Best Brewery in a Strip Mall 2019 | Baere Brewing Company | Best of Denver® | Best Restaurants, Bars, Clubs, Music and Stores in Denver | Westword
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Best Brewery in a Strip Mall

Baere Brewing Company

You can find breweries in just about any kind of building in Colorado — big and small, a century old or just a few weeks new. There are former hotels, auto shops and churches, an airplane hangar and a Buddhist temple. There are farmhouses, firehouses and schoolhouses, business parks, and, yes, strip malls. Probably no brewery has embraced that strip-mall ethos quite like Baere Brewing, however. Squarely in the middle of what is, sorry, a pretty ugly retail strip along Broadway, Baere tongue-in-cheekily brews a beer called Strip Mall Pale Ale and describes its location thus: "Next to Dunkin Donuts; across from 7-11. A great place to hang out while: doing laundry at Cycles; getting your car washed at Waterworks; preening at Paris Nails; having coffee at Sugar Bakeshop." Baere's beer, though, is anything but nondescript. While you can order traditional styles, like a brown, a saison, a dunkel and an IPA, give some of the more exotic beers a try, like the mixed-culture saison, the wild ales and the Berliner weisse.

Best Beer in a Bag...in a Box

Primitive Beer

Matt Peck @hopternal

Passion projects are typically full of vim and vigor, coming in fully carbonated and ready to bubble over. Brandon and Lisa Boldt's project is certainly full of vim and vigor, but carbonation is not in the equation — which might be considered a little strange in the beer world. Last April the couple, who both have full-time jobs at other breweries, opened Primitive Beer, a small blending facility and taproom that turns out uncarbonated sour lambic-style ales. Most of these unusual Belgian-style beers are aged in wooden puncheons for nine months to three years, and you can drink them by the glass or by the pitcher — or you can take them home in plastic bags secured inside a box. Yep, that's weird, too, but delicious, and also part of an old Belgian tradition. Wanna get really wild? Take the bag out of the box and give it a slap before drinking right from the nozzle. The gorgeous taproom is only open four days a month, so plan ahead.

Best Vegan-Friendly Brewery

Alternation Brewing Company

Alternation Brewing takes the cake for best vegan-friendly brewery without even serving food. Even though Alternation doesn't have a kitchen of its own, Wong Way Veg, Vegan Van, Migration Taco, Veggie Yeti and other plant-friendly food trucks are always around serving meat-free grub. Vegan events, such as dairy-free-cheese and beer pairings, beer dinners and vegan meetup groups, are hosted here as well. For its For the Animals milk stout, Alternation swaps in almond milk for the traditional lactose that gives the style its creaminess; the vegan-friendly twist has been done in many variations, including candy cane, gingerbread, Oreo, s'more and salted caramel.

Best Cidery

Haykin Family Cidery

The Unfound Door

You don't need a fancy tasting room to produce good cider. You just need good apples, a press and the patience to polish your craft over years of fruit harvests. Daniel and Talia Haykin learned about making cider from Colorado apples first, perfecting their recipes at home and winning awards along the way. Since opening their Aurora cidery in 2017, the couple has continued to win fans with single-apple varietals and blends from specific growers that have the complexity of wine and the terroir of Colorado's orchards. Visit the bare-bones Haykin tasting room to experience flavors ranging from butter to banana to rich tropical fruits and from tart to semi-sweet, or pick up a corked bottle at a specialty liquor store to pair with your favorite home-cooked meals. Even some of Denver's most lauded eateries are catching on, so you can sip Haykin cider along with food from a growing list of chefs.

Readers' Choice: Stem Ciders

Best Colorado Distillery

Leopold Bros.

Although being nominated for a James Beard Award two years running already speaks highly of Leopold Bros., it's the careful creation of its products that's behind the Denver distillery's consistent excellence. No matter what kind of booze you crave, there's something for everyone, from gin to whiskey to fruit spirits. Brothers Scott and Todd Leopold even make an absinthe, an alpine liqueur and an aperitivo, and they use local ingredients for many of their products. For over a decade, Leopold Bros. has continued to elevate the Colorado spirits scene, and we can't wait to taste what the future brings.

Readers' Choice: Mythology Distillery

Best New Distillery

The Block Distilling Co.

Molly Martin

When brothers Kraig and Kameron Weaver opened the Block Distilling Co. with co-owner Michelle Flake at the end of 2017, the focus was on bringing seasonal gins and a three-grain vodka to the market. Each small batch gets handmade right in the industrial-meets-artsy RiNo space, and while the lineup is small so far, it's growing. Aside from gin and vodka, Block also plans to release a vermouth-style spirit made with grape skins from the neighboring Infinite Monkey Theorem. As warmer weather approaches, think about trying the Summer Gin, a citrus-forward tipple perfect for hot days and lounging by the pool.

Best Distillery Tasting Room

The Family Jones

Denver has an abundance (maybe even a surplus) of great tasting rooms, but the folks behind the Family Jones Spirit House really have gone above and beyond. Not only is the hard liquor all made in house, but each modifier also gets created right there. In fact, the distillery and tasting room act as a lab, and master distiller Rob Masters and bar manager Jason Randall are always coming up with new and innovative tipples. Think crawfish liqueur for a Bloody Mary, bright lemongrass distillate, cooling eucalyptus and a whole slew of other things. All of this gets integrated into cocktails on the menu, or you can sample the straight booze (gin, vodka, rum, whiskey) just as you would in a normal tasting room.

Best New Bar

Lady Jane

Mark Antonation

Lady Jane makes the second casual cocktail bar for owner Jake Soffes after Hudson Hill, which debuted in 2016. And like Hudson Hill, this LoHi bar raises the bar on cocktail quality, even if the ambience is laid-back and low-key, coming in somewhere between tropical yacht club and '70s fern bar. We've long since lost the skill to separate millennial irony from earnest intentions, but the palm trees, gilt-edged barware and hunter-green furnishing feel distinctly like a wink at Tom Selleck, Christopher Cross album covers and swinger culture. And you know what? We love it. It's far easier to settle in among the throw pillows and enjoy a drink while music crackles from the turntable (of course) than to consider that it may all be just a joke played on anyone over 45.

Readers' Choice: Ironton Distillery and Crafthouse

Best Sunken Bar

The Castle Bar & Grill

Molly Martin

At the Castle, a classic watering hole in Littleton, you won't have any trouble seeing eye to eye with your bartender. The big horseshoe-shaped bar is sunken, so when you grab a seat (a comfy captain's chair) you'll be on the level with the friendly staffer pouring good, stiff drinks. If you're smart, you'll use them to wash down one of the best burgers in town, offered in a great two-for-one deal on Tuesdays.

Best Wine Bar

PMG

Many wine bars are built for casual conversation and snacking with friends, with the wine seeming almost like an afterthought. "Approachable" seems to be the most common buzzword, and wine lists are built so that they don't appear intimidating or formidable. But if you're really going for the wine and not the conversation or charcuterie board, you want to learn, grow and be surprised by selections. PMG's owner, Emily Gold, has assembled a collection of labels by the glass and bottle that will keep your curiosity piqued through many visits. You don't have to be an earnest aficionado or sommelier in training to enjoy the place; Gold and her staff are there to help guide you to your next favorite glass of wine. Old World is definitely the emphasis; you'll find few California wines here. A visit to PMG is a chance to explore the French, Italian and German countryside without ever leaving Boulder.

Readers' Choice: Postino

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