridge. Although…
Left Hand Brewing marked its twentieth anniversary last week (a trying week, considering the floods that nearly wreaked havoc on the brewery), and to celebrate, the Longmont company is temporarily bringing back five beers it no longer makes. “These are some old favorites,” says Joe Schiraldi, who is vice president…
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…
As the Colorado floods subside and relief efforts move forward, stories have surfaced about how people fared, especially in the town of Lyons, which was hit particularly hard. Craig Engelhorn was concluding a typical day at Spirit Hound Distillers last Wednesday, when he got in his car to head home…
Matt Hughes had a harder time thinking of a name for his brewery than he did for his kids, but the result seems to fit the bouncing baby business. Goldspot Brewing, which will be located on Lowell Boulevard about a block from Regis University in northwest Denver, is named for…
When Barrels & Bottles Brewery opens at 5 p.m. today in downtown Golden, it will serve 24 wines on tap, 22 beers — including two of its own — and sell bulk olive oils and vinegars, a concept that will make it stand out, say owners Abby and Zach George…
As quickly as the floodwaters rose, Colorado is organizing benefits to help those affected, and bars and breweries are no exception — especially those in Longmont, Lyons and Boulder where some of the flooding hit the hardest. One of those benefits is Longmont’s Oktoberfest, organized by Left Hand Brewing, but…
Do you like the cozy, kooky feel of your grandma’s house? Then you’ll feel right at home at Grandma’s House, a new brewery that will be modeled after your Nana’s place. “I wanted to go with the crafting and craft brewing aesthetic and maintain that kind of Etsy-type community feel,”…
