This article is part of our Best Bars 2015 feature. Find the official 5280 list of the city’s best watering holes, trending cocktail ingredients, essays on the makings of a good bar, drinking alone, and more at 5280.com/bestbars2015.


In our industry of deadlines, deadlines, and more deadlines, there are very few times when an editor can count on staffers asking to take on even more work. Our semi-annual “Best Bars” package is one of those notable exceptions—and one for which I’m eternally grateful. In a city with what seems like a new bar popping up every week, an editor (and her liver) can use all the help she can get.

Of course, our research doesn’t start the day we decide to write the story: It’s a year-round, staff-wide effort that regularly leaves us with more terrific options than we have room to fit in our pages. We consider that a good problem to have, and one that’s indicative of the strides Denver’s drinking scene has made over the past several years. In this package, we present 15 places to get a taste of the progress we’ve made.

Now, we want to hear from you, our readers. Which of your favorite places to imbibe did we miss—and which on our list could you do without? Let us know in the comments below.

Follow senior editor Kasey Cordell on Twitter @KaseyCordell.

Kasey Cordell
Kasey Cordell
Kasey Cordell is the former Editorial Projects Director for 5280.