What Opened in Denver: New Liquor Licences This Month

Risica is the one name in the newest batch of Denver liquor licences with a reported opening: Westword says the Milanese pizzeria and wine bar is now open in RiNo. Two other names share the newest issue date in the city's data, 2026-10-19, and they tell a different story. Odell Brewing Company holds a Brew Pub licence, and Vibe holds a Tavern and Cabaret licence. A licence marks the day paperwork was issued, not the day a door unlocked. What opened in Denver this month can only partly be read from the city's licence data, and outside reports fill in the rest.

Vibe is the best case for caution. Outside reports place a coffee-and-wine business with the same name at a different address, The Current at 3615 Delgany St, and no source ties it to the club on W 1st Ave.

The City and County of Denver's liquor license open data shows 10 new business liquor licences in the latest 28 days. The same data shows 10 for the matching days a year earlier, so the two stretches are level. The 28 days before this period produced 4 licences, which makes the latest stretch busier than the one just before it.

Only 2 of the 10 landed in the last seven days of the period, and both carry the final issue date. The earlier report holds the previous count, and the report before that led with Risica.

The comparison with last year rests on the total alone, since the data does not split last year's licences by type. With numbers this small, one or two businesses can change a count.

Hotel and Restaurant licences make up 7 of the 10, up from 2 in the period before. Brew Pub, Fermented Malt Beverage and Tavern and Cabaret took 1 each, and each had none in the period before.

The type is the city's category for the licence. It says what kind of licence was issued and nothing about how a business looks or runs from day to day. A Hotel and Restaurant licence tells a reader that a food-and-drink business applied, and the open data stops there.

Five Points is the neighborhood with two licences, and both are Hotel and Restaurant licences. Every other neighborhood in the data shows 1. One business is enough to move a neighborhood from 1 to 2, so the count says where licences were issued and nothing about a trend.

Crema Coffee House Patio is the one to plan a visit around, for a morning on its patio. The coffee house at 2862 Larimer St opens daily at 7 a.m. and closes at 5 p.m., so it suits an early start as much as an afternoon stop. It serves coffee, breakfast, brunch and dessert, and there is outdoor seating. The entrance and seating are wheelchair accessible, and the street out front has free parking. Crema has Coffee House and Bodega locations in Denver, and its site covers the rest of the business.

Risica is the clearest change since the earlier report. Westword reported on 2026-10-19 that the Milanese pizzeria and wine bar is now open in RiNo at 3463 Walnut St Ste 2. The paper names chef Andrea Frizzi and describes affordable pizzas, small plates and portafogli. Anyone following the name since the first report now has an opening to point to, which a filing alone never gave. The restaurant's own website still reads "opening soon", and that text predates the Westword report.

Only Crema Coffee House Patio on this list has outdoor seating, serves brunch, breakfast, coffee and dessert, has free street parking and is wheelchair accessible.

The brewery and the club share the newest issue date in the data, 2026-10-19, the last day the city has published. A new name on a filing can sit at an old address or a new one, so each gets a paragraph.

Odell Brewing Company is a brewery at 1625 N Perry St, filed under a Brew Pub licence in West Colfax. The city's data shows a licence issued on 2026-10-19, and that is all it shows. For anyone tracking brewery filings, it is the only Brew Pub licence in the ten.

Vibe is a club at 900 W 1st Ave Unit 130 in Baker, filed under a Tavern and Cabaret licence. The outside reports below describe Vibe Coffee and Wine at another address, so the name on the filing and the name in the news may not belong to the same business. It is the only Tavern and Cabaret licence in the ten.

The full run of ten, newest first, with the city's names, types and neighborhoods:

Outside reporting adds what the filings cannot, and it shows how easily a name on a licence and a name on an announcement drift apart.

• Vibe Coffee and Wine: ColoradoBiz reports it will open this fall in the remaining retail space at The Current, 3615 Delgany St.
• Vibe's tavern application: Newzino reports that Vibe Coffee and Wine filed a tavern licence application for that same address. The licence is pending, not approved. It differs from the city's Vibe filing in Baker.
• Risica: Westword reports it is now open in RiNo.

Side by side, the Vibe sources split like this:

Read the issue date as the day the city issued a licence, and nothing more. Some licensed businesses open before the paperwork lands, some long after, and some never. An announced opening is a separate claim from a filing, and it needs its own source.

Two checks come next. First, whether the licence the city issued to Vibe matches the pending tavern application at The Current, since the two addresses differ. Second, how the next period's count compares with this period's 10. The earlier report holds the previous count to compare against.

The counts come from the City and County of Denver's liquor license open data, pulled on 2026-10-21. The city has published licences through 2026-10-19.

The period is the latest 28 days, ending on that last published day. The period before is the 28 days that preceded it, and last year's period is the matching 28 days a year earlier.

Licences are counted by original issue date, and only business licences are included. One-off event permits and tastings are left out, and a business that sells no alcohol does not appear.

A licence is not an opening. The counts are small and are not rates, and one or two businesses can move a type or a neighborhood.

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