Best Drink — Boulder

Bar
• CRITICS: Catacombs Bar, Downtown
There’s just something intoxicating about this bar below the Hotel Boulderado that features a labyrinth of rooms, affordable drinks and one of the most unpretentious nightlife scenes in town. You’ll find high-falootin’ hotel guests grabbing a drink, mixing with CU frat boys and 30-something locals. Check out every room—each has its own unique offering. It’s a bar that is the antithesis to most other Pearl Street offerings—that’s a good thing for everyone who doesn’t carry a CU ID card anymore.

Brewery
• CRITICS: Avery Brewing Co., East Boulder
Since joining the esteemed Boulder brewing community in the early 1990s, Avery has continued to produce some of the staples that keep the region’s beer connoisseurs happy and buzzed. Stalwarts such as the Avery IPA, 14’er ESP and Ellie’s Brown win awards nearly every year. But we really love the seasonal offerings (a Calypso wheat summer brew hooked us years ago) that keep Avery great.

Dive
• The Dark Horse Bar, Baseline
We hope the Dark Horse never changes. It’ll be a travesty if it closes, cleans up or does anything except what it’s been doing for more than 30 years. Beers are always cheap, specials such as Trike Night are still popular and it seems that every sign, piece of furniture or other gear destined for a garage sale has made it onto the ceiling. Please don’t ever change, Dark Horse.

Happy Hour
• Boulder Café, Downtown
With nearly four hours of happiness each day, the Boulder Café’s happy hour is pretty easy to catch. Enjoy half-priced beer and wine along with almost every other type of drink, too. Don’t miss the food: Save half on apps and the raw bar. Everything is a steal from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Plus the patio soaks the sun and offers views of the best street performances on the Mall.

Hobnob with a Martini
• Johnny’s Cigar Bar, Downtown
Live jazz wafts through the bar on the weekends, the martini and wine list is immense, there are oversized leather chairs to relax in, and the hand-crafted cherry bar is a sight to behold. The selection of cigars is also awe-inspiring, leaving even the most seasoned connoisseur baffled at the choices. Oh, there’s a separate smoking lounge, so non-smokers can enjoy it all, too.

Sports Bar
• CRITICS: Lazy Dog, Downtown
After making a move from North Boulder, skeptics certainly worried that the popular sports bar would suffer. But that was years ago, and Lazy Dog has been thriving in its prime Pearl Street location. The burgers are great, beers plentiful and nachos are a crowd pleaser. You’re there for the TVs, though. Watch the Buffs with a few hundred friends or simply head upstairs to the roof deck for some sunshine.

Wine List
• Frasca Food and Wine, Downtown
This really shouldn’t be a surprising selection since Frasca is renowned on a national level for having one of the best wine selections available in the U.S. The wine list is nearly 50 pages, and it’s far from a kitchen sink approach to picking it. Sommelier Bobby Stuckey works in perfect harmony with chef Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson in finding the absolute best wines in the world to accompany one of the best menus in Colorado. Be prepared to open your wallets wide—decadence comes with a price.