Blogs

After two months of moving - and twelve- to fifteen-hour work days - Jess Graber, Jake Norris and the rest of the Stranahan's Colorado Whiskey crew are just about up and running in their new digs inside the former Heavenly Daze Brewery at 200 South Kalamath Street.

And they've leased out the restaurant space on the ground floor of the building to Eric Warner, former president of the Flying Dog Brewery and current owner of the Barking Goat Tavern, which opened at 363 Village Square Lane in Castle Rock in March.

Warner couldn't be reached to comment on what he plans to open inside the Stranahan's building -- or when he plans to open it -- but we'll update you once we find out.

Stranahan's bought the unusual, and long-vacant 60,000-square-foot building on May 6 for $3.05 million. Eventually, the micro-distillery plans to triple its production from six barrels of whiskey a day to eighteen and expand its distribution channels to be able to sell it all, says Graber, the owner and co-founder of Stranahan's, which had been at 2405 Blake Street since 2004.

A new bar in town stocks not just quality booze, but a handy library of reference volumes to settle bets.

Except this one: Bet you can't guess which bar this is....

Tonight, from 6 to 7:30 p.m.,Morton's in the Denver Tech Center, 8480 East Belleview Avenue, is uncorking five different Argentinian Malbec wines for oenophiles willing to fork over $45 for plenty of sips, plus hors d'oeuvres, including cheeses, sliced tenderloin with chimichurri sauce, broiled sea scallops and miniature hot chocolate cakes. Reservations can be made by calling 303-825-3353.

On Saturday, June 27, Balistreri Vineyards, 1947 East 66th Avenue, and Dream Italia, are hosting grape gurus, movie buffs and foodniks for a private screening of the superb cult classic Italian flick Cinema Paradiso. But the film, which will be shown on a big screen, won't come with the comforts of reclining armchairs, cup holders, Diet Coke or buckets of Jimmy crap corn.

No, this is a film event under a tent, complete with local wines poured straight from the vineyard and food that goes way beyond Junior Mints and Red Vines. Instead, you can sink your teeth into wood-fired pizzas, antipasti, frou-frou popcorn (lemon-pepper, truffled and with Parmesan) and gelato made with Balistreri wines. Wine time begins at 7:30, and the movie starts at 9 p.m. Tickets are $35 and include one glass of wine (there's a cash bar if you want more), the film and enough sustenance to keep you satiated through the subtitles. For more info and to purchase tickets, call 303-287-5156.

It was just a matter of time before the Ritz-Carlton, Denver's swankiest slumbering pad at 1881 Curtis Street, realized that you're only as good as your happy hour, which has never been one of the Ritz's gazillion amenities - until now, anyway. Now, if you're a guest at the hotel, a guy wandering the street, a food writer looking for lubrication or just a nice girl looking for a rich tourist, you can partake in happiness at the Ritz, which has just rolled out a happy hour every Thursday and Friday, from 5 to 8 p.m., on the hotel's swanky outdoor plaza.

The prices are still a bit palatial if you're scratching for happy hours that don't require much more than your chair change, but with $5 wines, $4 imported and specialty beers and $3 domestic beers, it's a good start. And there's food specials, too: Chips and guacamole go for $3.50; mini bacon cheeseburgers, $2; chicken wings, $8; and the decidedly un-Ritz-Carlton-like jalapeno poppers, $8. For more info, call 303-312-3800.

It's not too late to make reservations for the single malt scotch tasting at the Wynkoop Brewing Company, 1634 18th Street, slated for Thursday, June 25 at 6:30 p.m. But if you want to sample the slew of Britain's best single malts -- MaCallan, Famous Grouse and Highland Park Scotch, plus a very rare Tamdhu, which isn't commercially available in the U.S. as a single malt -- then you need to make your reservation today.

The tasting, which also includes a Scottish-themed spread (cock-a-leekie soup and spring lamb sirloin with rumbledethumps, for example), is $35 per person, plus tax and tip. Call 303-297-9999 to save your seat and 333-333-3333 to book the cab.

colfaxavenue.com

She's #1: Anika Zappe

Members of the Colorado Bartenders Guild took first, second and third at the Bombay Sapphire regional cocktail competition on Tuesday night.

Coming in third, Mike Henderson of TAG; second, Sean Kenyon of Steuben's and Vesta Dipping Grill.

And in first place? Anika Zappe, the musician/mixologist at Root Down.

Zappe won a trip to Vegas to compete in the national contest, as well as a 37" flatscreen TV. And Kenyon won a trip to Vegas to watch her compete.

"All in all an impressive outing and a great time," he reports.

A Flickr photo.

I know you've been worried. Or worried-ish. But rest assured that, unlike their peers up at Molson Coors in Canada, the approximately 2,800 employees at MillerCoors in Golden will continue to get their 864 free beers a year ... for now.

Last week, I read that Molson Coors -- the parent company of MillerCoors, whose biggest brewery is in Golden -- plans to cut back on the amount of free beer it gives employees and retirees. According to the Toronto Star, Molson retirees currently get 864 free beers a year. In five years, that number will dwindle to zero. Meanwhile, employees' allotment of free beer will shrink from 864 to 624.

Would the same fate befall the beer conglomerate's employees in Golden, where Coors got its start more than a century ago? I called the Coors hotline to find out. But before I could ask anyone anything, I had to verify my age.

Twins Will and Dave Elger, who were born in Mexico but are very much Denverites, worked in the tequila business for a decade before creating their own five years ago: Muchote Tequila. Nancy Levine first caught up with it last September at Lime XS, where she discovered it made a good mango margarita.

"Muchote is an artisan tequila, and making tequila is an art," says Will.

But the bottle should not be part of that art, as it is with so-called super-premium tequilas that retail for $70 to $80, as opposed to Muchote's suggested $29.99. "What they are really paying for is fancy bottles and huge marketing campaigns," says Dave. "Our goal is to get back to the basics, and recreate the tequilas we remember growing up with, authentic quality at an affordable price."

Already available in Colorado, Arizona, New Mexica and Nevada, Muchote Reposado just moved into California, where it's distributed by Western States Beverages. And sometime soon, the brothers promise, a Blanco and an Anejo will also join the lineup.