Entry No. 16 — the Denver file — filed under: craft cocktails
Bar Max
A craft cocktail bar on East Colfax that throws out the menu entirely: instead of ordering a drink, you describe what you like using a Flavor Wheel and a 100-profile Flavor Deck, cross off anything you hate, and the bartender builds something custom from a wall of rare and esoteric spirits. Owner Marshall Smith treats it like a choose-your-own-adventure for your palate. It is queer-friendly, low-key, and one of the only Denver bars built entirely around guest-directed drinks. No two visits taste the same.
The story
Max Hopewell-Arizmendi and Yuki Koyama originally opened Café Max as a European bistro on East Colfax back in 2013, eventually morphing it into Bar Max in 2016. When Denver native Marshall Smith took the keys in September 2019, he overhauled the drink program around a concept he picked up while sitting in The Laundry Room speakeasy in Las Vegas: throwing out written drink menus entirely in favor of direct conversation between guest and bartender.
Instead of forcing you to decipher obscure cocktail nomenclature or guess how an unfamiliar amaro tastes, Smith hands you a Flavor Wheel and a 100-card Flavor Deck. You select your targeted taste profiles—boozy, floral, bitter, citrusy, spicy—and strike out the ingredients or notes you hate. The bartender then turns to a wall loaded with unusual, hard-to-find bottles, pulling esoteric oddities like roasted dandelion liqueur or saffron liqueur to construct a custom glass tailored to your specifications.
It operates as a low-key, explicitly queer-friendly hideout on a stretch of East Colfax that usually tilts loud and frantic. There are no pretentions or safety-net fallback orders here; it is an unassuming choose-your-own-adventure laboratory where no two rounds taste identical, and you hold the steering wheel.
What it's like
Arriving at 2412 East Colfax, you will spot an unpretentious storefront tucked between City Park West and Congress Park with low-key signage that is easy to miss if you walk past too quickly. Inside, the footprint is small and intimate. Once seated at the bar, you'll be handed the Flavor Deck and Flavor Wheel to sort through your taste cravings and non-negotiables. Because every drink is constructed on the fly from esoteric bottles, prep takes a beat longer than a standard pour; swing by on a quieter weeknight if you want extra time to chat with the bartender about the exact spirits in your glass.
The move: Each describe your ideal flavor on the Flavor Deck without telling the other what you picked, then swap and taste-test the custom drinks the bartender builds.
📍 Before you go Bar Max sits in an unassuming East Colfax storefront in the City Park West/Congress Park stretch, near Columbine Street — look for the low-key frontage, not a flashy sign. It's small and intimate, so the bespoke build works best on quieter nights or from a seat at the bar; reservations are accepted and worth grabbing for weekends. Like most craft bars here it runs evenings into late night and tends to close early in the week — hours shift, so check ahead. Park on Colfax or a side street, and be mindful of nearby residents. Pair it with live music a few blocks east in the Bluebird District, or a daytime walk through City Park.
- 📍 East Colfax
- 💸 $$
- ⚡ Up for anything
- 🌗 Indoors
Where: 2412 E Colfax Ave, Denver, CO 80206
Hours: Evening hours into late night; closed some early-week nights is common for craft bars — verify current hours.
Pair it with
- The Learned Lemur — Pair a custom flavor-deck cocktail with a 0.1-mile walk down East Colfax to browse ethically sourced skulls, taxidermy, and curiosities inside a restored Victorian house.
- Ubisububi Room (at the Thin Man Tavern) — Contrast Bar Max's tailored cocktail experiment with unplugged shows and stand-up inside a 35-seat, tapestry-draped basement cave just 0.3 miles away beneath Thin Man Tavern.
- Smile High Tours Cannabis-Friendly Cheesman Park Ghost Tour — Start half a mile away with a lounge smoke session and evening ghost walk around Cheesman Park before capping off the night with a bespoke drink built around your exact palate.
- Retrograde — Continue your offbeat night 1.3 miles away by stepping through the walk-in freezer door inside Sweet Action Ice Cream to find a hidden back-room cocktail lounge.
Good to know
How do you order a drink if there is no menu?
You use Bar Max's Flavor Wheel and 100-profile Flavor Deck to pick your target taste profiles (like floral, bitter, or spicy) and cross off anything you dislike. The bartender builds a custom drink based on those parameters.
Who owns Bar Max and when did it start?
It started as Café Max in 2013 under founders Max Hopewell-Arizmendi and Yuki Koyama, transitioned to Bar Max in 2016, and was purchased in September 2019 by Denver native Marshall Smith.
Do I need a reservation?
Reservations are accepted and recommended for weekend nights due to the bar's small footprint, though walk-ins work well on quieter weeknights.
What kinds of spirits do they carry?
Bar Max stocks a wall of rare and esoteric spirits, including unusual bottles like saffron liqueur and roasted dandelion liqueur.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: Westword · Official site · cbsnews.com
last checked: 2026-06-07