“Adam Clayton on bass guitar!”

Turning to the rear of the stage: “Larry Mullen Jr. on the drums!”

“And,” he said just as the skull-capped guitarist to his right punctuated a groove-ridden “Mysterious Ways” with a pealing solo, “this is the Edge!”

But the man on the mic wasn’t Bono — and the four-piece band onstage that languid June weeknight at Four Mile Historic Park wasn’t the stadium-filling U2.

Instead, Nikki Zamora commanded a small stage in the tree-shaded park along Cherry Creek, fronting Denver’s Bullet the Blue Sky, which promises “the ultimate U2 experience.”

“We’re going to do one more, and then a short intermission,” Zamora told the cheering crowd arrayed in lawn chairs and on blankets, before briefly slipping out of rock-star character, “so you can get some fresh churros over there.”

Cover bands and, increasingly, artist-specific tribute acts like Bullet the Blue Sky are a popular fixture in Colorado’s expansive live-music constellation, offering concertgoers a chance to more easily experience some of their favorite songs, old and new.

Traditional cover bands, with deep and varied repertoires, and often encountered by chance in bars or at weekend civic festivals, can be great entrées to the live-music experience for the novice concertgoer or casual fan. And tribute acts make the music of iconic artists — including bands that can no longer play — more accessible and more affordable.

For Denver’s long-running That Eighties Band, it’s all about creating a party and bringing people together for a great time, said singer and bassist Travis LeRoy.

“The range of people that come see us is really big,” he said, “but our core is people that grew up in the ’80s and love that music. For them, the nostalgia is the big draw, and that’s the feedback we get. They say, ‘It was just like when I was back in high school.’ ”

Jill Preston, marketing director at Left Hand Brewing Co. in Longmont, which stages an annual battle of the tribute bands called Leftapalooza, described the appeal even more succinctly: “People just love to sing along to songs they know from different eras.”

Denver, like any healthy music scene, is home to myriad cover bands and solo artists performing well-loved material. But there are a number of higher-profile acts on the circuit that have become mainstays at outdoor music series, special events and summer festivals, or through their own headlining shows.

They include That Eighties Band and another decade-themed act, Nothing But Nineties, plus others that mix originals with their covers, such as long-running funk showband Funkiphino, country singer Buckstein and Hazel Miller & The Collective, the multi-genre group led by the famed local singer and Colorado Music Hall of Fame inductee.

Some take it a step further. The Denver-based Cecelia Band, for example, mixes hard-rock covers with new songs in the style of ’80s hair metal. “I’ve written my music to emulate the genre because I love it so much,” bandleader Cecelia Casso said in an email.

LeRoy started That Eighties Band more than 20 years ago, after he said he found some modest success as an original artist, but eventually tired of fighting industry headwinds. “I just wanted to start a band that performs some of my favorite songs,” he said.

The result has grown into a five-piece, eclectic combo that celebrates the music of the 1980s with a 200-song repertoire that includes classics by chart mainstays Journey, Prince, Bon Jovi and Def Leppard, plus a variety of well-worn one-hit wonders.

“If we play ‘Jessie’s Girl’ by Rick Springfield anywhere in the country in front of any audience, it’s going to get a great reaction,” LeRoy said.

Business has never been better for That Eighties Band, he said: The band’s crowds are bigger than ever and the group has never had more offers to play.

“We’re just kind of trying to enjoy this, because this business can be really tough and there’s no guarantees, and talent doesn’t necessarily mean success,” LeRoy said. “So if you have something that’s working, you’re just really fortunate.”

Broadening musical tastes

The rising popularity of cover bands and tribute acts in Colorado, and elsewhere, can perhaps be credited to a broadening of younger people’s tastes — and a corresponding expansion in audience reach for some of these acts rooted in the music of decades past.

TikTok and streaming services have firmly supplanted radio as the prime avenue for music discovery, and algorithms help make older artists and even entire genres new again, slotting retro sounds alongside current hitmakers.

David Weingarden, vice president of concerts and events at Boulder’s Z2 Entertainment, which books the Fox and Boulder theaters, as well as the Aggie Theatre in Fort Collins, said he finds younger people today to have a good breadth of musical knowledge.

“A few years ago, maybe five or 10 years ago, young folks in college and high school were just EDM, EDM, EDM,” he said of the ubiquity of electronic dance music. “But now we’re starting to see college kids form bands again and indie rock and psych rock and shoegazey stuff… is coming back, and they’re probably listening to what their parents were listening to, or thinking about what they were listening to when they were growing up in the early 2000s.”

Seth Brink, who performs as the late Adam Yauch — aka MCA — in the Colorado-based Beastie Boys tribute act Sabotage, said his seven-piece live band draws fans looking to relive the experience of seeing the now-defunct group in concert back in the 1990s or early 2000s, as well as younger listeners who never had the chance.

Local tribute acts run the gamut, performing the music of bands that are long out of commission to those that still sporadically reunite or simply never left — but now are so big that tickets can cost hundreds of dollars to see them in a cavernous stadium.

At Leftapalooza last month, Sabotage played alongside Colorado-based acts Live Wire, a tribute to AC/DC (still occasionally touring); Guerilla Radio, which performs as Rage Against the Machine (that band’s last reunion fell apart in 2022); and ColdReplay, which paid homage to Coldplay four days after the real deal played Empower Field at Mile High.

Other popular locally based tribute acts include Jagged: The Music of Alanis, performing the songs of Alanis Morissette; Just a Girl, a No Doubt tribute; American Idiot, a Green Day cover band; and Chili Powder, a Red Hot Chili Peppers tribute.

“Since MCA is dead, they’re never going to tour again, they can never play again,” Brink said of channeling the Beasties onstage. “So to me that makes sense, to do a tribute when you can never see the band again, to keep that alive… (but) even some of the tributes to bands that are still touring seem to get pretty good turnouts.”

When the original’s still out there

Nowhere is that more evident than in the universe surrounding the Grateful Dead, which spawned tribute acts — including Colorado’s own Shakedown Street — even before Jerry Garcia’s death ended the original band’s run in 1995.

Since then, tributes have proliferated across the country, including hard-touring standouts like Dark Star Orchestra, which recreates specific Dead performances. These bands have continued even as the surviving members of the Dead regrouped in a series of different incarnations, most recently as Dead & Company, now down to two original members — Bob Weir and Mickey Hart — alongside guitarist John Mayer and other musicians.

“These bands like Dark Star and Shakedown Street are a really awesome representation of what the Grateful Dead did, and the fans still want to listen to that music and, I think, not necessarily have to pay the prices that are at the Sphere,” said Z2’s Weingarden, referring to the Las Vegas venue where Dead & Company recently played a residency.

The Fox Theatre, which has long hosted bigger names like Neil Diamond homage Super Diamond, booked Colorado’s Magic Beans, performing a Ween tribute, and Denver-based Steely Dead, which plays — you guessed it — the music of Steely Dan and the Grateful Dead, to headline after-shows during Phish’s Folsom Field dates earlier this month. (Meanwhile, the nearby Boulder Theater hosted locals The Motet performing Jamiroquai and Pink Talking Fish mashing up the catalogs of Pink Floyd, Talking Heads and Phish.)

Seeing such acts at a smaller venue like the Fox “is just a way of listening to that music on a really great sound system and having a really great time with your friends,” Weingarden said.

For Amanda Vonholtum, who performs as Madonna in the musical tribute Amanda V’s Material Girl, ensuring a great time isn’t just about what’s happening onstage.

She and her dancers put on a fully choreographed show, and help get the audience involved, too — teaching them to vogue during the song named after the highly stylized dance.

“It’s really interactive,” she said, “and that’s kind of what some of the tribute scene and cover band scene was missing, I thought.”

Vonholtum is a lifelong fan of Madonna, experiencing, as a preteen, the singer’s world-conquering ’80s and, following her stylistic and musical swerves through subsequent decades. The Colorado singer, who serves in the Air Force when she’s not on stage, first took on the Material Girl persona in 2018 and worked on and expanded her show even as the pandemic disrupted live entertainment.

“She’s just one of those artists that never goes out of style,” Vonholtum said of the fans who come to her shows. “It’s generationally handed down from parents to their children.”

And like those Dead tributes that play even as a version of the original still exists, Vonholtum’s Material Girl show exists in a world still inhabited by its inspiration. In fact, Madonna played Denver last year, and Vonholtum finally got to see her idol live.

“I thought, man, I wouldn’t be a true tribute artist if I didn’t go see my person,” she said.

Nothing but a good time

At Four Mile Historic Park last month, Blake Denney stood in the back, behind the picnicking crowd, surveying the scene before the faux U2 took the stage.

He’d never seen Bullet the Blue Sky before, and hadn’t been to a proper U2 show since the Vertigo Tour. For the band’s Colorado fans, a number of whom were at this creekside park, it’s been a long drought — U2 last performed here a decade ago.

“For 20 years, U2 was my favorite band,” Denney said. “I haven’t really been into them for the last couple decades, but I checked these guys out online and they sounded really good.”

Denney found a spot at a picnic table on the periphery of the crowd, and the band soon took the stage to “Elevation” before running through “Beautiful Day” and “I Will Follow,” sounding impressively like the Irish foursome — thanks, in particular, to Zamora’s arching vocals and Ted Gravlin’s guitar mimickry.

By the time the band turned to the soulful “Angel of Harlem,” Denney was visibly tapping his foot to the beat. Surely nobody here expected this to be even better than the real thing, but fans are singing along, shouting out obscure requests (“Play ‘Wire!’ “) and happily dancing in front of the covered stage.

Denney walked past a short while later. His verdict? “It’s a good time, yeah.”

Where to see them

Here’s where you can next see some of the Colorado-based cover bands and tribute acts that are mentioned in this story:

Amanda V’s Material Girl: Madonna tribute act, Aug. 15, Nissi’s, 1455 Coal Creek Drive, Lafayette. amandavsmaterialgirl.com.

Buckstein: Country cover artist, with some originals, Aug. 2, Orchard Summer Concert Series, 14697 Delaware St., Westminster. bucksteinmusic.com.

Bullet the Blue Sky: U2 tribute act, Aug. 2, Dirty Dogs Roadhouse, 17999 W. Colfax Ave., Golden. bulletthebluesky.com.

Guerllia Radio: Rage Against the Machine tribute act, Aug. 1, Booyah ’90s with Pearl Jam tribute act Ten and Cranberries tribute act Linger, Nissi’s, 1455 Coal Creek Drive, Lafayette. facebook.com/GuerrillaRadioBand.

Hazel Miller & The Collective: R&B and blues covers, with some originals, Aug. 1, Friday Night Jazz, Spangalang Brewery,  2736 Welton St., Denver. hazelmiller.biz.

Nothing But Nineties: ’90s-themed cover band, Aug. 2, Nissi’s, 1455 Coal Creek Drive, Lafayette. nothingbutninetiesband.com.

Steely Dead: Steely Dan and Grateful Dead tribute act, Aug. 16, Wibby Brewing, 209 Emery St., Longmont. steelydead.com.

That Eighties Band: ’80s-themed cover band, Aug. 1, Pindustry, 7939 E. Arapahoe Road, Englewood. eightiesband.net.

Source: Bands’ websites and social media

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“This was an incredibly difficult decision to make, but we believe the time has come,” according to a statement credited to owners Randy Minten and Ken Maglasang. “Creating and running Denver Sweet has been a dream come true for us — and saying goodbye is heartbreaking.”

The bar at 776 Lincoln St., just south of downtown Denver, will be closing its doors for good on Sunday, July 27.

As one of the city’s only dedicated hangouts appealing to the subset of LGBTQ people who identify as bears — or larger, hirsute and more overtly masculine gay and bisexual men — the loss of Denver Sweet will further shave down the city’s LGBTQ cultural options.

That’s a shame, the owners said, especially as Denver Sweet, with its honey paw logo, was meant as a welcoming space not only for bears but all LGBTQ people. They built a strong and supportive community, but like many small businesses, they have faced existential obstacles, they said.

“Business has not returned to pre-pandemic levels, and over the last two years, we’ve seen a significant decline in traffic,” they continued. “Changing customer habits, tough economic conditions, and increased operational costs have made it increasingly difficult to sustain the business.”

One of the biggest injuries to Denver Sweet’s bottom line has been the rising cost of labor, owners said, “particularly from living wage laws in both Colorado and Denver. We’ve done everything we could to push forward — including personally funding operations — but the current climate simply isn’t viable for us anymore.”

Before Denver Sweet, the long, narrow bar hosted the Funky Buddha dance club. It’s known for its second-story rooftop space and DJ nights, but Denver Sweet also featured drag-queen variety shows, pool tables and darts, sports broadcasts on 20 TVs, upscale bar fare and boozy slushies, game and trivia nights, and brunches.

The bar won praise and awards from Colorado’s Out Front Magazine and, in April, the Best Queer Bar award from the Colorado DIVAs Awards.

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Cap City Tavern, which has operated at 1247 Bannock St. in the Golden Triangle for more than 18 years, said on social media earlier this week that it will close its doors for good on Sunday, July 27. Cap City is just a block from City Hall and steps away from the Denver Art Museum.

Related: Five years after the pandemic, Colorado’s restaurant industry isn’t the same

“We still have 7 million square feet of vacant office space in downtown, which means my wife Courtney and I discovered one of our local favorites, Cap City, will be closing after 20 years because still not enough of their customers have returned post-Covid, and that’s not good enough,” Johnston said Monday night in his prepared remarks for the address.

Johnston’s administration has been criticized repeatedly by businesses all over the city for taking a lackadaisical approach toward addressing the problems that restaurants and bars are facing, including rising costs, a comparatively high minimum wage, crime, homelessness and street and construction projects like those on East Colfax Avenue and 16th Street.

On top of that, he has been knocked for the slow pace of permit approvals, high fees and other regulatory hurdles that make an already tough business environment even worse.

Cap City’s owners are no exception. “The increase in minimum wage, cost of food, and the taxes and fees that the city of Denver is imposing on restaurants has become too much to bear,” the owners, the McTaggart family, wrote on Facebook on July 19. “Sadly, we are not alone, as the community of independently owned restaurants in Denver is literally going extinct.”

In February, 14 well-known restaurateurs signed a letter to the mayor, saying that the city was “completely falling apart,” and adding that conditions had worsened since he took office. “How many more restaurants and small businesses need to close before your quota alarm is triggered,” they asked. Since then, Johnston has talked with several restaurant owners and even guest bartended at a few in an effort to show his support. The city is also planning to hire a contractor to work with bars and restaurants and to listen to concerns about city processes.

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The bar was airing the season finale of “Love Island USA,” a reality dating show in which attractive Americans spend the summer sequestered in a lavish villa in Fiji swapping spit in hopes of finding a life partner. Fans play an essential role in the show’s outcome by voting for their favorite couples throughout the season. The most popular duo wins a hefty $100,000 prize.

Those inside Tom’s Watch Bar held their breath for a moment of anticipation before erupting with cheers, as — spoiler alert — “Love Island” participants Amaya Espinal and Bryan Arenales were crowned the winners.

“There might have been louder cheers in there when they picked the winners than when Aaron Gordon hit the last-second three-pointer to win a game, literally,” said Tom’s Watch Bar operating partner Dan Stillman, comparing the moment to a Nuggets highlight.

Reality television isn’t something you often see playing in a bar, but as fervor around “Love Island USA” swept the nation this summer, establishments that traditionally broadcast sports seized an opportunity to cash in. By streaming episodes live, just like a game, they not only boosted bottom lines during the otherwise slow off-season but also potentially opened these spaces up to new demographics who are just as passionate as sports fans.

“It was really great to see so many new faces,” said Lyndsey Spano, owner of DNVR Bar, 2239 E. Colfax Ave., which also showed the finale Sunday. “Everybody was really excited, they loved the atmosphere. They loved how many TVs we have.”

Spano admittedly had never seen “Love Island,” which has franchises in the U.S., the UK and Australia. But her social media feed was filled with other bars hosting big crowds for watch parties. She decided to poll her audiences on Facebook and Instagram to see if they’d join a similar event. The answer was “overwhelmingly yes.”

DNVR Bar’s finale watch party packed the house, filling up to its roughly 152-person capacity – a welcome sight in the absence of the football, hockey and basketball seasons.

“We bleed money in the summer,” Spano said. “So it was incredible to have that, and it really helps the bottom line tremendously.”

The bar crowds last Sunday were notably different than a normal game day. Fans at DNVR Bar swapped football jerseys and hockey sweaters for dressier clothing, Spano said. Where Tom’s Watch Bar usually attracts predominantly men for sports, Stillman said it was predominantly women who showed up for the “Love Island” finale.

Denver season of “Love is Blind” gets an official premiere date

The vibe, however, was very familiar.

“It was just like a Broncos, Nuggets, Avs game where, you know, when you hit a goal, people are clapping, people are cheering,” Spano said. “When couples would kiss, when they would say something unexpected, or even if it was a cheesy line, it was lots of laughter, lots of clapping, lots of hollering.”

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In a way, it makes sense that this type of programming would fit aptly into a sports bar, where the atmosphere encourages crowd participation and collective celebration. With abundant TVs – DNVR Bar, for example, has 33 of them – every seat has a good line of sight and the sound systems ensure everyone can keep up with the play-by-play. Or in this case, the famous one-liners from season winner Amaya Papaya, as she is affectionately known.

Still, there are unique aspects about “Love Island” that make it especially great for viewing parties. Unlike most dating competitions, where the contestants are in control of who stays and who goes home, “Love Island” puts those decisions in the hands of viewers. The show incentivizes fans to watch live by having them vote for their favorite couples in real time. Voting windows are only open for a few hours after certain episodes and the couples that receive the least amount of votes typically end up dumped from the island.

As of July 8, more than 5.5 million people had downloaded the Love Island USA app, according to the show’s network Peacock. Fans' voices are not only heard through their votes. Backlash on social media directly influenced producers’ decision to remove a cast member this season.

The frequency and cadence of “Love Island” also contribute to the obsession. It airs six days per week as it’s being filmed, effectively combining elements of live streaming models popularized by platforms like Twitch with the ability to binge-watch if you miss just a couple days. One season usually consists of more than 30 individual, hour-long episodes, so fans get super invested in certain characters.

All that to say, it’s unclear if watch parties for other reality shows will be as successful. Still, Spano and Stillman plan to test it out.

DNVR Bar has "almost every streaming service," so Spano encouraged fans to request what they'd like to see. Once the fall hits, coordinating reality TV alongside sports games could prove tricky, she said, but DNVR Bar has two distinct areas with separate sound systems, so it's not out of the question. That's potentially good news for fans of "Love Is Blind," which will air its Denver-based season later this year.

The “Love Island” finale proved to be the second-busiest two-hour stretch in the last year at Tom’s Watch Bar, behind the Rockies’ opening day, Stillman said. He is now considering showing the “Love Island USA” reunion, scheduled for Aug. 25. Both he and Spano mentioned possibly hosting viewing parties for “Bachelor in Paradise,” which airs new episodes on Mondays throughout the summer.

“We need to think outside the box as a brand,” Stillman said. “We are a watch bar and these are watch parties. This is something that will open us up to more possibilities.”

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“What are the colors of the Ethiopian flag?”

“When did Kenya gain its independence?”

Once you answer those questions, come in the door.

That’s the experience Jeff Sankeu is creating with Trybal, the African-themed speakeasy he is bringing to 1670 Champa St. in downtown Denver later this month.

The software developer created a special app for entry. Read a sentence, answer the multiple choice quiz correctly, and you’ll be let into a dimly lit, 1,900-square-foot space featuring art, decor, drinks and meals from the continent.

“Africa has been so misrepresented for so long,” the Cameroonian native said. “I never felt like there was a temple, like a physical place, where people could really soak in that culture, and really take the time to appreciate it.”

Trybal will serve cocktails and a menu featuring dishes and ingredients from several different countries. Guava, bissap and baobab juices will be available alongside plates of jollof rice, suya and other small bites.

Sankeu also wants to have more expansive, filling options available for delivery through DoorDash and Uber Eats.

“People could come in here one day and eat some food from South Africa, and then the next eat a meal from Ethiopia,” he said. “We’re keeping the knowledge going as you sit there.”

Sankeu, 33, immigrated to the United States in 2008 at age 16 and studied computer science at the University of Oklahoma. He moved to Colorado in 2013, and has since founded several startups as a software engineer.

The seeds for Trybal were planted about four years ago, when, alongside a friend, he started hosting pop-up parties featuring only Afrobeats music. Scatta Afrobeats, as the business is called, started in Denver but quickly grew to Austin, Texas; Washington, D.C.; and Miami, Florida, among other cities. Sankeu still hosts two events in Denver each month, rotating between venues including Orchid and Dahlia.

But with $200,000 put into the build-out for Trybal, Sankeu is ready to have a more permanent home.

“I could have found a space maybe in Aurora or somewhere else that might be a little bit cheaper, but it wasn’t just about that. People drive to downtown Denver to go to high-end spaces,” Sankeu said. “I want people to come to Trybal for a high-end African experience.”

Sankeu considers the 1,900-square-foot space, for which he signed a five-year lease in January, an educational haven as well. He said he’s paying a premium to import handmade African art to display, and plans to eventually sell pieces to customers.

“If (I’m) able to buy something from them for $100, $150, think about how much I could help (an artist’s) family,” Sankeu said. “It’s not just me taking their work, but it’s a way of giving back and helping them.”

The rest of Trybal’s interior is also an “homage to Africa,” as a mural depicting an African woman and a lion amid scenes of the savanna explicitly states. Wood and plants are scattered about the space. Some of the dishware, like handmade cups imitating elephant tusks, is also imported from Africa.

“Everything in here, if you really pay attention, is going to have you wonder and want to learn more about our culture,” Sankeu said.

There’s no dance floor, although Sankeu is finishing up building a stage for occasional performances and DJs. He wants to have an environment centered around conversation and appreciation for African culture rather than just another place to drink.

That’s the main reason Trybal will close at midnight – to separate his speakeasy from clubs and other nightlife in Denver.

“Picture a bar in the middle of a jungle and bring luxury to the jungle and see what you come up with,” he said of the design process. “Africa is very colorful, so you get a lot of those colors. But you also get some of the standard luxury like gold and some of those accent pieces.”

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El Piñon, named after the Spanish word for “pine nut,” will be open to the public and guests at the motel, located on 5500 E. Colfax Ave. in Denver. The cocktail bar will occupy the motel’s former check-in area, said Weston Scott, the bar operator.

La Vista was one of dozens of hotels built along Colfax from the 1930s through the 1960s, when the 27-mile boulevard — also a highway called U.S. 40 — was the gateway for tourists heading to the mountains. Many have distinctive mid-century designs and neon signs that at one time boasted new amenities like color TV, carports and refrigerators. Eventually, I-70 made U.S. 40 redundant, and the hotels fell into disrepair, were abandoned or became blighted.

Developer Nathan Beal purchased the La Vista in 2022 and began renovations last year in anticipation of a 2025 opening. He tapped Scott, a lifelong Denverite who opened Ephemeral Rotating Taproom in another historic building three years ago, to run the beverage service. Ephemeral, at 2301 E. 28th Ave., occupies the former Ben’s Market, a convenience store that was started in the 1940s by a Japanese family released from the World War II-era Japanese internment facility known as Camp Amache, in the town of Granada.

“Our vision for La Vista Motel is to celebrate the spirit of 1960s Colfax, and El Piñon helps bring that idea to life,” Beal said in a statement. “We want this to be both an amenity for guests and a neighborhood bar, coffee shop, and community meeting place.”

El Piñon’s baristas will use coffee from Denver-based roasters Servants Coffee for morning espressos and iced coffees. The cocktail bar will be open in the evenings.

“I hope it just feels like a spot the neighborhood wants to hang out in,” Scott said.

The motel bar could open as soon as September, Scott said.

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The International Whisky Competition, founded in 2010, announced the winners of its annual contest in late June and local distillers made an impressive showing while also keeping step with some of the country’s most notable whiskey producers.

Boulder’s Hogback Distillery won the third best American whiskey overall for its Peat Smoked Single Malt, coming in behind recipes from A. Smith Bowman Distillery and Jack Daniel’s, which placed first and second, respectively.

That specific Hogback spirit also earned a gold medal in the American single malt category, which Colorado makers swept. The silver went to the eponymous flagship single malt from Root Shoot Whiskey in Loveland and bronze went to Diamond Peak from Denver’s Stranahan’s distillery.

Stanahan’s stood out for its aged blends, too, taking home gold and bronze in the “best single malt 10 year and older” category. The winning recipes were the Mountain Angel 10 Year, which placed first, and the Mountain Angel 12 Year, which placed third.

Fort Collins-based NOCO Distillery also made an impressive showing, racking up three gold medals in the “best American small-batch bourbon,” “best American rye whiskey,” and “best American cask finish” categories. The Roper Reserve, from Larado Whiskey in Windsor, nabbed silver in the rye category, as well.

Lastly, the International Whisky Competition ranked the best Colorado spirits entered in 2025 based on their individual scores. Unsurprisingly, Hogback Distillery’s Peat Smoked Single Malt garnered gold, followed by NOCO Distillery’s RYE Whiskey, and Larado Whiskey’s Larado Reserve.

These recent accolades build on a stash that Colorado distilleries have amassed this year from the London Spirits Competition and the American Distilling Institute’s International Spirits Competition.

Thirsty for more? See the full list of International Whisky Competition winners here.

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Rich Granville, manager and operator of what locals affectionately call Bar Bar, said he was only a couple of weeks away from reopening the bar for the first time since the June 24, 2024, fire. He just received his electric meter release permit from the city last week, allowing Xcel Energy to bring juice back to the building at 2060 Champa St.

Now, he’ll have to reset and give it another go — if he can.

“Anything I can do to preserve it — if there’s a way to move forward — I will,” said Granville, 39. “As a Denver dive staple, it holds a place in a lot of people’s hearts — both in historic relevance and in the music community.”

In a Denver Post article published 20 years ago, the 80-year-old Carioca Cafe was described as “no cafe.”

“This is a watering hole,” the story said.

“Although the area around it is made up of mostly upscale lofts, the Carioca is drenched with a working-class, beer-stained hipster vibe,” the newspaper reported. “The booths are smoothed and used, and the mural on the wall is faded.”

Granville first stepped into the bar about seven years ago as a trombone player in the now-defunct band People Corrupting People. He was hooked. Now frontman for the band Poison Politix, Granville still plays at the Carioca Cafe — or did until the fire a year ago.

Whether he can get to the cusp of another reopening of Bar Bar after coming so close this month will depend on the overall integrity of the building, Granville said.

“We’re going to cross our fingers and see what the structural engineer says,” he said. “If the building is too compromised there might be nothing we can do.”

It was a year ago that Granville was uttering similar words after the fire that destroyed part of the building.

“I don’t know what will have to be fixed up, what will have to get back up to code, based on the age of building, and how we’re going to go about those repairs,” he told The Denver Post a few days after the blaze. “I don’t know if it’ll be $2,500 or $25,000 or more. We really don’t have the capital for this.”

The cost to shore up the building after Monday’s collapse, which Granville said happened about 7:15 a.m., is unknown at this point — once again. Granville doesn’t think the building was insured because of its vacant status.

The cause of the collapse remains unknown as well, he said, with a fire investigator telling him he thought perhaps a car had hit the building. But Granville heard other theories from other officials. About half a dozen vehicles parked next to the building sustained various amounts of damage from falling debris.

Whatever the cause of the collapse, Granville said he will do what he has to do to collect the money to put the Carioca Cafe back together, be it crowdfunding or calling in more favors.

“Despite a bunch of tragic events, I’m still here,” he said. “I love the place.”

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Queens Eleven, opened by local developer and restaurateur Fiona Arnold, closed at the end of service Sunday.

“We’ve appreciated our staff and managers and customers. We really enjoyed it and are sorry that we’re in a position that we have to shut,” said Andy Schlauch, the CEO of the restaurant’s parent company, Mainspring.

The dual concept opened in December 2019 at 3603 Walnut St. at the base of The Hub office building. Schlauch said the group negotiated a lease termination for the space, so it won’t have to continue paying rent.

“It’s just pure economics,” he said of the decision. “We opened three months before COVID, and we’ve tried pretty much everything we can think of to make it work.”

Those changes included altering the menu, tipping structures and staffing, Schlauch added. But the pandemic threw a wrinkle into the plans for the spot, which was named after elevenses, the overseas practice of having a midmorning snack, like tea and biscuits, at 11 a.m.

Arnold, the president and founder of Mainspring, is Australian — another country that participates in the ritual.

“A lot is driven by the fact that Denver’s office market has not rebounded since COVID,” Schlauch added. “From a gross revenue perspective, those three months before the pandemic were among our best. We haven’t been able to recover.”

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Colorado’s best rooftops beckon you to sip cocktails during golden hour and enjoy the gorgeous sightlines of the Rocky Mountains, cityscapes, and other panoramas. Some provide a soundtrack with live bands; others let your dog join you for an al fresco afternoon.

Here are 11 of the best rooftop bars around the state:

BurnDown in Denver

BurnDown, a bar on South Broadway, boasts fantastic views from the rooftop deck.

“You can see the entire Front Range from Pike’s Peak all the way to Longs Peak,” said Alex Vickers, director of operations and managing operator. “On clear days, you can see Red Rocks, and, in the evenings, you can even see the concerts lighting up the rocks.”

Bar-goers can use the bar’s commercial-grade 25X zoom set of binoculars to scope out the scenery.

Some popular summer cocktails include the Spray Tan, a coconut margarita with a toasted coconut rim, and the Bell of the Ball, a gin drink with freshly muddled red bell peppers.

Hang with the cool kids on a Thursday for the City Sunset Music Series, which runs from June to late August, and includes concerts on the third-floor open terrace.

Address: 476 S. Broadway, Denver; burndowndenver.com

Rare Bird in Denver

New for the 2025 summer rooftop season, Rare Bird, an eighth-floor rooftop in Cherry Creek, will debut its wood-fired oven. It will cook dishes like a Colorado Pizza topped with green chile, grilled cheese, and a zesty tomato dip.

On top of the Halcyon hotel, the rooftop bar draws a mix of locals and tourists and will keep a busy social calendar, with pizza classes and trivia nights on the second Tuesday of every month.

On the last Wednesday of the month from May to October, dare we say Rare Bird transforms into a wooftop? That’s when pups can attend “Bird Dog” happy hours.

Address: 245 Columbine St., Denver; halcyonhotelcherrycreek.com/dining-in-cherry-creek/rare-bird

Tamayo in Denver

If margaritas are your favorite summer sippers, go to the rooftop terrace at Tamayo, Richard Sandoval’s modern Mexican restaurant that’s been a Larimer Square fixture for nearly 25 years.

Fresh off a remodel, the restaurant’s design nods to Mexico, with woven grass fabrics, hemp tassel chandeliers, and an earth-toned color palette with pops of bright color.

The bar is stocked with over 100 tequilas and mezcals, and Tamayo’s signature cocktails like the spicy mango margarita pair delightfully with snacks like pork belly guacamole.

The rooftop crowd enjoys views of Denver’s skyline and Larimer Square, which charms with its signature hammock of twinkling lights draped over the block.

Address: 1400 Larimer St., Denver; tamayodenver.com

Halo in Denver

A relative newcomer to Colorado’s rooftop bar scene, Halo is located on the 19th floor of the Kimpton Claret Hotel, a stylish spot that opened last summer in the Denver Tech Center’s Belleview Station neighborhood.

Perched at 5,817 feet, Halo stakes the claim for Denver’s highest open-air rooftop bar.

Hotel guests and locals can take in sights of the Front Range and Cherry Creek Reservoir while enjoying made-for-summer sips like the Sunset Spritz, spiked with Aperol and Pineapple Tepache (a fermented drink), and Take Me to Heaven, a peach-lavender gin cocktail.

Halo will continue its live music series every Wednesday through Saturday this summer, featuring local artists.

Address: 6985 E. Chenango Ave., Denver; halobardenver.com

West End Tavern in Boulder

West End Tavern’s rooftop bar on Pearl Street has been a Boulder favorite since 1987. The expansive 80-seat deck’s planters bloom with wildflowers, and the space offers front-row views of the Flatirons.

Or, hang out in the more private Beaver’s Rooftop Bar, which features a mini forest of spruce and aspen trees.

This Boulder haunt features excellent happy hour specials like “Wings and Whiskey Wednesdays” with whiskeys and $1 buffalo wings all day. Happy hour happens from 3 to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and includes seemingly inflation-proofed $6 cocktails and eats like Tavern queso ($6), fried clams ($6), and sliders ($7).

Thrasher Thursdays at Beaver’s Rooftop Bar is an all-day happy hour extravaganza capped with live music from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m.

Address: 926 Pearl St., Boulder, thewestendtavern.com

Stellar Jay in Denver

Populus is the popular new hotel in town, designed to mimic an aspen tree, even landing on Time’s 2025 edition of the “World’s Greatest Places.”

The 13th-floor rooftop restaurant and bar Stellar Jay has beautiful arched windows that frame the views overlooking the downtown skyline, Colorado’s gold capitol dome, and the Rocky Mountains.

The live-fire cooking feels just right in the summer, lending a campfire aroma. Outside, the hotel’s bibliophilic design continues with lush plants and comfy patio furniture, perfect for settling into for a nightcap like a Sunset Mule made fizzy with blood orange ginger beer.

Address: 240 14th St., Denver; stellarjayrestaurant.com

54thirty Rooftop in Denver

We’re in the Mile High City, but at 54thirty (a bar named after its elevation), you can ascend a little higher and get 150 feet closer to the sun.

This spacious rooftop bar is on top of Le Méridien, across from the Colorado Convention Center and a couple of blocks from the Denver Performing Arts Complex.

In addition to serving some of the best mountain views in the city, 54thirty has a cocktail menu that rotates with the seasons, shareable snacks like elote corn dip, and cozy seating around fire pits for those cooler summer nights.

Address: 1475 California St.; 54thirty.com

Sorry Gorgeous in Denver

RiNo’s new Sorry Gorgeous bar opened in October and has interiors as beautiful as the views outside.

Abigail Plantier, the founder of Maximalist, an interior design and branding firm, wanted the boundaries of this floating rooftop oasis to blur. She accomplished this with deep tanzanite walls and ceilings that create a transition to the night sky, allowing the architecture to recede so the skyline takes center stage visually.

Sorry Gorgeous is on the 12th floor of Novel RiNo by Crescent Communities, a mixed-use apartment community. It is close to Mission Ballroom, so you can stop for pre-concert cocktails.

Address: 1350 40th St.; entrance on Walnut Street, Denver; sorrygorgeousrooftop.com

Fire Restaurant & Lounge in Denver

Here’s a riddle: Where can you find an ocean view within Denver?

You’ll find the answer when you ascend to the fourth floor of The Art, a hotel that commissioned a 100-foot-long piece of beach art from artist Rob Reynolds to be displayed across the street from FIRE Restaurant & Lounge.

The rooftop patio has outdoor seating around fire tables, a summer cocktail menu, and programming like “Sunset Sessions” featuring DJ Brian Howes from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. every Friday from May 23 to Aug. 29.

Guests can also bring their dogs to “Yappy Hour” from 2 to 4 p.m. on Sundays from May 25 to Aug. 31 and enjoy 20% off deals, plus Tito’s donates $1 per cocktail sold during Yappy Hour to a local dog fundraiser.

Address: 1201 Broadway, Denver; thearthotel.com/dine-drink/fire

Corrida in Boulder

Sip gin and tonics, snack on tapas, and take in the spectacular unhindered views of the flatirons at Corrida, a Spanish-inspired chophouse in downtown Boulder with an open-air patio and glassed-in restaurant that took over a space in the former Daily Camera newspaper building.

If that’s not alluring enough, Corrida’s rooftop hosts the Summer Sunset Series events, which include live music. Upcoming events are scheduled for June 19, Aug. 7, and Sept. 18.

Address: 1023 Walnut St., Suite 400, Boulder; corridaboulder.com

Devil’s Kitchen in Grand Junction

Golden hour hits differently on the Western Slope with the light illuminating earthy crimson rock formations for a fiery alpenglow.

After a day of adventure at the area’s attractions like Colorado National Monument, Grand Mesa, or Rattlesnake Arches, unwind on the fourth floor of Hotel Maverick at the boutique hotel’s on-site restaurant called Devil’s Kitchen.

You’re in peach country, so the summer drink of choice here is the Peach Habanero Margarita. Ripe, sweet Palisade peaches sourced from PeachFork Orchards tame that kick of habanero.

Address: 840 Kennedy Ave., Grand Junction; devilskitchenrestaurant.com

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