Boulder co gay bars

Boulder is beautiful. There's no secret about that. This city, located at the base of the foothills in the Colorado mountains and relatively shut to Denver, is a city known for its abundance of outdoor beauty, and quirky, free-spirited touch. It's also known for being one of the warmest and welcoming cities in the country.

A Bit of Boulder History

Before its modern-day history, the Boulder Valley was first the home of the Native Americans, particularly the Southern Arapahoe tribe. In the mid-1800s during the gold rush, gold-seekers came to the area and established the first non-native settlement. By 1859, the Boulder City Town Organization had been organized to begin developing land in the area. Boulder Metropolis remained part of the Nebraska Territory until 1861 when the United States Congress created the Region of Colorado. It remained an important supply anchor and destination for miners searching for gold and silver at the day. Eventually, railroad service came to Boulder in the late 1800s, causing the area to experience significant additional growth. That progress continued throughout the first 20th century and beyond, and eventually, Boulder c

How DV8 Distillery Has Evolved into The Best Lgbtq+ Bar in Boulder

Boulder is well-known for being a progressive college town. But something that surprised Rawley Gunnels when he moved here was the lack of access to a progressive social life — namely, the absence of a gay bar where people could gather to drink, dance, socialize, like drag brunches and, most importantly, feel free to express themselves free of judgment.

Enter DV8 Distillery(2480 49th St. Suite E in Boulder). The craft distillery makes vodka, gin, whiskey and liqueurs, and even experiments with some fan favorites like a limited-release pink sparkly liquor with mica-based glitter in it. But the distillery has also recently expanded and evolved into a homosexual gathering space, filling the much-needed niche for a gay bar in Boulder.

The idea here? DV8 is a lifestyle, community and distillery all wrapped up in one. It’s a place where you can come for a sultry rave or a comedy show or pop into the tasting room to sip Earl Grey Vodka with notes of bergamot or a 5-grain bourbon.

Ultimately, the founders wanted to bring queer lgbtq+ fest to Boulder and provide a space where the community can flourish, says Johnathan

Meet the Duo Behind Boulder’s Only Queer Bar

The Local newsletter is your free, daily guide to experience in Colorado. For locals, by locals.

When Rawley Gunnels and Johnathan Tilley founded Boulder’s DV8 Distilling in 2016, they set out to craft crave-worthy gluten-free spirits and carve out a space for the neighborhood. As the distillery’s product line of rice-based bourbons, gin, and vodkas grows, so does the business’s mission to cause a safe, inclusive atmosphere where “community can flourish without judgement,” according to Tilley. With sex-positive, kink-themed events sprinkled throughout its calendar—think: glow paint sway parties and circus shows—some nights lean more toward the risqué than others.

While the distillery has always been a community gathering place, it wasn’t originally branded as a “queer bar.” Concerned about rainbow capitalism—the commercialization and commodification of LGBTQ movements—Gunnels and Tilley shied away from declaring DV8 as a queer space until last year. That’s when the designation became such an important facet of their lives that not doing it felt disingenuous to them. Both individuals determine as queer, and Gunnels only came out fu

.