Bed, brew and beyond

From classy to funky, hotel lounges are raising the bar for locals, tourists

Dave Flomberg, Special to the Rocky

Friday, January 11, 2008

Evan Semon / The Rocky

Jet Lounge

Ellen Jaskol / The Rocky

The Corner Office

Evan Semon / The Rocky

Drinking in the Cruise Room's timeless appeal are Michael Davies and Suzanne Murray.

Evan Semon / The Rocky

Harry?s

There was a time when a hotel bar was merely a meeting room that also served cocktails.

In Denver, especially, most hotel bars were places where business travelers could congregate, network a little, make a deal here and there and move on.

But with Denver's evolution has come a sense of cosmopolitan swagger over the past few years. Hotel bars graduated from serving business-class booze to slinging top-shelf hooch - Bud turned to Fat Tire, whiskey became single-malt scotch and martinis got a whole menu all to themselves.

Still, though the crowds that make their way across a hotel bar's threshold may be more diverse than they were a few decades ago, they remain mostly a transient group: Travelers in town for a night or longer, looking for a spot to meet friends before heading out, a place to retire when returning after a busy day or simply someplace to spend the evening that's a little more happening than their room.

But that doesn't mean Denver's hotel bars don't have a steady scene unto themselves. Indeed, the most popular places certainly do, welcoming the tourist and introducing him to a cast of colorful locals at the same time. These joints are everything to everyone - as much as any place can be - and we've culled the best of the bunch for your reading pleasure.

Jet Lounge

Jet Hotel, 1612 Wazee St.

303-572-3300, thejethotel.com

* Check in: First Flow, then Luna, now Jet, this lounge is one of the prototypical boutique hotel lounges that looked to create a scene unto themselves. The lounge is also Jet Hotel's lobby, marked by plenty of low-slung couches and sleek chairs while also providing a hip, open space for mingling. The long bar's green Lucite glow and the high-def flat- screen TVs complement the sounds, which are usually provided by some of the better- known DJs (Amen and Ty Tek in residence on New Year's Eve, for example). In the center of the room are stairs leading down into the even more exclusive Twenty, a private bar, free to the ladies and available to the guys for a $20 cover.

* Turndown service: As lame as it sounds to a guy, ponying up the $20 to get to Twenty on a busy night might plant you in the middle of a crowd with a ratio of 20 or 30 women to one man, according to bartender Devin. Happy hour at Jet Lounge is 5 to 9 p.m. weekdays, boasting $2 domestics, $3 well and $5 call.

Charlie Brown's

Colburn Hotel, 980 Grant St.

303-860-1655

* Check in: OK, the Colburn Hotel isn't actually much of a hotel anymore - it's mostly low-income and Section 8 housing. But it still says hotel on the sign, so that gives us a chance to tout Charlie Brown's, one of Denver's most storied lounges. The longtime piano bar was a regular hang of Neal Cassady, Alan Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac when Cassady and Ginsberg lived in the Colburn. The bar is its own scene most of the time, with a steady cavalcade of Capitol Hill regulars enjoying the covered patio year-round or gathered around the piano inside, singing show tunes and drinking bottled beer (there's no tap here).

* Turndown service: Happy hour on Fridays (4 to 6:30 p.m.) during the summer is the best time to be here. They roast a pig and serve it along with tasty wings (free) to all comers. The patio gets hopping, and it's also two-for-one on your first round.

The Corner Office

The Curtis Hotel, 1401 Curtis St., 303-825-6500, www.thecorner officedenver.com

* Check in: The Curtis may be one of the hippest hotels in Denver, with its pop-culture, midcentury, mod-influenced design, and the Corner Office complements the hotel beautifully. The egg-shaped lighting fixtures, backlighted bar, mid- '60s industrial upholstery, gleaming polished wood and smart vinyl accents make it feel as if you've stepped into a time warp. All it's missing is an Andy Warhol or two and Jackie O drinking a Rose cocktail in the VIP area. The scene can vary wildly depending on which conventions are in town but often includes model-pretty hipsters and overflow from theater-goers at the Denver Performing Arts Complex.

* Turndown service: Without a doubt, the best thing on the menu is the chicken and waffles (yes, pour the syrup over all of it, diet be damned!), which are nearly peerless in the Mile High. There's a wide selection of designer martinis and cocktails, but arguably the finest of the bunch is the Caipirinha, a mojito-like mix of Cachaca, cane syrup, agave nectar, muddled lime and a stick of sugar cane. It's pre-Castro Cuba in a glass.

Peaks Lounge

Regency Hyatt, 650 15th St. 303-486-4433; denverregency.hyatt. com

* Check in: Soaring somewhere around 300 feet above 15th Street in downtown Denver, the Peaks Lounge may offer a few things to entice people through its doors, but there's only one thing that really matters: The View. An utterly breathtaking panorama of the Front Range and the Rocky Mountains plays out on the other side of the glass walls enclosing the long, narrowish space on the 27th floor. On this side of the glass, the sleek furniture and unobtrusive, color-shifting mood lighting serve merely to smartly complement the Colorado tableau.

* Turndown service: The Peaks offers a varied selection of specialty cocktails boasting concoctions rife with fresh juices. The signature is the showstopper: the 27th Floor, made up of cognac, Godiva Chocolate Liqueur, Bailey's Irish Cream, Frangelico and espresso. It's like spending a moment lip-locked with a Brazilian goddess.

Supreme Court

Adam's Mark, 1550 Court Place

303-893-3333, adamsmark.com/ denver/dining.asp

* Check in: With all the careful detail to design and decor given to the rest of the hotel lounges on the list, the Supreme Court is a bit of a departure from the bunch. It's a sprawling space that feels very much like a meeting room in a big hotel, save for the permanent bar in the center of the room (as opposed to some service job on wheels). But the main draw here is the stage, which on Friday and Saturday nights boasts impressive acts as diverse as Jinx Jones and locals like Jakarta, Soul School and Funkiphino.

* Turndown service: If you're not in attendance for the band, the time to be here is happy hour, 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. weekdays; all wines are half- price. They offer a good collection of appetizers for $3, making the Supreme Court a decent place to catch an early game on TV.

Harry's

Magnolia Hotel, 818 17th St., 303-607-9000, magnoliahoteldenver.com

* Check in: When Harry's opened its doors back in 2002, it was setting an unusual precedent for Denver: a no-smoking lounge in the heart of the city. While such things may have been old hat in Boulder by then, for Denver it was groundbreaking and proved to be prophetic as well. The hip room is bursting with swank decor touches, from the retro-geometric patterns to the friendly script font of the name of the joint behind the bar. The colored lighting slowly shifts over the course of a few minutes' time, providing a nice backdrop for the occasional live jazz group. It would be perfect for a scene in the next Ocean's 11 movie (what are we at now, Ocean's 14?).

* Turndown service: The drinks at Harry's may be a little steeper than at some of the bars on the surrounding downtown blocks, so head over during happy hour, which is 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. weekdays. Domestics are $2, wells and imports $3. Your expense account won't even notice.

Ship Tavern

Brown Palace, 321 17th St.

303-297-3111, brownpalace.com

* Check in: If Randolph's is quintessential old Denver, the Ship Tavern is old Colorado. The tavern stays true to the theme suggested by its name, boasting a seafaring decor tastefully speckled with aquatic touches, complete with a crow's nest. Worn woods and ancient leather give the place its timeless quality. The traveling elite might pony up here when looking for a casual drink or bite to eat (as casual as the Brown Palace gets, anyway). Though open only until midnight, if you're looking for a chance to rub elbows with visiting dignitaries, this could be it.

* Turndown service: While the single-malt scotch list is fairly impressive - Macallan 25 for $60 a glass - it's the small-batch bourbon list that's most intriguing, specifically Stranahan's Colorado Whiskey ($10 a glass), made by one of the few micro-distilleries in the state.

The Cruise Room

Oxford Hotel, 1600 17th St., 303-628-5400, theoxfordhotel.com/ cruise-room.html

* Check in: On Dec. 5, 1933, Prohibition was repealed. The very next day, the Cruise Room opened on the ground floor of the Oxford Hotel. Designed as a replica of the lounge on the original Queen Mary cruise ship, the sweeping deco design remains a standout in Denver 75 years later. The bartenders still sport bow ties and are more artisans of the craft than mere service-industry workers. On any night, revelers could be rubbing elbows with wedding parties, local celebs and the urban chic. The Cruise Room's elegance is as timeless as its highbrow appeal; even if you're not stunningly beautiful, you still feel a need to dress up when you're here.

* Turndown service: Although you won't find a better classic martini in town, the Lemon Drop Martini is the signature here: three sugar cubes, fresh lemon juice and Absolut Citron, chilled and shaken and served in a sugar-rimmed martini glass. You simply can't drink this one in jeans.

Randolph's Restaurant and Bar

Warwick Hotel, 1776 Grant St.

303-318-7272, randolphsdenver.com

* Check in: If there's one bar that really captures old Denver - the post-gold-rush, pre-tech Denver, the oil-money Denver that built the skyscrapers and conjured terms like shale conversion - Randolph's is it. Named after the famed newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, the bar is everything the name suggests, with leather and dark wood surfaces, cozy dining nooks and a friendly patio. The only thing missing is a thick haze of cigar smoke, thanks to the smoking ban. This is the kind of bar where it's easy to imagine million- dollar deals having been made, even though you're just as likely to run into a Midwestern wedding party as a brown- suited bonds baron.

* Turndown service: Randolph's signature drink is the Denver Rosebud, a blend of Stoli Vanilla, cranberry, citrus and peach vodkas and pomegranate juice, shaken, served in a martini glass with a sugared rim and garnished with a lime and a raspberry. It's $8 and makes a great pairing with the delectable sushi tuna squares ($11).

• January 11, 2008

  2:33 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  stuckiniowa writes:

  Since cachaca and the Caiparinha are both BRAZILIAN - I dont see what Pre Castro Cuba has to do with anything!