Cool Cocktails: Colorado’s Best Patios For An Early Fall Drink 

Best Patio for Aviation Enthusiasts, Historians, and Families 

FlyteCo Tower  

In 2022, aviation-themed brewery  FlyteCo Tower  opened its 25,000-square-foot brewpub in the now-defunct Stapleton Air Traffic Control tower attached to the iconic 164-foot-tower, which includes an expansive patio. The patio includes 18 holes of minigolf, ping pong, and lawn games, in addition to the bowling lanes, full arcade, and three floors of fun inside. The space has become a community gathering space for craft beer lovers, families, and aviation enthusiasts alike. If you want a view of the patio — and the best view of the Rocky Mountains — you can take a tour up to the top of the tower. 

Best Patio in Yampa Valley

Mambo Italiano 

With tables full of beloved Italian-American delicacies like chicken and eggplant Parmigiano and rigatoni alla vodka, Italian-inspired spritzes, an enviable wine list, a generous happy hour, a Tuscany-inspired mural, Mambo Italiano’s gorgeous patio in the heart of downtown Steamboat Springs is one of Colorado’s very best al fresco dining spots. Perched at 6,900 feet in Yampa Valley, Mambo is one of the first spots you see when you arrive in town. Mambo boasts an inviting open kitchen, pizza bar, indoor-outdoor bar, and beautiful patio that combines New and Old World Italian cuisine and décor. Sister restaurant Yampa Valley Kitchen, one of only two restaurants in Colorado to be named to OpenTable’s annual Top 100 Brunch Restaurants, makes a killer Macha Mint Garden & Tonic mocktail you’ll want to try on-site, but you can also make it at home. 

Best Patio for Dinner on Boulder’s Pearl Street

OAK at Fourteenth  

Located in the heart of Boulder, Colorado’s pedestrian-only Pearl Street Mall,  OAK at Fourteenth’s  patio has been a neighborhood staple of downtown for more than a decade. Recently recommended by the Michelin Guide, the stylish neighborhood restaurant has been offering local and seasonal woodfired American cuisine to locals and visitors for more than a decade. Led by co-owner James Beard semifinalist chef Steve Redzikowski, the place continues to earn rave reviews. We especially love ordering the Lights Out mocktail and just watching Boulder stroll by.  

Best Dog-Friendly Patio, Best Gluten-Free Patio

Just BE Kitchen  

Right in the heart of Denver’s bustling Platte Street is Just BE Kitchen, where they serve up gluten-free goodies for humans and dogs alike. Just BE Kitchen’s patio is dog-friendly, and its menu is Paleo-, Whole30-, keto-, and AIP-friendly — 100 percent free of gluten, grains, refined sugars, dairy, and seed oils. For dogs, that means a house-created sweet-potato treat. The drool-worthy menu here appeals to health-conscious families, high-performance athletes, folks living with food allergies, and anyone seeking “mindful mouthfuls from a conscious kitchen.” This is stick-to-your-ribs comfort food that just so happens to be allergen-free. 

Recipes  

You can squeeze the last al fresco out of the dog days of summer and go headlong into fall with these mocktails on a patio of your own. 

Matcha Mint Garden & Tonic Recipe 

Courtesy Yampa Valley Kitchen 

Photo Credit: Crystal Brindle

 Ingredients:

• 1½ ounces gin (for mocktail, try Seedlip Garden) 
• 1½ ounces mint simple syrup (recipe below) 
• 1 ounce fresh-pressed green juice (store-bought or homemade green 
• juice, such as a celery juice, juice made with spinach and/or kale and other greens) 
• 1 ounce lime juice 
• 1 tablespoon unsweetened matcha powder 
• Tonic 
• Garnish: sliced cucumber and mint sprig. 

Directions:

1. Shake all ingredients with ice.
2. Strain into a goblet glass filled with ice.
3. Top with tonic.
4. Garnish with sliced cucumber and mint sprig. 
5. Serves 1 

*To make mint simple syrup 

• Combine 1 cup turbinado sugar, 1 cup boiling water, and 1 cup fresh mint leaves. Stir over heat until sugar dissolves. Let sit overnight.  

 Lights Out 

Courtesy of OAK at Fourteenth 

Ingredients:

• 1½ ounces zero-proof Three Spirits Livener 
• ½ ounce blackberry thyme simple syrup (recipe below) 
• 2 – 3 dashes Dram Apothecary Palo Santo bitters 
• 6 dashes Fee Brothers Aztec chocolate bitters 
• Soda water 

Directions: 

1. Combine Three Spirits, bitters, and simple syrup* in a shaker filled with ice.
2. Shake for a few seconds.
3. Pour over a cube of ice, preferably, or a cup filled with ice.
4. Garnish with blackberries and fresh thyme leaves.
5. Serves 1 

*To make the simple syrup 

1. Combine 1 quart sugar, 1 quart water, and a pint of blackberries.
2. Bring to a boil and boil for five minutes.
3. Turn off the heat and add a sprig of thyme.
4. Cover and let ingredients steep for 30 minutes or until cooled.
5. Strain. 

HEADER IMAGE: Patio at Mambo Italiano in Yampa Valley