We’ve brought you the best brunch cocktails in Boulder. But the thing is, Boulder brunches so hard, like such a pro, that we had to go back for more.
Add these drinkable breakfast ideas to your weekend calendar immediately.
Cheap and Creative Classics
The Buff, 2600 Canyon Blvd., knows how to weekend. First, it has to have the best brunch beverage deals in Boulder. It offers 99-cent Bloody Marys, mimosas and tequila sunrises with a breakfast entree, limited to three drinks.
Got a table to fill? Order a Tatanka for just $8.50: a full quart of Bloody Mary, served with a side of bacon and veggies to garnish as you desire.
The Buff also has some innovative twists on classic brunch drinks, like the Queen Mary (a Bloody with premium vodka) and a Bloody Maria (aptly named because it’s mixed with tequila).
Then there are cocktails you’ve probably never had before, like a Brewmosa. That’s a beer (Avery White Rascal) and OJ. Never had beer for breakfast? It’s time to check off some bucket list items.
Liquid Brunch
River and Woods, 2328 Pearl St., calls its brunch beverage menu “liquid brunch,” and to be real, it deserves its own designated web page. Mixing beer with juice for breakfast must be #trending because River and Woods is doing it, too. The Monkey Punch blends an Avery Pils with Odwalla OJ and Golden Moon dry curacao.
Not having it with the breakfast beer fad? Try R&W’s house Bloody with a lime salt rim; add bacon for a buck.
If you want to truly embody the liquid brunch concept, order a Tom Thumbelini. It’s a glass of brut (Freixenet brut) accented with (wait for it) the fruit jam of the day. Who needs toast, anyway?
Make Your Own Mimosas
Maybe you’re the creative type. Maybe you’re open-minded and eager to try all kinds of new flavas. Maybe you’re a control freak. Maybe you and only you know how to make a mimosa just right.
Whatever your motivation, you’ll love Salt’s Make-Me-A-Mimosa kit for your table. Everyone can mix and match flavors for their own liking. The kit comes with a bottle of sparkling wine or champagne (sparklers include Cava, Prosecco and Hubert Clavelin Cremant), plus your choice of three different juices (such as orange, pomegranate, pineapple and cranberry). It’s priced from $28 to $52, depending on your bubbly.
Finish your morning with a Tavern Coffee, which is Silver Canyon coffee with sugar and Irish whiskey.
Salt is located at 1047 Pearl St.
Unique: Seafood Garnishings and Fancy Slushies
Head to Wild Standard, 1043 Pearl St., if you have a hankering for something unusual. Wild Standard has two unique brunch drinks.
First, the Wild Mary is made with house-made Bloody Mary mix, Spring 44 vodka (a local vodka made in Loveland) and garnished with your choice of crab claws, shrimp and/or Chunu oysters. Suddenly a bacon Bloody is far less interesting, now isn’t it? Bet your Bloody has never had claws before.
You can also just order a regular Bloody, but why would you do that if you can get one with 2 ounces of crab legs? Oh, there’s also a Bloody Mary garnished with half a lobster tail for $24. That’s putting the “tail” in “cocktail.” (Groan. Have another cocktail and it’ll be funnier.)
On those hot summer days when you wish you still had a Snoopy snow cone machine from when you were a kid, the solution is the Frozen Raspberry Mimosa. This is the grown-up, sexy version of a slushy. It’s like a mimosa (yay, champagne) but instead of OJ, it’s mixed with a house-made raspberry puree whose consistency is quite sorbet-slushy-esque.
Here’s one more brunch-tail we’ve never heard of before. It’s called For Your Health, and therefore it is 100 percent healthy and don’t even try to say otherwise, even though it has brandy and bubbles. It’s Avua Prata cachaça (confession: We had no idea what this was but discovered a new fave summery alcoholic beverage here), Caprock pear brandy, aperol, Cocchi Rosa Aperitivo, lemon juice and house bubbles.
Drinkable Art
The Hilton Garden Inn Boulder, 2701 Canyon Blvd., has a new brunch menu that’s out of this galaxy (chicken and waffles, gahhhh). Possibly the best part is its creative “Boulder Bubble” drink menu featuring cocktails inspired by local artist Johnny DeFeo, who also happens to be the CU student/artist who designed the bright murals in all of the hotel guest rooms. Turns out he knows how to bartend, too.
Highlights of this drinkable art: the Purple Cougar for $11, made with Absolut Citron, Crème de Violette, cranberry and raspberry, and the Dark and Gloomy for $9, made with Chinese Five Spice and activated charcoal. How trendy-Boulder is that?
Make your Sunday ultra-Boulder with free outdoor yoga classes next to the hotel’s beautiful, saline-based, outdoor swimming pool. Offered in partnership with the nearby Yoga Pod studio, these classes are every other Sunday through the end of August at 9:30 a.m. on the pool deck. BYOyogamat.
