From Wine to Ice Cream to Pork, Flights Take Off in Denver

Before there were small plates, there were wine flights. Both are perfect for folks who can’t make up their mind, or who are eager to cover as much of the menu as possible. Given its roots as a wine bar, the Village Cork, which Gretchen Kurtz reviewed this week, is almost synonymous with flights, offering several red and white versions, including one called “Off the Beaten Path” that she enjoyed with one review dinner.

But flights aren’t just for wine. Here are five of our food-based favorites.
Heritage Bacon Flight
The Berkshire
7352 E. 29th Ave.
Denver, CO 80238
The Berkshire, Stapleton's prime pork palace, preps heritage breed bacon four different ways for its bacon flight, giving guests a chance to chew their way through garlic, curried, balsamic and candied maple strips of smoky, fatty goodness. Salt and sugar mingle together in craveable harmony on a plate that offers little else to distract you from the bacon itself. 
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Ice Cream Flight
High Point Creamery
215 South Holly Street
720-420-9137
In a way, ice cream shops have been doing flights for years: it’s called a triple scoop. But High Point Creamery takes a more sophisticated approach to match its sophisticated flavors (think brown butter pecan and basil with blackberry swirl). Priced at $9, an ice cream flight at this mod Hilltop storefront don’t come cheap but they’re worth it, with five half-scoops, a side of housemade fudge or caramel, and waffle wedges.

Wine and Oyster Flight
Humboldt
1700 Humboldt Street
303-813-1700
No wonder it’s an Uptown favorite: Humboldt has upped the ante on the traditional wine flight, choosing three wines and pairing them with oysters. A three-ounce pour of pinot blanc arrives with the washburn, the restaurant’s signature East Coast oyster. A sangiovese accents the West Coast kumamoto, and a sauvignon blanc highlights a Pacific variety du jour. Though it sounds like a happy hour special, the flight is available all day, making for many
happy hours.

Pancake Flight
Snooze
Multiple locations
From the beginning, Snooze spoke the language of sweet-tooths, tempting people with so many desserts masquerading as breakfast that lines formed at the first location in Ballpark and haven’t let up since. We’re partial to straight-up sweet potato, but for those craving more variety (and sugar), Snooze offers a flight of three, so you can start your day with a sampling of your choosing, perhaps candy apple, blueberry Danish and pineapple upside down cakes, before giving in to the food coma and heading straight for the couch.


Milk Flight
Steuben’s
523 East 17th Avenue
303-830-1001
Next time you find yourself at Steuben’s with kids in tow, look closely at the coloring menu, which lists an item sure to make your little kids feel not so little: a flight, just like mom and dad get. Only instead of something alcoholic, it’s a flight that does the body good, with three-ounce pours of strawberry, vanilla and chocolate milk. 

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