City Spirits Wine and Liquor

Again in Denver for business (story of my life…) I wanted a glass of wine to enjoy before bed, but was over the convention bar scene as I was over talking to humans. After searching Unilocal I caught Über over to City Spirits Wine and Liquor to pick up a bottle for the duration of my stay.
It’s hard to find a proper wine shop open late, and they were. They were properly staffed. The wine area was temperature controlled! I shot off my lists of love/​hates with wine (Cab Franc, yay! Chardonnay, boo!) and was quickly helped with perfectly priced (I gave him my price point) and wines.
If I have to come back to the mile high city, I know what wine shop to hit up!

I was in Denver for a convention. That could be the beginning to a dirty joke but that’s a fact. I wanted a bottle of wine to take back to the hotel. Finding a liquor store in downtown Denver is not easy. I didn’t know that they don’t sell liquor at stores like Walgreens. It’s pretty odd that Denver is so tight on liquor when this is the state that just legalized pot. Go figure. Anyway this place was open and within walking distance. For someone from California the selection is pretty limited. My local grocery store has five times the number of wines. Maybe this is a function of the small size of the store. It is a nice, clean, well lit store. You don’t have to worry about running into any of the downtown homeless of which there are many. I wonder where they get their booze?

Visiting Denver, and received a recommendation from a waiter at a nearby restaurant that we could get friendly service and a wide selection of wines here. He was right. We told the owners husband what we were looking for, and he made a recommendation based on our taste. He wasn’t snobby, he didn’t make us feel silly for the type of wine we like, or anything like that. Did I pay more for a wine than I would have at a regular liquor store? Probably. Did I LOVE the taste of the wine we came home with and never would have known about if I didn’t stop in? Absolutely! Yum! And they will deliver to our hotel (where I had already paid $ 10 for a meh GLASS of wine). Bonus!

Joanna and Sarah were so nice! My girlfriend and I immediately felt welcome and comfortable from the moment we walked in and we found the two employees very helpful when we had questions. With their help we went home with two great bottles of wine we had never tried, a sauvignon blanc from Kenwood and a chenin blanc from Indaba. Both of them blew my mind, the Chenin blanc was smooth and a little fruity, while the Sauvignon Blanc was fresh and clean tasting.
While they don’t have many beers, most of the beers they do stock are great Colorado local microbrews like Great Divide, Avery, Oscar Blues, Left Hand, and Ska.
The only real thing you should be aware of is they don’t take cash, so make sure you have a card with you.

To start off they have a limited selection, which is fine, because the location is great and they have a selection of every drink type you could want.
BUT, and this is a BIG but for me, the customer service here was in my opinion really unsatisfactory. When we walked in we were greeted, and then one of the two employees walked literally two steps behind us the entire time we were at the store. She didn’t even work on stocking or recovery shelves, but looked right at us awkwardly. At one point she even stepped in front of us, blocking a cooler we were looking in, and caused us to move, only to reach into that cooler to pull a six pack forward.
I do NOT appreciate being targeted in an unfriendly manner, and followed like a kid in a candy store. I don’t know if this is just their security system or if it’s not LBGTQ friendly, but I will not be stopping back in here, nor will I recommend it.

Great wine tasting. The RubyTrust Gunslinger was incredible.

Amy and her husband really know what they are doing at this store. It is always a delight to walk in, try something new (free tastings are every Thursday and Friday!), and see what local products they have to offer.
Located in the middle of Writer’s Square, City Spirits offers wine, hard liquor, mixers, and beer. There is even a seperate temperature controlled room for the wine. Everything is neatly organized and Amy is more than happy to help you locate something in the store or at another location. Do keep in mind the store ONLY takes cards, no cash or checks.
Don’t want to go out in the cold for your liquor run? Well you don’t have to! City Spirits does FREE delivery! Just give them a call or go online and pick out what you’re looking for-​I believe delivery takes about 30 minutes.
If you haven’t been to this location before I highly recommend it. The staff is super nice and informative about their products, the pricers are way better than Champa liquor on 16^th and Champa, and if you write a review on Unilocal and show an employee you get a free mini liquor bottle!

Such friendly service, beautiful setup, and free wine tastings. Definitely will be back.

Amy was so nice and friendly!
I was in town for a girls trip and Amy was so sweet. She gave us an impromptu wine tasting, and a lot of great recommendations on where to go in Denver. If I return, I will definitely be stopping by City Spirits again!

The people that work here are super nice and really helpful! I live downtown and seriously, CSWL has the best selection of wine and the best prices near 16^th street mall. Make sure you stop by Friday/​Saturday early evening to grab a few wine samples! Sidenote: They only accept credit cards-​no cash! Oh and they deliver for free up to 3 blocks away! GENIUS!

This place rocks. Great wine selection and good prices on harder stuff.

This is a nice store that’s tucked away from the bustle of the 16^th St Mall. We decided to check it out as my fiancé hasn’t been in before. It is geared more towards the upper class crowd with a lot of various wines, and wines in a cooler room kept at a very nice 58 degrees. My fiancé was able to find Hangar 1, a rarity I guess, that it’s difficult to find anywhere as well as his usual liquor. One good thing is they deliver within a 3 block radius.

We landed here on a Saturday night just before closing time, looking for some local beers and some cider. This is primarily a wine store but has a small variety of liquors and beers, and even had a couple of hard ciders to choose from. The staff was helpful in assisting us with our selections, even though we were giving very vague criteria to them. I loved the hard cider they suggested to us. The prices seemed a little expensive, but I suppose that’s the price to be paid for the convenience of shopping in a city center.

Large selection of wine with very knowledgable, friendly staff! The sales woman helped me pair wines with three very different meals and they were fantastic! Definitely going back.

I love City Spirits and Wine for 2 reasons. They have gluten free beer and no matter what my budget is for the week Amy always finds me amazing wine. I recommend City Spirits to all my friends.

It’s really nice to have a nice place like this so close to home. It’s not really nice to pay patently more money, e.g., $ 1 for a 100ml bottle, than I am used to paying for the same product elsewhere. A whole dollar for 100 ml? Really?
I had been wondering why and just was not buying the explanation: «we’re competitive.»
Today I figured it out. They charge a «no riff-​raff» tax. NO CASH ACCEPTED. Plastic only.
Now I get it. And I don’t like it. I understand the safety rationale as liquor stores are so often robbed; maybe robbed as often as convenient stores.
But come on. Don’t pass that one off to the customer.

Great location (for downtown peeps), great staff, and most importantly-​great wine selection plus beer and liquor! I dropped by shortly after they opened and they were awesome. I knew they knew their stuff when the manager, Amy, told me she loves La Fin Du Monde (my all time favorite beer) and carries it! They don’t have a lot of beer but what they do have are tops.
They told me they delivered (downtown Denver) and I really wanted to try that service out before I wrote my review. I called tonight and they said 20 – 25 minutes and 10 minutes later, they were at my door.
If you live near downtown I definitely recommend it. Looking at the prices, they are ~$ 1.00 more from, say, Argonauts on Colfax (which to me, is well worth it to not make that trip).