The Best Bars in Denver Right Now (2026 Guide)
The Best Bars in Denver Right Now (2026 Guide)
Denver has always had a reputation as a beer town. That reputation undersells it.
Yes, the Great American Beer Festival still rolls into the Convention Center every fall. Yes, Coors and the Wynkoop and the brewpub-on-every-block thing are real. But the bar story in Denver in 2026 isn’t the beer — it’s everything else. Yacht Club in Cole won Best U.S. Cocktail Bar at the 2024 Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards. Death & Co chose Denver over Chicago, Austin, and Miami when it picked its third American city. Williams & Graham on Tejon has been the country’s most-cited speakeasy for a decade. And in the last twelve months, the city pulled the most Tales of the Cocktail nominations across all categories since 2022 — three Denver bars on the Best New Bar in America shortlist alone.
This is a bar city now. The breweries are still there. The dives are still there. But the cocktail program at a Tuesday-night LoDo bar is doing things that wouldn’t have happened anywhere outside New York and L.A. ten years ago.
This is the list we’d hand a friend who just moved here — the rooms worth a reservation and the dives worth staying late for. Updated as places open and our picks change.
Table of Contents
What’s Hot Right Now in 2026
Rougarou – Five Points — Westword’s 2026 Best New Bar, and the most-talked-about opening of the past year. From the team behind the Ramble Hotel, Rougarou pairs upscale cocktails with swampy Southern fare and is currently nominated for Best New Bar in America at the 2026 Spirited Awards. Executive chef JohnDavid Wright is the brother of Yacht Club’s Mary Allison Wright — keep that family tree in mind, because it explains a lot of what’s good in Denver right now.
Semiprecious – Sunnyside — The L.A. import. Mike Capoferri and Jon Hartman, the team behind Thunderbolt (a 50 Best Bars in North America honoree in 2023), opened Semiprecious in mid-2025 with a tech-forward cocktail program built specifically for Denver — not a carbon copy of the L.A. bar. Also nominated for Best New Bar in America for 2026.
Stellar Jay – Golden Triangle — On the 13th floor of the carbon-positive Populus Hotel, Stellar Jay reset what a Denver hotel bar can be when it opened in late 2024. Live-fire kitchen, biophilic design, and the gold dome of the Colorado State Capitol framed through a double-sided bar.
Peach Crease Club – RiNo — Husband-and-wife duo Stuart Jensen and Alex Jump opened Peach Crease next to Mission Ballroom in 2024, and it landed on Westword’s 2026 Best of Denver list for its culinary cocktails — borscht-flavored martinis, papaya builds, the kind of menu that sounds gimmicky in writing and works completely on the palate. 12-seat bar, 1970s Southwestern brutalist design, custom sound system tuned for warm playback.
La Diabla Pozole y Mezcal – Platte Street — Chef José Avila’s mezcal-and-pozole bar on Platte, opened late 2025. Westword called it Denver’s coolest new addition. Caldos, mezcal flights, nixtamalized corn — built as a tribute to the pozolerías of Mexico City.
What’s Coming Next
Denver’s pipeline never fully empties, but the back half of 2026 is still firming up. Here’s what’s worth watching — and what just landed.
La Vie en Rose – RiNo (coming 2026) — The team behind the jazz club Nocturne is turning the old Noble Riot space into a Parisian Champagne bar: plush velvet, a bar built around a Champagne bowl, and a glass-walled wine cave. If it drinks the way it reads, it’s the fall date-night reservation to have.
Good Luck Club – Platt Park (just opened) — Pouring with Heart, the group behind American Bonded and Emerald Eye, finally got its Y2K bar open at 1350 S. Broadway after a long permit fight. Nintendo 64 on the screens, Uno instead of doomscrolling, and cocktails better than a nostalgia bar needs them to be.
Adventure Time Bar – Baker (new in 2026) — A rotating-theme cocktail bar at 101 S. Broadway that redraws the room and the menu every few months. Worth checking what era you’re walking into before you go.
Two Lazy Dogs – Downtown (new in 2026) — A dog-themed neighborhood dive and grill on Champa Street — the kind of unfussy room downtown is short on.
Opening dates move constantly — treat anything unopened as planned, not promised. We refresh this section as they firm up.
Denver’s Best Cocktail Bars
Yacht Club – Cole — The most-decorated cocktail bar in the city, and one of the most-decorated in the country. Mary Allison Wright and McLain Hedges opened Yacht Club at 3701 Williams Street in late 2021. By 2024, it had won Best U.S. Cocktail Bar at the Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards. The room is small and unassuming. The drinks are not. Reservations get tight — go on a weeknight or accept that you’ll be waiting at the bar.
Death & Co Denver – Five Points — The Denver outpost of the East Village original, on the ground floor of the Ramble Hotel at 1280 25th Street. Death & Co picked Denver as its third American city after New York and L.A. The cocktail program is what you’d expect — encyclopedic, precise, and very, very good. The room itself is more open and brighter than the East Village original. Sunday–Thursday until 11 PM, Friday–Saturday until 12:30 AM.
Williams & Graham – LoHi — Denver’s longest-running modern speakeasy and one of the country’s most-cited. Behind a working bookshelf at 3160 Tejon Street since 2011. The cocktail program has earned James Beard semifinalist nominations repeatedly. Daily 5 PM–1 AM. Reservations via the website are essential most nights.
Run For The Roses – LoDo — The Larimer Square cocktail destination, on the lower level beneath Rioja. A long, narrow, candlelit room with one of the best classic cocktail programs in the city — old fashioneds, sazeracs, things that don’t need reinventing done as well as anyone in town does them. Tuesday–Sunday, 5 PM–midnight.
American Bonded – RiNo — RiNo’s everyday cocktail bar, at 2706 Larimer. Open Tuesday–Sunday 4 PM to 2 AM, with happy hour running until 8 PM. Strong Negroni, strong room, strong neighborhood crowd. The kind of bar that’s in the rotation rather than the destination, and that’s a compliment.
Bar Helix – RiNo — A wine-and-cocktail lounge that fills a niche Denver was missing — the room where wine culture and cocktail culture genuinely converge. Mediterranean-leaning small plates, aperitif-forward builds, a natural wine list that pulls oenophiles. Tuesday–Saturday only.
The Cooper Lounge – LoDo — The mezzanine bar inside Union Station, with 28-foot cast-iron windows looking out at downtown on one side and the Great Hall below on the other. Sunday–Wednesday 4–10 PM, Thursday–Saturday until midnight. The Old Fashioned is the order. Few rooms in Denver feel this much like Denver.
Lady Jane – LoHi — A neighborhood cocktail bar at 2021 W. 32nd that’s earned its way onto every Best of Denver list since opening. Tight, well-edited menu. Sunday closed. Worth the walk from anywhere in LoHi.
The Tatarian – Berkeley / Tennyson Street — The Tennyson Street cocktail anchor at 4024 Tennyson. A contemporary program, neighborhood-paced, the right call for Berkeley dinner-and-drinks if you’re not eating at Hey Kiddo upstairs.
Honey Elixir Bar – RiNo — The most thoughtful sober-curious-friendly bar in the city. Honey Elixir runs a parallel zero-proof program built around botanical potions, cacao, and functional mushrooms alongside a full cocktail menu. The Love Spell (hibiscus, star anise) and Chocolit (cacao, mushrooms) are the moves.
Adrift Tiki Bar – South Broadway — Denver’s tiki institution, on Broadway since 2010. Polynesian/Caribbean fare, real island-cocktail rigor underneath the kitsch. The Mai Tai is correct.
Also worth knowing:
Emerald Eye – Larimer Square: A dark tropical cocktail bar hidden beneath Larimer Square, inspired by the Caribbean circa 1955. Rum and agave program, weekend DJ nights.
Bonded – RiNo: Same operators as American Bonded, similar register.
Spirit Hounds Tasting Room – Sunnyside: The Lyons distillery’s Denver tasting room at 3622 Tejon, all whiskey-and-aquavit-from-Colorado.
Mile High Spirits – RiNo: Denver’s premier downtown distillery and tasting room — full bar, distillery tours, and cocktail classes.
Broadway Roxy – South Broadway: Vintage-modern restaurant, speakeasy, and music venue with 1920s-inspired cocktails.
Denver’s Best Speakeasies and Hidden Bars
Denver’s speakeasy scene runs deeper than you’d guess for a city its size, anchored by one of the country’s most-decorated examples and growing through a steady drip of new hidden rooms behind hotel mezzanines, ice cream shops, and ramen counters.
Williams & Graham – LoHi — The big one. Hidden behind a working bookshelf inside what looks like a small bookstore at 3160 Tejon Street. Reservations essential. (Listed in cocktails above because it’s also Denver’s most-decorated cocktail bar, but it remains the city’s defining speakeasy.)
Suite 6A – Five Points — The speakeasy inside Death & Co. Tucked away on the Ramble Hotel mezzanine, accessed up the staircase from the Death & Co bar. Seats 22. Off-menu, custom-built cocktails are the move — tell the bartender what you like and let them work. Reservations strongly recommended.
Retrograde – Uptown — A B-movie sci-fi-themed speakeasy hidden inside Frozen Matter, an ice cream shop on East 19th Avenue. Enter through the freezer door. Twelve specialty cocktails, plus the option to let the bartenders go off-script. The most fun-coded speakeasy in the city.
B&GC Denver – Cherry Creek — Cherry Creek’s underground bar, a sub-level cocktail room beneath the neighborhood’s quieter blocks. The Cherry Creek answer to RiNo’s hidden-bar density.
The Cruise Room – LoDo — Not a speakeasy in the modern sense — but it deserves its own line because it opened the day after Prohibition was repealed in 1933 and has been continuously operational ever since. Denver’s longest-running bar. Inside the Oxford Hotel, the room is original Art Deco. Walk-ins only. A martini at the Cruise Room is a Denver rite of passage.
More speakeasies worth knowing:
Ghost Underground – Larimer Square: Hidden cocktail room beneath Larimer Square’s dining row.
Disco Pig – Larimer Square: Disco-themed cocktail bar, sister concept to Emerald Eye.
Bar Helix – RiNo: While not technically a speakeasy, the wine-cocktail program and quiet room read closer to one than to a typical RiNo bar.
Best Bars by Type
Best Rooftop Bars in Denver
The best of the rooftop tier: Stellar Jay at the Populus for the Capitol-dome view, 54thirty at Le Méridien for the highest open-air downtown bar, Halo at the Kimpton Claret for the highest-altitude rooftop in city limits at 5,817 feet, Cimera at the Source Hotel for the widest RiNo panorama, Sorry Gorgeous for the cleanest skyline-and-mountain frame, and Linger in LoHi for the South Platte sunset. Full breakdowns in The Best Rooftop Bars in Denver Right Now.
Best Whiskey Bars in Denver
Star Bar in LoDo runs one of the deepest American whiskey lists in the city — bourbon, rye, the deeper Kentucky shelves — in a comfortably worn second-story room above 22nd & Larimer. Williams & Graham carries serious back-bar depth alongside its cocktail program. Run For The Roses has the classic-cocktail whiskey rotation locked in. For Colorado-distilled whiskey at the source, Spirit Hounds Tasting Room in Sunnyside.
Best Sports Bars in Denver
Sobo 151 is the city’s hockey bar, period — Czech-owned dive on South Broadway, the unofficial Avalanche home. Jackson’s LODO at 1520 20th is the high-volume LoDo flagship — 100+ TVs, late hours, full game-sound rotation. Society Sports & Spirits is the newer LoDo entrant for Avs and Nuggets nights. The DNVR Bar on Lincoln is the bar built by the Denver-sports-podcast crew, with the most hockey-and-football-literate room in the city. Stoney’s Bar & Grill at 11th & Lincoln is the official Avalanche watch-party host most weeks. Full breakdown in Where to Eat and Drink Before (and After) an Avalanche Game.
Best Dive Bars / Hole-in-the-Wall Bars in Denver
Lion’s Lair on Colfax is the city’s most-cited dive — punk shows, cheap beer, no apologies. PS Lounge on East Colfax delivers the original Denver dive experience: a free rose for every woman who walks in, a complimentary Alabama Slammer for everyone, $4 wells. Don’s Club Tavern in Cap Hill has been a neighborhood pub since 1947. The Candlelight in West Wash Park — the “Candlefight” — runs ’80s hair metal, sidewalk smokers, and one of the best vintage neon signs in the city. Bar Nun on Logan is the Cap Hill live-music dive. Charlie’s Denver on Colfax is the country-and-western gay bar institution since 1981.
Best Craft Beer Bars in Denver
Crooked Stave at the Source is the wild ales and barrel-aged sour benchmark. Wynkoop Brewing at 1634 18th is the original Denver brewpub — opened by John Hickenlooper in 1988, still strong. Mile High Spirits crosses over to craft spirits but the back patio is one of the best beer-and-distilled gardens in the city. Spangalang Brewery in Five Points runs the Soul Sunday R&B brunch alongside excellent house beer. Forest Room 5 in LoHi is the bar-with-a-firepit-patio-and-an-Airstream — beer-and-cocktail forward, year-round outdoor seating. The full RiNo brewery row is its own pub crawl, anchored by Black Project, Cerebral, Our Mutual Friend, and Ratio Beerworks.
Best Listening Bars and Audio Lounges in Denver
A newer category for Denver but a real one. Peach Crease Club in RiNo runs a 12-seat bar around a custom sound system tuned for warm, balanced playback. Honey Elixir Bar programs vibey music alongside its botanical menu. Mockingbird in RiNo is sound-focused with globally themed rooms. Mercury Cafe is the longtime live-music-and-dance institution that’s adjacent to the listening-bar movement.
Best Bars by Neighborhood
RiNo – Denver’s Bar Capital
If Denver has a North Park, this is it. RiNo packs the highest density of cocktail bars, breweries, and rooftops in the city, all within a fifteen-minute walk. The cocktail anchors are Death & Co and Suite 6A at the Ramble, American Bonded, Bar Helix, and Honey Elixir Bar. The rooftops are Cimera, Sorry Gorgeous, and Rook at the Catbird. The breweries — Crooked Stave, Black Project, Cerebral, Our Mutual Friend, Ratio — are walkable from any of them. Peach Crease Club is the destination cocktail-and-listening room. No. 38 is the patio-and-fire-pit anchor. Larimer Lounge runs the indie rock calendar. The whole 2700–3700 block of Larimer is the densest stretch.
LoDo and Larimer Square
The downtown bar core. Run For The Roses, Cooper Lounge, Star Bar, Cruise Room, Wynkoop, and Jackson’s LODO sit within a six-block radius of Union Station. Larimer Square anchors the cocktail-and-speakeasy density — Emerald Eye, Ghost Underground, Disco Pig, Corridor 44 champagne bar, and Bao Brewhouse. The 16th Street Mall redevelopment finished in 2024 and dragged a new generation of bars into walking distance — Chez Maggy at the Thompson and Kachina Cantina in the Westin lead the new wave.
LoHi (Lower Highland)
Denver’s most consistently strong neighborhood for cocktail-and-dinner pairings. Williams & Graham is the destination. Lady Jane is the everyday spot. Linger, El Five, and Avanti F&B carry the rooftop trio. Bar Dough runs Italian-leaning cocktails alongside the kitchen. Forest Room 5 keeps the year-round outdoor-fire-pit-and-Airstream patio open. The whole 32nd–33rd Avenue corridor between Tejon and Lowell is walkable; the climb up Highland Bridge from downtown is the best ten-minute commute in the city.
Capitol Hill / Cheesman Park
The neighborhood-bar belt. The DNVR Bar, Stoney’s, and Bar Nun anchor the Lincoln Street corridor. Don’s Club Tavern runs the longtime-locals dive. X Bar carries the LGBTQ+ Cap Hill scene alongside Charlie’s. Retrograde hides the speakeasy. The whole neighborhood walks well between 9th and 17th Avenue.
Berkeley / Tennyson Street
The Northside dinner-and-drinks corridor. The Tatarian anchors the cocktail program. Hey Kiddo is the Michelin-recommended kitchen with the rooftop bar upstairs. Hops & Pie runs the craft beer pizza pairing. Local 46 is the neighborhood patio mainstay. The walk from 38th to 46th on Tennyson is the most pleasant bar crawl in Denver.
Five Points / Cole / Welton
Yacht Club, Death & Co, and Rougarou form the most cocktail-decorated three-block stretch in the city. Spangalang Brewery runs the Welton Street beer-and-soul-brunch program. Tracks Denver at 3500 Walnut keeps the LGBTQ+ dance-club calendar alive. Mercury Cafe at 2199 California is the longtime everything-at-once — live music, swing dancing, kitchen, bar. Duke’s on Welton is the patio-only sandwich-and-beer hang.
South Broadway / SoBo
Sobo 151 for the Avs. Adrift Tiki Bar for the Mai Tai. Broadway Roxy for vintage-modern speakeasy energy. BurnDown for the rooftop. The whole stretch from Alameda to Mississippi runs antique shops, music venues, and bars in equal measure.
Cherry Creek
The dressier neighborhood with quieter rooms. B&GC Denver runs the underground speakeasy. Cherry Cricket at 2641 East 2nd is the legacy burger-and-beer institution. Halo rooftop at the Kimpton Claret extends the neighborhood ten minutes south to Belleview Station.
Sunnyside
The new neighborhood story. Semiprecious is the destination — L.A. team, tech-forward bar, Best New Bar in America nominee. Spirit Hounds Tasting Room carries the Colorado-spirits side. The neighborhood is quieter than RiNo or LoHi by design, and that’s part of why Semiprecious chose it.
Best Happy Hour in Denver
Denver’s strongest happy hour programs run earlier than coastal cities — most start at 3 or 4 PM and finish by 6 or 7. American Bonded runs an extended happy hour until 8 PM Tuesday–Sunday. MoodSwing in Elyria-Swansea runs 3–6 PM Monday–Friday and all day Wednesday on the city’s largest patio. Stoney’s has a long-running 3–6 PM weekday menu. The Cherry Cricket runs $5 burgers and discount drinks during off-peak windows. Avanti F&B runs rotating happy hours across all eight rooftop counters. Linger runs a strong rooftop happy hour through the warm months. ViewHouse Ballpark runs the LoDo sports-bar happy hour for the rooftop deck. Postino 9CO runs the wine-and-bruschetta board program at $5/$5 before 5 PM most days — the best value happy hour in Cherry Creek.
Frequently Asked Questions
What bars are popular in Denver?
The most-cited bars in 2026 are Yacht Club (2024 Best U.S. Cocktail Bar), Death & Co Denver, Williams & Graham, Rougarou (2026 Best New Bar in Denver), Semiprecious (Best New Bar in America nominee), Stellar Jay at the Populus, and Peach Crease Club. The list shifts every six months.
Where is the best nightlife in Denver?
RiNo is the densest concentration of cocktail bars, breweries, and rooftops in the city, with the longest hours and the most consistent late-night calendar. LoDo and Larimer Square anchor downtown nightlife. South Broadway runs the music-venue-and-dive crawl. Five Points holds the most-decorated cocktail bars per square block. Pick the neighborhood, then build the night.
What is the bar scene like in Denver?
Denver moved from beer city to legitimate cocktail city in the 2020s. The breweries are still here — Denver still has more breweries per capita than almost any city in the country — but the cocktail and speakeasy scenes have caught up and in some categories surpassed the beer scene. The city pulled the most Tales of the Cocktail nominations across all categories since 2022 in this past year. Expect serious cocktail programs in unassuming neighborhood rooms.
Where do locals drink in Denver?
Locals drink at neighborhood bars, not destination bars. The everyday rotation looks like Lady Jane in LoHi, American Bonded in RiNo, Sobo 151 on South Broadway, The Tatarian on Tennyson, Don’s Club Tavern in Cap Hill, and the brewery walk in RiNo. The destination bars (Death & Co, Williams & Graham, Yacht Club) hold reservations and pull from a wider pool.
What neighborhood has the best bars in Denver?
RiNo for sheer density across categories. LoHi for cocktail-and-dinner consistency. Five Points for award-winning cocktail bars per block. South Broadway for music-and-dive culture. Cap Hill for everyday-locals. There isn’t a single right answer — Denver’s bar scene is genuinely distributed.
Is Denver good for nightlife?
Yes, with a caveat. Last call in Denver is 2 AM and the city runs earlier than coastal cities — happy hours start at 3 PM, dinner crowds peak at 7, and the late-night-bar move kicks in around 10. Plan accordingly. The trade-off is a bar scene that feels less performative than Vegas or Miami and more like New York’s neighborhood bars at half the cost.
What is the best area in Denver for bars?
For first-time visitors: RiNo for the night out — walkable, dense, every category covered. For weekend dinner-and-drinks: LoHi. For a downtown stay: LoDo and Larimer Square. For a date night: Five Points for Yacht Club, Death & Co, or Rougarou.
Stay Current on Denver’s Bar Scene
New bars open. Cocktail programs change. Hidden bars get harder to get into as word spreads. This guide updates monthly.
The fastest way to stay current: subscribe to our free newsletter — new openings, cocktail programs, neighborhood reports, and happy hours each week.
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Last updated: May 2026. We refresh this guide monthly.
Related First In Denver Guides
The Best Rooftop Bars in Denver - the open-air tier, sorted by view.
RiNo Neighborhood Guide - the city’s densest bar district.
Baker Neighborhood Guide - the South Broadway strip.
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