Bars & Breweries

Cafe Coloré 1512 Larimer Street 303-534-6844 www.cafecoloredenver.com…

The Bitter Bar may not have needed much more momentum to rise to the top of the Colorado cocktail scene, but it was set to take another great leap forward when it locked in mixologist Bryan Dayton, the president of the Colorado chapter of the US Bartender’s Guild, to craft…

The wine world has been buzzing all month over the latest issue of Wine Spectator magazine, which has finally acknowledged that not only are screw tops (aka Stelvin closures) perfectly acceptable for wine, they actually fared better than traditional and synthetic cork in terms of keeping wine fresh and ultimately…

Two months ago, Colt & Gray bartender Noah Heaney barely edged out another Colt & Gray barman, Kevin Burke, in a sudden-death mix-off when the two tied for first at the Colorado chapter of the US Bartender’s Guild Don Q rum competition. The prize: a trip to New York to…

The Denver Roller Dolls have narrowed the number of possible names for their signature beer down to ten — and now they want the public’s help in choosing the winner. The beer, brewed especially for the Dolls by the Wynkoop Brewing Company, is reportedly a “pre-Prohibition-style lager” that’s “smooth and…

Bombay Clay Oven 165 Steele Street 303-377-4454 bombayclayoven.com…

In all the talk of Colorado cocktails, a few folks have mentioned the Colorado Bulldog, a variation on a White Russian. Here’s one sample recipe: 1 shot vodka 1 shot Kahlua milk 1 splash Coca-Cola In a shaker, mix vodka, Kahlua and milk. Pour into a rocks glass and add…

Leave it to the guys at Oskar Blues Brewery to create a beer festival dedicated strictly to canned craft beer – and why not, since they were the ones who did it first. On June 26, the company will host Burning Can, a festival at Sandstone Park in Lyons (where…

Lime XS 730 East 6th Avenue 303-722-5463 www.eatatlime.com…

Rich Grant, the beer-loving communications director for Visit Denver, is looking for the perfect Colorado cocktail. Denver already enjoys a reputation as the Napa of craft brewing — but Grant thinks we could use an emblematic cocktail, too. Something he could pour out for visiting journalists to give them a…

It’s spring cocktail season, and you know what that means: the drinking is easy. And at the Hotel Teatro, which houses Prima and Restaurant Kevin Taylor, sommelier Brandon Tebbe has concocted the Summer-tini, a cocktail shaken with Vodka14, a Colorado organic vodka that’s distilled in the Rockies. “It’s a top…

Jamie Boudreau, a pioneer of molecular mixology, is a bartender’s bartender. That was evidenced by the crowd that gathered yesterday when he stopped by Boulder’s Bitter Bar for a public cocktail seminar on St-Germain, a seductive elderflower liqueur he represents when he’s not shaking or stirring somewhere in Seattle. There…

Cherry Creek Grill 184 Steele Street 303-322-3524 www.hillstone.com…

Strange Brewing Company, Denver’s newest craft beer maker, opened for business Wednesday, pouring its Paint It Black Stout and Strange Pale Ale for friends, family and beer lovers who showed up to toast the place. Located in a business park at 13th Avenue and Zuni Street, Strange was founded by…

Back in February, trudging drunkenly down the middle of High Street in near-whiteout blizzard conditions, Darren and I decided that if the just-opened Jezebel’s could hold on through the winter in its outskirts-of-town location, we’d have found our summer spot, our walking-distance watering hole — the Holy Grail for Cole…

The Mercury Café isn’t known for its beer-drinking masses. Tango dancing, slam poetry, organic snacks? Definitely. Beer? Not so much. But the thirty-plus-year-old club/cafe/community gathering place nevertheless sells more beer made by Wynkoop Brewing than any other place in town – aside from the Wynkoop itself. It beats out the…

The Place: The Avenue Grill, 630 East Seventeenth Avenue, 303-861-2820. The Hours: Monday through Friday from 3 to 7 p.m. The Deal: $5 martinis; $3-4 draft beers; $4-5 house wines; $3-6 appetizers…

Paramount Cafe 519 16th Street Mall 303-893-2000 www.paramountcafe.com…

Racines Restaurant 650 Sherman Street 303-595-0418 www.racinesrestaurant.com…

Changing its approach to business, Desert Moon Vineyards has relocated its Palisade winery to the Front Range. A tasting room and 2,000-square-foot winery are now open at 12656 East Jamison Place in the Denver Tech Center…

About the only thing in life that I love more than wine is my iPhone. For those of you who are similarly gadget-obsessed, there are now 100-plus iPhone apps serving up everything from wine education to straight-up silliness (why is there an app that does nothing besides display a glass…

It’s American Craft Beer Week – seven days that Congress designated for an official celebration of microbrews, and only microbrews – and in Colorado, which has more than 115 breweries, this week is almost a state holiday. Here are ten ways to toast the occasion:…