License No 1

Super cool place with super cool people and atmosphere. My boyfriend and I stayed at Boulder for one night and we were so happy that we chose this bar as our nightlife experience here. I’d recommend this place to anyone who’s looking for a fun and cool bar with live music!

A local friend recommended to check out this hotel for a drink. The lobby architecture was awesome. The stained glass ceiling was beautiful. We asked at the desk about our bar options. Out of the three options, we chose this one downstairs based on ambiance. You have to ring the bell to get in.
I ordered the Pimms cup and enjoyed it.
The place is dark and very red. Service was ok depending on number of people.
The three of us tried two desserts. One was chocolate with hazelnuts. It had whipped cream. It was surprisingly boring. Not very sweet. The other dessert blew us away. It was cranberry and apple pie/​tart thing. It was served warm with ice cream. Tart and sweet, hot and cold, contrasting textures, all added to its addictiveness.
I loved this place and highly recommend it. I will return to this bar next time I am in the area.

Gorgeous drink menu but not for anyone looking for $ 1 wells or dive bar nonsense. My favorite cocktail is the Penicillin — it’s awesome! Or at least try some of the house made tonics :)
Great staff & fun place if you’re a regular or just someone visiting trying to get a nice taste of Boulder — the bartenders alone can give you great advice on what else to see/​tour in town

Very cool, hidden place! Great atmosphere, friendly people, and a solid selection of drinks and very interesting bar foods. I’m not really a bar person, but would absolutely go there again.

The people that work here are what make this spot one of Boulder’s best kept secrets.
Want an Old Fashioned? Fine. I suppose this is a speakeasy after all.
But if you really want to spark a conversation with the bartender and taste something special, ask them for a bartender’s choice. You’ll see a fun little spark in their eyes as they make you something fun to drink.

I love this place! Soch a pleasant surprise to walk into the basement of the Hotel Boulderado and there are all these little chambers/​rooms/​bars! The night we went, they had an excellent live jug band playing! So fun!

Great place to grab a drink. Live music. Big dance area. GREAT moscow mule. Legit. Quite the scene, but you’re in Boulder so what’d you expect? I’d love to come back here. We don’t drink in Boulder much anymore but I’d like to make this a stop next time we go.

I had drinks there on a couple different nights, including an appetizer one of the nights (tasty Brussels sprouts!!).
Very tasty cocktails (I recommend trying the Manhattan and the Corpse Reviver #2) and a chill atmosphere with great music selections played at a good volume. (As previous reviews have revealed, I am kind of a crotchety old person when it comes to excessively loud music.) Overall, I’m very happy I stopped by this bar beneath the Boulderado hotel and intend to do so again if/​when I’m next in Boulder.

We were staying at the Hotel Boulderado, so we were happy to find that this dimly-​lit (yet warm) woodsy bar was open late and still serving food and drink. Though I’m a wino, this is definitely not a place to get wine. Stick with some local beers on tap, or better yet, the cocktails, which seem to be lovingly crafted and taken seriously. It’s a beautiful wooden bar that’s well-​stocked and comfy.
I can also recommend the crème brûlée, it was surprisingly well-​paired with a beer, and had lots of yummy and real vanilla bean seeds.

I’ve found myself in this establishment on two occasions in the past month or so (one for a get together and another for an event).
With much hesitation I joined a few friends to join said event. When we arrived to the venue we were excited to learn that we would each receive one free drink however it seemed that the food and drink specials were no longer in place (as advertised in the invite), which perhaps may be due to a miscommunication between the event organizer (who is not associated with License No 1) and the establishment.
Once at the bar to redeem our drink tickets I was shocked to hear that my friends were super uncomfortable as the staff was actively voicing their disapproval of making a number of free drinks that evening (I happen to know that my friends tipped $ 2 and $ 3 respectively on each of their respective free drinks). This really turned my friends and I off and put a major damper on the evening. We finished our libations and moved along to another establishment from there.
More recently I returned for a get together. Arriving early I was happy to take advantage of the happy hour special (Bahama Mama didn’t have much flavor but I appreciated the fresh juicy and dark cherry adornment) and truffle fries. As I was the first to arrive from my party I asked both staffers if I might be able to order 2 drinks (one for the guest of honor and one for myself) and neither of them acknowledged my question so when they asked if I wanted to keep a tab open or close the check, I opted to close the check. The truffle fries arrived quickly, had a beautiful presentation and were piping hot. Unfortunately they were in much need of salt however as the staff proved neither friendly or approachable I doused each fry in the sauces provided to try to give them some flavor and discussed moving to another venue when the party finally did arrive.

When the Boulderado opened its doors in 1909, Boulder was a dry city. I hear that the aptly named bar was actually the first bar to acquire a license (under its former name — The Catacombs) to sell liquor in Boulder after a «dry» period in 1969.
The space is inviting with comfy bar stools, a gorgeous wood bar top and low lighting. You feel like you’re in a speakeasy. Sprinkled throughout the nooks and niches are intimate seating spots.
Loved the handcrafted cocktails. Try the Brown Derby with Buffalo Trace Bourbon, honey and muddled grapefruit. The Spring Forward is a great choice for vodka drinkers, featuring Spring 44 vodka, honey and basil lemon. They also have a full assortment of national and international scotches.
Yeah…cool little basement for a hotel bar.

Really neat basement bar with a friendly feel
Staff suit the place & the cocktails are amazing. You can find a quiet corner or mingle at the bar.

Jesus! We lost catacombs for this overpriced, generic, $ 9 taste the same as everywhere cocktails that are the lifeblood of San Francisco/​LA/​NY for people who are boring as shit trying to not be boring as shit. As a guy that grew up here I was more than catastrophically distraught that some of the only places in Boulder that… well, made it boulder are now gone. Juanita’s (best Tex-​Mex I have had to date-​Texas included), Fatty J’s (you show me another place that make pizza dumplings and I’ll shut up… because I haven’t found it yet in FL/​TX/​CO/​CA/​MI/​MS included), and now one of the cheapest places to drink WITH fun stuff to do, is gone. All in the name of what… conversation, isn’t that what outside is for while sharing a doobie? How hard is it to open up your moth hole and make air go through it, just move away form any speaker that is around you? Seriously that is why people are saying they like this place? There were tons of other places that had that going, hell the two bars upstairs in the hotel had that, and you couldn’t figure that out or find it, so you chose this place, what the hell, use that thingy you are tied to and walk the 10 steps.
Here is why you should be a little miffed about because if you are not, then I am outright calling you out as a boring, unimaginative person who probably moved here from another boring unimaginative place full of boring people who like to buy expensive things in order to not appear dreadfully dull.
1. It had the best air hockey tables in all of Boulder (hell I’ll include up to Westminster because Dave & Busters’ are terrible).They were the florescent ones (actual regulation for professional use… didn’t even know they had that), and they were actually clean, so there were a minim of dead spaces, we’ll just call those ones the «Fuck yea! Pickachu’s.»
2. They were 1 of 3 places that had Buck Hunter, and while the placement was terrible, they had it, and kept the machine in good working order, Walrus does not.
3. Great and many pool tables. Seriously, bros need that, how else can they talk about things without the need to smash each other’s balls?
4. Some video games, Neo-​geo even. When was the last time you saw one of those? Press play doesn’t, and Cat’s games even worked (everything in press play is kinda sticky and not ever 100%).
5. CHEAP, CHEAP, CHEAP drinks. I went there after living in Miami, was at late happy hour with some friends ordered 2 vodka tonics and a blue moon, and then proceeded to lose my mind over the fact that it was only $ 5, I had to call in a friend to make sure I heard correctly, as I could not believe it, we were both stunned, so like al red blooded Americans we doubled down. You are never, ever going to get that with BBBBURP No. 1.
And, to top it off they spent 4 million for/​on it? Seriously? I would believe 400k, and even with that I would wonder, where exactly did it go, the round booths are still there, the flooring is the same, the bar is the same, how they hell did you spend all that money, and have nothing to show for it, I know those turn of the century prints are only $ 175 a pop. You had something that was unique, and had little or no competition (Walrus/​Scumdowners). Now, you have another forgettable upscale place that is in direct competition with Happa/​Corner Bar/​The Med/​Shine/​Walnut/​Absinth/​The Rio/​Blackcat/​biter bar/​blah blah blah same olé’ shit? Just a really, really bad business idea. Don’t you guys watch «Bar Rescue?» The really crazy thing is that Press Play is sucking up all the extra money, and customer base and is just killing it on the Monday-​Thursday night (packed…who packs it on M-​Th?), which for Summer is just insane.
Staff was great I guess, my drinks had alcohol in them, but I hated the place, at least the out of town bride was happy right?

What a sweet place! Last year when we come to Boulder for our writing workshop at the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics, we happened upon the sign as we were exploring the environs and followed the downward pointing arrow to the sexy sprawling sub-​street-​level space. Our huge corner booth seemed to come with its own film noir lighting that compelled us to quietly make out until our friendly waitress mimed clearing the steam from our virtual windows. The happy hour menu was not bad at all, though I don’t remember what we ate, as the Manhattan ($ 12) and Sazerac ($ 11) packed quite a punch, and the second and third rounds fairly pummeled us into a state of, well, beatitude, man. Dig it.
This year for our workshop, we stayed at a great AirBnB attic studio that’s an easy walking distance from License No. 1, so we returned a couple more times and decided this had to be one of our personal Boulder landmarks. On our especially magical speakeasy date, we had a swanky dinner in a sweet nook next to the room where a great old-​timey band was playing. We sat in plush armchairs across from each other and drank powerfully potable Pimms cups and a Sidecar for the lady, as my husband likes to say, while the cute waitress squeezed our dinner onto the wee marble table between us. Deliciously fresh oysters on the half-​shell, ahi sashimi, truffle fries, and carmelized brussels sprouts were perfect for us, but what raised the cinegasmic level of the evening to beyond the beyond: dancing! There were quite a few people on the dance floor, but we got in there and got down with unabashed jazz hands, mad quasi-​swing moves, a couple of Fosse fouettés, and a jillion laughs – the best dessert!

Love the patio! Love the vibe! Great place to hang and people watch in Boulder while enjoying a warm summer’s eve and sipping on a cocktail. Not a huge fan of fried appetizers, so skipped the late night bar menu. Would love to go back.

License No. 1 may be the classiest place to get a drink in Boulder.
I’ve been here twice, once to celebrate a friend’s birthday when my group sat at the bar and chatted with bartenders for a couple hours and again when we stumbled into a really awesome live band called the Alcapones.
These guys make drinks with great ingredients and proper technique and it’s fun to watch the process unfold in front of you.
I never visited the Catacombs but friends who have and have visited License 1 since then are giddily surprised by how different (for the better) License 1 is. License 1 is a Boulder gem!

I came here for an after wedding drink with the bride and groom and some other friends and family members. The décor was awesome and I loved the setting. The venue was pretty loud for how intamate of a location it is and the beer selection is just okay. It might be because of the time we came in, but there seems to be better bars just right next door.

The new renovations are cool but the service was terrible. My wife, myself and two friends went to Happy Hour on a Friday night. From what we could tell they had 1 waitress on staff for the entire place and she was either new to serving or just bad. We had to grab her as she flew past our table in order to get more drinks and food. We asked for separate bills which she got a little messed up, no big deal to us, but she also didn’t give us the Happy Hour discount. We showed her what needed the discount applied and when she came back she still hadn’t applied it to all of our friends bill. She was nice but service is more about a smile. I think I got better service when this place was a dive-​bar for college kids.
The food was ok, nothing to write home about. The drinks were good and priced on par with the rest of Boulder.

I believe this place just opened up recently and so I checked it out with some coworkers while we were staying at the hotel upstairs and we definitely thought it had a neat vibe. It took a while for someone to come to the door to let us in but once we were in it was hopin’ on a Thursday night (we showed up around 10pm and stayed until midnight). There are lots of little nooks and crannies to sit and have a conversation — tip: get your drink at the bar first if you’re going to sit in one of the remote locations. We chose a table near the front and the waitress helped us right away and even brought us some appetizers that weren’t on the menu.
Next time I’m in town I’ll go back. The Old Fashioned is their specialty drink and you’ve got to try it.

Like most all of you, I have great past and present memories of Catacombs. I was open minded and excited to see the new remodel. I recently left after one beer knowing I would never be back again. Horrible lack of vision and design in this awkward and unfriendly remodel.
I agree with Joshua B. that the new staff was a turn off. Male bartender at back bar was a tool & lacked a level of professionalism required to be a good bartender.