In 2025 Michelin recognized more than 30 Denver restaurants in the third year of their Michelin Guide Colorado. The famously anonymous Michelin Guide inspectors selected a diverse range of restaurants across the city that exude culinary excellence. Denver joined Boulder, Aspen and Snowmass Village, the Town of Vail and Beaver Creek Resort in the Colorado Michelin Guide, the eighth Guide destination in North America. More information about the Michelin Guide program is available on the Visit Denver website.
Further advancing Denver’s culinary chops, in 2024, Denver had a strong showing at the James Beard Foundation awards. Erika Whitaker and Kelly Whitaker, of Restaurant Group ID EST (The Wolf's Tailor, BRUTØ) won Outstanding Restaurateur. Even the airport was recognized in Food & Wine’s 2023 list of “The 10 Best U.S. Airports for Food,” Denver International Airport landed the Editor’s Pick. Additionally, Empower Field at Mile High was ranked No. 5 for “Best NFL Stadium Food” by USA TODAY in October 2024
Colorado as a state is among the top 10 in breweries per capita and one of the top five states with the most craft distilleries. Denver was ranked No. 10 in USA TODAY’S “10 Best Beer Cities,” and Great American Beer Festival was ranked No. 4 in their list of “10 Best Beer Festivals” in March 2025. In 2021, Esquire named Colorado, “one of the foremost states when it comes to craft whiskey,” citing two Denver distilleries, Stranahan’s and Leopold Bros., as top options (even naming the latter its No. 8 distillery in the country). This sentiment was echoed by Travel + Leisure, which ranked Leopold Bros. sixth in the country.