17 NOVEMBER 2-8, 2023 westword.com WESTWORD | CONTENTS | LETTERS | NIGHT+DAY | CULTURE | CAFE | MUSIC | Field Trip TWO EDUCATORS TACKLED ONE BIG ASSIGNMENT: OUR 100 FAVORITE BARS LIST. BY MOLLY MARTIN “Our very fi rst one was on Easter,” recalls Edie Alvarez, a retired local educator who decided to assign herself the task of drinking at every watering hole on Westword’s list of the 100 bars we can’t live without with her friend and former colleague, Erin Spry. “We went to the Dirty Duck.” “And the most random thing happened...” Spry interjects. “It was so amazing,” Alvarez continues. “One of the customers there had made beef Wellington, and he had scalloped potatoes, and the bartender had made some spicy beans. He’s like, ‘If you guys want, you can have some.’ You could tell it was just a bunch of regulars, and this is how they were celebrating Easter.” About a month before that, Alvarez had come across the bar list online. “We are educators, so we take a task to heart,” she explains. “We love a good cocktail, but were in desperate need of new places to enjoy.” The two live in Aurora and had fre- quented a place formerly called McCarthy’s. “That used to be our go-to. Best bartender, Karen. They served goblets of wine, heavy pours,” Alvarez says. She even ended up taking a spur-of-the-moment trip to Chicago with Spry once after booking a ticket during happy hour at McCarthy’s. “I was so drunk when I got on the plane,” Alvarez adds, laughing. But McCarthy’s has since changed ownership: It’s now called the Angry Clover, and it just doesn’t have the same ap- peal for the friends. So Alvarez did what came naturally to her: She created fi eld trips, grouping the bars on the list geographi- cally so she and Spry could hit a few in one day, with most of the excursions taking place over the summer. They plan to complete the list with a fi nal stop at Tatar- ian on Tennyson for a co-birthday celebration on November 11. I meet up with the pair at their 88th stop, the High Lonesome, to learn more about their mission and get their feedback. “We have some questions for you,” Spry says as I sip a mezcal Negroni. Along the way to reaching the 88th bar, the two have had some pretty memorable times, all of which they recorded with notes and pictures that Alvarez organized into a scrapbook that details their adventures across the metro area’s bar scene. Spry and Alvarez not only kept track of their experiences, but they also gave each bar a rating. “A gold medal means we would return there, absolutely, 100 per- cent, hands-down,” Spry explains. “Silver is we would probably go back. And then there are a few skull-and-crossbones.” The entry for Bar Bar, for ex- ample, includes notes like “almost died,” “friendly bartender” and “one customer,” along with a photo that shows chalk art behind the well that says “Welcome to Hell.” There were only fi ve types of liquor available the day they visited the cash-only dive: Jack, Jameson, Jim, Tito’s, Exotica. While they didn’t stay long, they did down a shot of Tito’s. “I asked for a Sprite back, and I’m pretty sure the bartender gave me his own personal soda,” Spry recalls. Even if Bar Bar’s very specifi c type of “charm” wasn’t for them, Spry and Alvarez can laugh about the experience and appreciate the fact that not every bar is for every person — and even that can shift depending on the time of day you visit. When they went to the 76-year-old Don’s Club Tavern on East Sixth Avenue for pickle shots, for example, they showed up late at night, when the crowd tends to skew younger and rowdier. “We need to go back during the day,” Alvarez says. Often, Spry and Alvarez have taken other friends along on their fi eld trips. “We asked for permission slips from spouses,” Spry says. “Sign the permission slip, because there’s no telling what’s going to happen,” Alvarez adds. Like the excursion the two refer to as “the night we broke Jefe,” during which they took their friend Jeff to the Horseshoe Lounge and ended up fi nishing off an entire bottle of Maker’s Mark 46. Jeff recovered, they add, and even tagged along on an outing to the Electric Cure in Edgewater while it was celebrating the Summer of Jeff (Goldblum). Food fi nds were a bonus of exploring the bar list, Spry notes. At Forget Me Not in Cherry Creek, they were pleasantly surprised to fi nd a Chicago-style hot dog on the menu alongside more bougie selections like hamachi crudo and the $32 lobster crunch wrap. “They split and griddle it so that it can hold all of the top- pings. Oh, my God, it’s amazing,” Alvarez says. Hot dogs were a win at Yacht Club as well, where the two also enjoyed snack- ing on Old Bay-spiced Goldfi sh. The $10 lunch lasagna at Genn- aro’s, which has been open on South Broadway since 1951, was another winner. “It’s ridiculously cheap, and it was great,” says Spry. From strong drinks at Lakev- iew Lounge at 7:30 a.m. to cocktails at Cooper Lounge inside Union Station — a stop the two got a little more dressed up for, they admit — Spry and Alvarez have enjoyed exploring a wide range of bars. The best part, they agree, has been visit- ing places “that we would never have gone to otherwise,” Spry says. There was the Castle in Little- ton, where they imbibed at the sunken bar and discovered that the place makes killer brisket nachos on Saturdays using the leftover barbecue from its Friday night smoked-meats specials. ESP Hi-Fi was an unexpected hit. “We’ve already been there twice,” Alvarez says. They also rave about quirky cocktail bar Fort Greene, which is tucked away in Globeville. They’re already planning a return visit to TrashHawk on South Broadway, and will head back to Wide Right when the Broncos take on the Buffalo Bills on November 13. There was one bar on the list that shuttered before they made it there: the Teenage Mutant Ninja-themed Casey Jones, which closed in July. But as a bonus, they managed to check off every spot on our Ten Best Dive Bars list, in- cluding Twins Inn in Arvada, where they had a close encounter with the pet birds named Pretty and Bitch that call the place home. One spot that didn’t impress Spry and Alvarez: Teacher’s Lounge Food + Drink, which opened in the Slate Hotel last year. This spot, which is located in the former Emily Griffi th Opportunity School, wasn’t on our 100 bars list, but they had to check it anyway, for obvious reasons. “It needs to be an actual teacher’s lounge! It’s not what we would do,” says Alvarez, adding that she and Spry have long joked about opening a bar with that name. “We’d have a kindergarten table, which would be really small. And a science table where you can doodle,” Spry adds. “And if you order a PTCO, that’s water, because they’re a buzzkill,” Alvarez says, referring to Parent-Teacher Community Organizations. Maybe one day, their version of a teacher’s lounge-inspired bar will make our list. Until then, they’ll keep up the research. Give these imbibers an A for effort...and alcohol. “Drink Here: The 100 Best Bars We Can’t Live Without in 2024” will be published on November 22, just in time for Thanksgiving Eve drinking. Send your nominations to cafe@ westword.com. CAFE FIND MORE FOOD & DRINK COVERAGE AT WESTWORD.COM/RESTAURANTS Edie Alvarez created a scrapbook that details her and Erin Spry’s bar adventures. MOLLY MARTIN Erin Spry (left) and Edie Alvarez know how to have a good time. COURTESY OF EDIE ALVAREZ
