Breckenridge Brewing has struck a deal with Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey that will allow it to become the sole brewer in the nation that can use the distillery’s name on its barrel-aged beers. While other brewers in Colorado can still buy and use Stranahan’s barrels, only Breckenridge will be able to…
‘Tis the season for giving – the time of year for fa-la-la-ing, mistletoe-ing and all the other festivities Bing and Nat sing about. But let’s be honest: Decking the halls and making merry can be downright exhausting. So in betwixt the tree trimming and holiday caroling, why not give yourself…
Holiday beers are on tap all around town, and you’ll find some good ones right at the source — at the breweries that make them. Some of the wintery wonders you can try include Ugly Sweater at Wit’s End Brewing, Winter Spice Ale (with star anise, vanilla soaked in rum,…
Sean Kenyon’s Ask the Bartender has been on a break, but Kenyon hasn’t been taking it easy: Over the past five weeks, he’s been traveling (Germany, France and New York City twice), working at Euclid Hall at night and opening Williams & Graham during the day. Now he’s back, plenty…
For obvious reasons, the Denver Broncos are unexpectedly fun to watch this year, especially with a glass of locally brewed goodness. It’s yet another reason Colorado is such a cool place to live. And that will serve you well over the next two weekends, while the Broncos are on the…
Happy Place: SALT the Bistro, 1047 Pearl Street, 303-444-7258. The Hours: Daily from 3 to 6 p.m. The Deals: $3 beers; $4 house wines; $4 element cocktails; $1-$5 small plates; $10-$15 large plates. Were we happy? Flip the page to find out…
Avery Brewing has created an online petition at change.com, urging the brewery’s fans to support an effort in Boulder to change the zoning code to allow breweries, wineries and distilleries located in industrial parts of the city to open restaurants. Right now, those businesses are only allowed to open a…
Bryan Dayton, owner of Boulder’s Oak at Fourteenth (which is under construction after a fire there this spring), flew to Vegas this fall and outdid dozens of mixologists from around the country to bring home a big first prize: He was named GQ Bombay Sapphire’s most inspired bartender in the…
Sometimes, just sometimes, big holiday celebrations can feel like a bit of a grind. Whoops, did we say that out loud? It’s not that we don’t love our families — we do. But we suspect that you’d agree that occasionally these annual gatherings can feel like more of an obligation…
Twisted Pine Brewing will debut a new series of one-off beers next year, releasing one per month. The Artisan Ale series will all be sold in limited quantities (about one hundred cases) in 750 ml bottles, and the labels will be adorned with artwork by local artists…
Over the last few months, I went from the worst shape of my life to the best while continuing to eat like a food critic. Don’t punch me in the face; instead, read how I did it in part six of this series: Three weeks into Bonza Bodies and the…
A few hundred years ago, while sugar traders from Britain and the American colonies were distilling their molasses into fiery rum, a very different tradition was unfolding on the French islands in the Caribbean. The French produced their own sugar in Europe, and so had no need to refine it…
Bill Eye, the award-winning head brewer at Aurora’s Dry Dock Brewing, has taken a job as brewmaster — and one of the managing partners — at Prost Brewing, an all German-style lager beer maker that plans to open in Denver next spring. Eye was responsible for several of the Dry…
Happy Place: The Mediterranean Restaurant, 1002 Walnut Street, 303-444-5335. The Hours: Daily from 3 to 6:30 p.m. The Deals: $1 off draft beers; $4 featured wines by the glass, sangria, and well cocktails; $6 martinis; $2-$5 small plates. Were we happy? Flip the page to find out…
Highland Tap and Burger caters to a lot of different neighborhood groups, but owner Katie O’Shea has made a point of frequently hosting a large group of women in her restaurant who have one thing in common: a love for beer. At those gatherings of the Craft Ladies’ Beer Club,…
Details were sparse when we heard Mile High Spirits was going into a space on 29th and Larimer Streets — we knew the new distillery would be making vodka, and we knew it was tentatively slated to open in January. Owner Joe Vonfeldt confirms that January is still looking good…
When Mitch Abate, Matt Causey and Andy Causey opened Downslope Distilling three years ago, they didn’t just start working on the variety of vodkas, rums and whiskeys that comprise their regular line. Almost as soon as they got their license, they set up a one-off and also put together a…
Crabtree Brewing has never canned its beers and doesn’t own a canning line; its owner, Jeff Crabtree, doesn’t even think craft beer belongs in a can. Nevertheless, the Greeley brewery’s Eclipse black IPA will probably become the first Colorado beer to be packaged in sixteen-ounce cans…
The wine topic that everyone seems to be obsessed with this week is what goes best with turkey (Thanksgiving is next Thursday, or hadn’t you heard?). Not us. There’s still plenty of time to tackle that topic, and if you tend to procrastinate as much as we do, then you’ll…
The holiday beer releases came early and often this year, and there are now dozens of them on the shelves and on tap at bars where you can get your cheer on. The Falling Rock Taphouse, in particular, knows how to get into the spirit, wrapping its tap wall in…
Colorado’s distilleries will get their due in the New York Times travel magazine on Sunday. And the piece, in “Blithe Spirits,” has already been posted on the web. The article celebrates this state’s burgeoning spirits scene, describing distilleries ranging from the Boulder Distillery to Peach Street Distillers to Leopold Brothers,…
In the past few years, attention-seeking breweries like Sam Adams, Scotland’s BrewDog and Germany’s Schorschbock have been engaged in a battle over who could make the highest-alcohol beers in the world — turning out concoctions that weighed in at 40, 50 and even 60 percent alcohol by volume. But back…
