This hip little bar has single-handedly made Globeville a destination. Hosting DJ sets and dance parties, pop-up markets and speed dating sessions, and even tarot readings and drawing classes, it feels like a second home to its regulars, complete with quaint-meets-quirky parlor-room decor; a cozy patio; and, of course, kicky cocktails both boozy and alcohol-free to welcome one and all.
Ruth Tobias
Also featured in
Party Like It’s 2018 At These New Year’s Eve Bashes
Dec 14, 2017
Party Like It’s 2018 At These New Year’s Eve Bashes
Spooky and Boozy Events in Denver this Halloween Weekend
Oct 26, 2017
Spooky and Boozy Events in Denver this Halloween Weekend
The Tatarian
Link
From the owners of the also notable Arvada Tavern and Union Lodge No. 1 (see below), this suave Berkeley retreat named for a type of maple tree turns out some of the city’s most sophisticated sippers bar none. Ask the affable bartenders for their recommendations, which might involve Scotch, shochu, miso, and tamari or aquavit, fennel liqueur, cardoon-and-thistle aperitif, and blue cheese (really).
The Tatarian
Also featured in
Where to Dine in the Berkeley Neighborhood
May 10, 2018
Where to Dine in the Berkeley Neighborhood
Sorry Gorgeous
Link
From the plush emerald banquettes beneath moon-like pendant lights to the views from its 12th-story balcony, this penthouse lounge in the Novel RiNo building is a stone-cold stunner — and the drinks live up to the vibe, whether infused with saffron gin and rose water or honey gin and bee pollen, alongside luxe snacks like truffle-parmesan popcorn and flatbread with creamed leeks and Castelvetrano olives. (For a similarly sexy experience, check out Sorry Gorgeous’ two Cherry Creek siblings: the Latin-themed, rum-soaked Ay Papi and Forget Me Not, where a party’s always waiting to happen in a former florist’s shop.)
Ruth Tobias
Also featured in
The Cocktail Heatmap: The Best Places to Drink in Denver This Summer
Jun 18
The Cocktail Heatmap: The Best Places to Drink in Denver This Summer
Yacht Club
Link
If there’s a First Couple of the Denver drinking scene, it’s McLain Hedges and Mary Allison Wright, who aptly bill their celebrated Cole watering hole as “a nerdy cocktail bar, a natural wine bar, and your favorite dive bar” all in one. Come for a lavish libation like the Fourth Colour, featuring gin, Macvin du Jura, carrot, plum, bergamot, and peat; stay for a fascinating glass of wine most people have never heard of; linger even longer over the Old Number 7-11 — a Jack and Coke with a hot dog. Making some friends along the way is virtually guaranteed.
Shawn Campbell
Also featured in
Denver’s 25 Most Iconic Dishes
Aug 6, 2024
Denver’s 25 Most Iconic Dishes
Williams & Graham
Link
Behind a bookcase on a LoHi corner sits an internationally acclaimed cocktail bar. The dimly-lit space is dotted with booths for tender tête-à-têtes, but the best seats in the house line the grand wooden bar itself, where the crackerjack staff asks get-to-know-you questions before recommending a concoction made with any of the hundreds of spirits lining the shelves, both classic and rare; all sorts of handmade bitters, syrups, and tinctures; and such surprise ingredients as goat cheese, asparagus, bamboo shoots, and sun-dried tomatoes. Small plates like roasted bone marrow with bacon jam and fried frog’s legs with curry aioli round out the experience. (Meanwhile, adjacent sibling venue the Occidental offers a far grittier vibe but equally crafty drinks.)
Williams & Graham
Also featured in
Seven Show-Stopping Sherry Cocktails to Seek Out Now
Feb 23, 2016
Seven Show-Stopping Sherry Cocktails to Seek Out Now
Eater
Essential Cocktail Bars From Coast to Coast
Oct 12, 2015
Essential Cocktail Bars From Coast to Coast
Noble Riot
Link
Grape geeks unite at this alleyway RiNo retreat, where the extensive selection is rife with natural, organic, and biodynamic small-production finds, each cooler than the last: Extra-brut Pinot Blanc Champagne or sparkling rosé of Nerello Mascalese from Sicily’s Mt. Etna? Georgian Khikhvi or Ligurian Pigato? How about a Mencía not from Spain but Columbia Gorge, Oregon, or a blend of Malbec and Pinot Noir from Colorado’s own West Elks AVA? The list literally goes on and on, and Noble Riot’s staff is well-versed in it all — while serving up tinned-fish boards and buckets of fried chicken to absorb every last drop.
Noble Riot
Also featured in
Where to Feast on Fried Chicken in Denver
Nov 2, 2020
Where to Feast on Fried Chicken in Denver
Mezcaleria Alma
Link
Next door to Johnny Curiel’s one-starred Alma Fonda Fina, is his altar to agave spirits. Towering shelves stocked with 125-plus bottles of mezcal and tequila set the stage for a rendezvous over cocktails like the Stinger with Leyendas Verde, aloe liqueur, crème de menthe, and celery bitters — all built to complement such stylish small plates as pasilla-braised oxtail tacos with charred avocado and burrata with huitlacoche succotash, green tomatoes, and candied pepitas. It’s a moody, magical experience worth booking well in advance.
Search for reservations
OpenTable
Shawn Campbell
Also featured in
The Cocktail Heatmap: The Best Places to Drink in Denver This Summer
Jun 18
The Cocktail Heatmap: The Best Places to Drink in Denver This Summer
Death & Co Denver
Link
The posh lobby of the Ramble Hotel is home to what opened in 2018 as the first outpost of one of New York’s best-known bars, where the illustrated seasonal cocktail list displays the staff’s intricate craft: A Mr. Brightside with rye, Oloroso Sherry, peanut butter, cinnamon, vanilla, lemon, and Cabernet Sauvignon here, a Care Package with apple brandy, amburana-aged caçhaca, local cider, and brown butter there. A small but smart selection of snacks completes the experience (don’t sleep on the drunken cookies).
Elliot Clark
Also featured in
10 Hot Cocktails for Cold Denver Nights
Oct 30, 2018
10 Hot Cocktails for Cold Denver Nights
10 Toasts to Try Now in Denver
Jul 9, 2018
10 Toasts to Try Now in Denver
My Brother’s Bar
Link
In one iteration or another, My Brother’s Bar has been operating for nearly as long as Denver has been a city (since 1873). Amid wooden furnishings under tin ceilings, it looks and acts its age — as well it should. There’s beer and whiskey and burgers, including the famous JCB with jalapeño cream cheese, galore. There’s easy camaraderie among the patrons inside and out on the patio. There is, in short, a sense of homecoming that newbies can feel as keenly as longtimers.
Roadtrippers
Also featured in
Denver’s 25 Most Iconic Dishes
Aug 6, 2024
Denver’s 25 Most Iconic Dishes
20 Denver Restaurants That Have Stood the Test of Time
Feb 24, 2022
20 Denver Restaurants That Have Stood the Test of Time
Traveling Mercies
Link
In a third-floor refuge from the bustle of the Stanley Marketplace, this snazzy, jazzy little joint is a date-night no-brainer. Here, couples reconnect over sophisticated cocktails like the Drinking & Smoking with pisco, peat moss, almond, wintergreen, pineapple, and orange blossom alongside seafood-centric snacks by Annette’s Caroline Glover: Think smoked trout rillettes and mussels escabeche on toast as well as oysters on the half shell (obvi).
Traveling Mercies
Sunday Vinyl
Link
When it comes to consummate wine service, there’s arguably no more famous name in the entire state of Colorado than the Frasca Hospitality Group, so the top-tier, globe-spanning bottle list presented by the staff at its Union Station lounge is no surprise. What may come as a surprise, however, is the playlist: As the name suggests, Sunday Vinyl pairs its pours with tunes from a collection of albums as vast as its cellar, covering every musical genre from jazz to hip hop to yacht rock. Soak it all up over elegant snacks like the caviar-topped hashbrown with labneh and chives or kampachi crudo with aji amarillo, sweet potato, and blood orange.
Search for reservations
OpenTable
Mike Thurk
Also featured in
The Most Romantic Restaurants in Denver
Jan 23
The Most Romantic Restaurants in Denver
The Best Restaurants for Celebrating New Year’s Eve Around Denver
Dec 23, 2024
The Best Restaurants for Celebrating New Year’s Eve Around Denver
The Electric Cure
Link
Decorwise, it’s like Halloween and Christmas collided in this tiny, wonderfully campy Edgewater getaway — and the same could be said of the splashy, flashy libations, be they infused with Spam or Vegemite, served in a Frankenstein or a flamingo mug, or decorated with plastic eyeballs or mini disco balls. Not surprisingly, festivities abound here, from horror-movie trivia nights to Tiki Tuesday throwdowns.
Ruth Tobias
Run For The Roses
Link
Subterranean, swanky, and splurge-worthy: That’s Steven Waters’ throwback sanctuary beneath Dairy Block in a nutshell. Seasonal cocktails show forethought and flair — take the Snapdragon with rhubarb-infused rye gin, rosé vermouth, hibiscus, and pink peppercorn. But the lengthy list of classics is not to be denied. Charmingly printed on a deck of cards, it includes drinks whose prices reflect the rare, decades-old spirits that go into them, from 1960s-era Bénédictine to vintage Bacardi. (Pro tip: Opt for a table when possible, as the handsome barstools can be a tight squeeze.)
Ryan Dearth
Pony Up
Link
The portrait of an imperial bulldog at the entrance lets first-timers know they can expect the unexpected at this LoDo go-to — and the bar crew proves it, serving up rocking concoctions like the Calcifer’s Heart with tequila, shochu, Fino Sherry, pear, and Korean chili paste as well as shots of George Dickel with roast-beef jus chasers. (The latter come courtesy of the kitchen, which specializes in fabulous French dips, of all things.) Also worth a stop is Pony Up’s West Colfax sibling, Side Pony, which doubles as a coffeehouse.
Jonathan Phillips
Also featured in
The Ultimate Guide to Late-Night Dining in Denver
Feb 21, 2023
The Ultimate Guide to Late-Night Dining in Denver
The Cocktail Heatmap: Where to Drink in Denver Now
Oct 15, 2019
The Cocktail Heatmap: Where to Drink in Denver Now
The Cruise Room
Link
Modeled after a lounge on the Queen Mary, this LoDo icon in the Oxford Hotel opened the day after the repeal of Prohibition in 1933 and still looks every inch the Art Deco haunt it did then, from the carefully restored murals to the mirror-backed jukebox. It drinks that way too: Classic cocktails are the way to go here — Gimlets, Sazeracs, Sidecars, and all.
The Cruise Room
Also featured in
The Best Restaurants to Eat (and Drink) Around Denver on Christmas Eve or Day
Dec 6, 2024
The Best Restaurants to Eat (and Drink) Around Denver on Christmas Eve or Day
More Maps
The Best Kid-Friendly Restaurants in Denver
The Best Aspen Restaurants
The Cocktail Heatmap: The Best Places to Drink in Denver This Summer
Union Lodge No. 1
Link
At this pre-Prohibition–themed downtown destination, the bartenders really commit to the bit, putting on a heck of a show as they whip up such classics as sherry cobblers, brandy crustas, and mint juleps as well as contemporary creations like the Awesome-O 3000 with cinnamon toast–spiced rum, aged cachaça, orange, and condensed and coconut milks. Every last one is a banger, but it’s the signature gin fizz that mesmerizes connoisseurs and Instagrammers alike.
Ruth Tobias
Also featured in
Every Important Denver Cocktail Bar, Mapped
Oct 12, 2015
Every Important Denver Cocktail Bar, Mapped
The Cocktail Heatmap: Where to Drink Now, May 2016
Aug 19, 2015
The Cocktail Heatmap: Where to Drink Now, May 2016
Retrograde
Link
Behind the door of what appears to be the walk-in freezer of Uptown ice cream parlor Frozen Matter awaits one of Denver’s coolest cocktail lounges, pun intended. That glowing backbar and the B movies screening on one wall are all part of the sci-fi vibe that the bartenders enhance by naming their out-there drinks after cult flicks: Take, for example, the Fungicide — a blend of preserved plum–infused pisco, báhn mì shrub, honey, saline, lime, and egg white — or Lost Skeleton of Cadavra, a crushable concoction of Ecuadorian chawar blanco, fermented lemonade, charred strawberry–sesame preserves, and Greek yogurt.
Ruth Tobias
Also featured in
Dining Guide to Denver’s Uptown Neighborhood
Apr 10, 2017
Dining Guide to Denver’s Uptown Neighborhood
Urban Cowboy Public House
Link
Occupying the carriage house of the George Schleier Mansion, built in the 1880s, this nifty newcomer to Uptown plays the part of a Wild West-era saloon with gusto while whipping up thoroughly modern cocktails like the Rattlesnake Jake with rye, absinthe, amaretto, cacao, lemon, and egg white — which the lively and jam-packed crowd happily pairs with pizzas from Little Johnny B’s.
Ben Fitchett
Also featured in
The Cocktail Heatmap: The Best Places to Drink in Denver This Summer
Jun 18
The Cocktail Heatmap: The Best Places to Drink in Denver This Summer
Middleman
Link
Easygoing atmosphere sets the home-away-from-home tone at this East Colfax favorite, but its undercurrent of eccentricity keeps regulars on their toes. That goes for both drinks like the My Scoville Romance — featuring chile-infused mezcal, activated charcoal, and tamarind-glitter simple — and the food courtesy of Misfit Snackbar, which might serve up Jamaican-inspired curried beef ravioli with jerk-seasoned marinara one day, fried bologna sandwiches with fried-egg aioli and bread-and-butter relish the next.
Ryan Dearth
Also featured in
15 Takeout and Delivery Options in Denver to Rescue You on Lazy No-Cooking Nights
Jan 4, 2021
15 Takeout and Delivery Options in Denver to Rescue You on Lazy No-Cooking Nights
17 Homegrown Burgers to Try in Denver
Oct 15, 2020
17 Homegrown Burgers to Try in Denver
PS Lounge
Link
In the treasure trove of old dive bars that is East Colfax, the PS Lounge is a major gem — kitsch-filled, cash-only, and totally laid-back. Established by Pete Siahamis 40-plus years ago, it’s beloved for bestowing free Alabama Slammers on every patron who enters along with roses for the ladies. A jukebox and a pool table seal the deal.
Mile High Happy Hour
ESP
Link
Inspired by Japan’s jazz kissa, this ultra-chill listening bar (full name: ESP HiFi) is a whole vibe built around a remarkably eclectic record collection, a stellar sound system, and an equally well designed beverage list, ranging from cocktails like the Sun Song — a highball with mezcal, cantaloupe, cucumber, and lime — to geeky wines such as skin-contact Chasselas from Chile and Mission rosé from Baja, Mexico. Grown-up nibbles, including charcuterie boards and burrata with white balsamic, honey, dates, and pistachios, boost the mood.
Ruth Tobias
Adrift
Link
Bamboo walls and colored lights strung up in fishing nets, totem carvings and murals of seaside villages, hanging boats and blowfish sculptures: This South Broadway tiki bar whisks its guests off to a tropical paradise the instant they set foot inside — and it keeps them there with a roster of cocktails served in coconuts or flaming punchbowls or funky mugs. Beyond classics like Zombies and Singapore Slings, seasonal originals warrant a spin — take the Monkey’s Fist with caçhaca, Oloroso Sherry, banana, cacao nib, coconut, chicory root, and coffee — alongside island-inflected snacks such as Spam musubi and poke nachos.
Harrison Warters Photography
Also featured in
The Best Places to Dine Outdoors in Denver
Jun 11, 2024
The Best Places to Dine Outdoors in Denver
16 Cozy, Warm Spaces to Dine Outdoors in Denver This Winter
Dec 22, 2021
16 Cozy, Warm Spaces to Dine Outdoors in Denver This Winter
Trashhawk Tavern Denver
Link
Malört, Montucky, and Malibu, oh my. This South Broadway haunt is relatively new, but it plays the part of a creaky, cranky old dive with relish, pouring “trash drinks” like the Spaghetts — a bottle of Miller High Life with a shot of Campari or Aperol and a squeeze of lemon — for locals who linger for hours, catching the game, checking out the occasional food truck in front, making buddies of strangers, and just generally showing how life is done.
The Delorean
Link
What a blast from the past. Between the lava lamps and vintage arcade games, the Wham! and Siouxsie and the Banshees memorabilia, and the old videos screening on mounted TVs (Prince! New Order! Bon Jovi!), it’s easy to forget what decade it is inside this 1980s-themed bar. Given the lack of windows, it’s also easy to forget what time it is — which means that hours spent over cocktails in He Man- or Garbage Pail Kid–shaped tiki mugs and TV dinner–inspired snacks like pizza rolls can go by in the blink of an eye.
Ruth Tobias
Also featured in
The Cocktail Heatmap: The Best Places to Drink in Denver This Summer
Jun 18
The Cocktail Heatmap: The Best Places to Drink in Denver This Summer
Piper Inn
Link
This decades-old, neon-splashed biker bar has it all: multiple television sets, a pool table, a jukebox, and a menu that features not only wings and burgers but old-school Chinese food like egg rolls and orange chicken, of all things.
Ruth Tobias
Also featured in
The Ultimate Guide to Late-Night Dining in Denver
Feb 21, 2023
The Ultimate Guide to Late-Night Dining in Denver
20 Denver Restaurants That Have Stood the Test of Time
Feb 24, 2022
20 Denver Restaurants That Have Stood the Test of Time
