By choosing to start up a new brewery in River North, Zach and Rachel Rabun are either crazy or brilliant. “We’re not sure about that ourselves,” Zach says. The couple recently announced plans to open Mockery Brewing at 3501 Delgany Street in a neighborhood that already has five operating (or…
Diebolt Brewing in the Sunnyside neighborhood opened quietly this past weekend with limited hours and just two beers on tap. But owner Jack Diebolt and his parents, who moved to Denver to help, plan to ramp things up significantly over the next couple of weeks. Located on residential Mariposa Street…
Despite the proliferation of eager whippersnappers rushing to open craft breweries and distilleries, people have been working diligently to get us drunk for centuries. St. Germain, for example, originated in France in 1885, and its exuberantly fruity taste, which benefits from that most European of herbs — the elderflower –…
Headed to the Western Slope? That’s the only place you’ll be able to score a bottle of Olathe, a German-style lager that AC Golden Brewing made to honor the harvest season and the growers who work with the company. “The corn, barley and hops were all grown within one mile…
The Squire Lounge, the legendary Colfax dive bar will be closing its doors for about a month. The owners have extensive renovations planned, and the bar will likely never be the same. For some patrons, these renovations mean cleaner, more private bathrooms, classier cocktail options and a friendlier ambience. For die-hard Loungers, however, this remodel represents the end of an era. Westword caught up with Squire bartender Cam Omlid, on the final tuesday night open mic before the revamp to get a sense of how people feel about the Squire Lounge getting all respectable.
This week USA Today announced the results of its hunt for the “best” craft brewery in America. Experts whittled the list of this country’s 2,538-plus breweries (the latest number from the Brewer’s Association) down to 72 nominations, and those went to a vote of the readers. More than 11,500 people…
You can teach old dogs new tricks, as evidenced by the success of Spirit Hound, a distillery in Lyons. One of Spirit Hound’s partners, Craig Engelhorn, honed his craft as the original brewer for Oskar Blues, creating some of its first beers and helping the brewpub evolve into what it…
Old Major, which has been packing in fans since it opened almost six months ago, will introduce an extension of its hours today — the better to accommodate a new summer happy hour. “Our new happy hour menu is much more food-driven,” says Justin Brunson, executive chef, in announcing the…
You can trust a biologist to understand beer, and this fall, former biology teacher Rick Kane will open his own brewery and restaurant in Centennial. Blue Spruce Brewery, at 4151 East County Line Road, will feature at least ten of Kane’s beers as well as a few guest beers, alongside…
Patrick Rue of the Bruery, a highly respected Belgian-style beermaker in Orange County, once famously promised never to brew an IPA — that is, until he tasted Night Ryder, a black IPA put together by Colorado homebrewers Brian Pramov and Bryan Keas. Not that the Bruery is calling the beer…
Earlier this spring, at the inaugural DSTILL event, wherein hundreds upon hundreds of booze hounds gathered at the McNichols Building to sample craft spirits and cocktails, there were plenty of people comparing the jubilee to the Great American Beer Festival, which as we all know by know, sold out just…
Quick! Wanna win two tickets to the tonight’s sixth annual World Cup of Wine and Beer charity event at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park? Then tell us why soccer (or wine, or beer) is awesome in 140 words or less in the comments section below — and leave your e-mail address…
UPDATE: We have a winner of our Russell’s Smokehouse/Death’s Door dinner contest, in which we asked Cafe Society readers to answer this question: How many pounds of organic grain were used in the production of Death’s Door spirits — gin, whiskey and vodka — sold in Colorado over the past…
Colorado attracts beer lovers the way a keg attracts red Solo cups, and last month, one of the nation’s most well-known beer lovers announced that he was moving here. Todd Alström, who founded Beer Advocate magazine with his brother, Jason, in 1996, told readers that’s he’s moving from Boston to…
Twelve local bartenders — Randy Layman (ACE), Ryan Layman (Steuben’s), Ken Kodys (Breckenridge-Wynkoop), Alex Kady (Epicurean Catering and Entertainment), Derrick Mund (Breckenridge-Wynkoop), Anika Zappe (Coohills), Les Baker (Tom’s Urban Diner), Mark Baldini (Cruise Room), Chad Gray (Lou’s Food Bar), Holland Rock-Garden (Green Russell), Jason Patz (Williams & Graham) and Luke…
AC Golden brewer Troy Casey is one of Colorado’s foremost experts on wild and sour ales, which means he has to sample a lot of them (oh, the misery). But all that drinking means he looks forward to trying tart beers that are lower in alcohol. Enter Berliner weisse, a…
So, this is adulthood. Grown men and women jostling for the last drops of spicy Bloody Mary mix. Zombie-eyed hangover victims marching grimly back and forth to fill their glasses. Is this what I have to look forward for the next fifty years, until I’m forced to take my booze…
So you missed on getting tickets to the Great American Beer Festival — again? That’s a bummer, but it’s also an opportunity. Over the past five years, the annual festival has evolved from being the greatest show on earth into being just one stage in a multi-ring beer circus that…
Northeast Denver residents have been a little hot under the collar over the past two years as they’ve watched brewery after brewery open on the other side of town. But this fall, Station 26 Brewing will cool off those flames when it opens in a former fire station at 38th…
After enduring a crush of demand from craft breweries across the country that wanted to attend the Great American Beer Festival, the Brewers Association announced to its members last night that it will change the registration process in 2014. Breweries will now have a set number of days to register…
Arvada’s Voss Farms, which supplies hops for Black Shirt Brewing and other local beer makers, is already picking it’s sweet-smelling produce, and you might be able to help. Like last year, Voss is looking for volunteers (although space is very limited). For details, email Andrew at VossFarmsColorado@Yahoo.com. Hop farmers in…
Tales of the Cocktail is a yearly gathering of bartenders, distillers and spirits professionals that takes place in New Orleans every July. It features seminars, competitions and a ton of parties, and finishes with a gala awards ceremony that recognizes the world’s best in our industry. I attended my first…
