Follow the Rules If You Want Drinks at the White Horse Bar

I took me three tries to finally get a drink at the White Horse Bar (or Lounge, depending on whether you believe the sign on top of the building or what the internet tells you). Last winter, I tried to visit the White Horse (5130 West Alameda Avenue) with a friend who…

Beer Calendar: Yetis, Monsters and a Turkey Beer

Two small, homegrown breweries — both founded in Denver in 2012 — have teamed up on a new distribution arrangement. TRVE Brewing, which started a distribution arm last year to help sell beer for some of its brewery friends in other states (like Burial Beer, Finback Brewry and 7venth Sun),…

Epic Brewing Sues Eddyline Brewing Over “Epic” Trademark

The craft-beer industry prides itself on collaboration and congeniality, so it’s always disheartening to see two small companies, especially those in Colorado, go after each other in court. But in the end, business is business. On November 3, Epic Brewing, based in Salt Lake City, Utah, filed suit in US. District Court…

Sancho’s Broken Arrow: Colfax Avenue’s Deadhead Sanctuary

I found myself at Sancho’s Broken Arrow (741 East Colfax Avenue) with a friend on a recent Saturday afternoon and realized that the last time I had been in was quite a while ago — too long ago, really. The bar was comfortingly familiar and seemed somehow untouched by the hands…

What to Expect From Whiskey-Fueled American Bonded, Coming in January

Nearly three years have passed since word first came down that Williams & Graham and Occidental owner Sean Kenyon was teaming up with Matchbox proprietors Justin Anthony and Lisa Vedovelli to open American Bonded in a defunct catering space at 2706 Larimer Street in RiNo. “It’s been a long difficult construction…

Purgatory Cellars Makes Wine Using Ancient Croatian Traditions

In an inauspicious strip mall in Parker, Croatian winemaker Marko Copic is reviving the ancient practice of making wine in clay amphorae — and the results are exquisite. Purgatory Cellars (18921 Plaza Drive) makes thirty traditional and amphora-aged wines for consumption in its cozy Old World tasting room and for sale…

Greenlight Lab Adds Design-Centered Cocktail Bar to RiNo

Down an alley between Larimer and Walnut streets, past flowing street-art murals, there’s an inconspicuous doorway that could be the back entrance to an office or kitchen. No sign tells you that you’ve arrived at Greenlight Lab, but if the green light is on above the door, you’ll know that…

The Ten Best Colorado Craft-Beer Events in November

Wait, what? I could swear it was just the middle of summer and I was drinking juicy IPAs. But, no, we’ve blazed right through pumpkin-beer season, fresh hops and Oktoberfest, landing squarely in the realm of dark beers: winter, that is. But November may be one of the best months…

The Zephyr Lounge Is “The Train That Never Leaves Aurora”

The Zephyr Lounge, the legendary bar at 11940 East Colfax bar in Aurora, turns seventy years old this year. If you haven’t made it to this unique neighborhood spot that provides just the right ambiance with a mix of wood paneling, random art, thrice-a-day happy hours, karaoke, live music, neon…

Beer Calendar: Dark Brews, Pickles and Brewery Anniversaries

Lady Justice Brewing, the tiny Mountain View brewery that donates the majority of its profits to organizations that support “the status of women and girls” in Colorado, is introducing a new series of American strong ales that will be sold through the brewery’s membership model. Lady Justice will sell 150 memberships…

How the California Wildfires Impacted a Denver Winery

Far away from the wildfires that devastated parts of California’s wine country in recent weeks, Chad Yetka, co-founder of Bigsby’s Folly Winery & Restaurant at 3653 Wazee Street in RiNo, and I discussed the fire’s impact on the wine business. The grim subject seemed out of place in the sunlit…

What’s for Dessert? Beer, of Course

“Invention, my dear friends, is 93 percent perspiration, 6 percent electricity, 4 percent evaporation, and 2 percent butterscotch ripple.” Those are the words of Gene Wilder in Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory. Brewing beer in Colorado could be said to be much the same, especially these days, when creative…

Liquid Chocolate Manufacturer Stumbles on Untapped Beer Market

Boulder entrepreneur Ira Leibtag wasn’t that surprised last year when he started getting cold calls from breweries around the country asking for the liquefied chocolate he sells under the name Cholaca: After all, “chocolate is the most popular flavor in the world,” he says. But he was taken aback at…

The Stockyard Saloon Is Haunted by Ghosts of Denver’s Past

It’s getting close to Halloween, so for me, it’s a season all about ghost stories. One of my favorite reliable, and reliably haunted, neighborhood bars in town is the Stockyard Saloon. Although, I suppose the location, nestled among the warehouses and National Western Complex at 4710 National Western Drive in…

Beer Calendar: Chocolate Beers, a Rumpus and New Cerebral Cans

Oskar Blues has set a date in late November for the opening of its third new Colorado location — this one is the two-story former Croc’s space at 1630 Market Street in LoDo. The 10,636 square-foot Oskar Blues Grill & Brew will offer traditional restaurant and bar service upstairs, along with…