The Palisade Livery Saloon

I was warned when we came into this bar that you are to respect the staff and locals or you may be kicked out. Fair enough.

I love divey bars that have solid CO beers on tap like ODell and Avery along with the standards. I think my favorite part was escaping the heat with a cold beer while the guys at the bar were singing along to the jukebox. Singing in bars is The Dr's MO. We had a very enjoyable time hanging with the locals, drinking, and singing.

This is the end stop on the Palisade Booze Crawl (after the distillery and brewery), and what a fine place to rest your boozy keister at that!

Beautiful interior; I have no idea how old The Livery is, but it looks like John Wane and Clint Eastwood had a saloon love child. I desperately want to enter this place with a gun holster on my hips, order a cold one with just a nod, and then shoot a mean game of pool. Perhaps after beating my opponent in this steely eyed match of skill (sadly in reality, totally unlikely), I'd like to have a shoot out on the bar, ending somehow in a romantic (yet, overplayed) silver-screen kiss. So I like westerns...

The occupants of this fine Shoot-em-up Saloon are any where from Harley Harlots, 1st Rate (full time) Boozers, The Lost, and people who understand what it means to enjoy a real, honest to goodness, bar. Don't plan on ordering your foo-foo bitch drinks here, cus it ain't that kind of bar. The most complicated drink you're gunna get is a gin n soda, or a rum n coke. Oh yeah, and 'there's no crying in Baseball'!

They even have some pretty great bands play here every once in a while.

Overall: Play to your inner cowboy and get yourself a frothy mustache.

I had to talk my husband into entering this fine establishment.  After surveying the clientle for about 20 minutes from the outside of the bar on a shaded bench after wine tasting, I finally convinced him that it would be super cool to go into this wonderful bar and have a beer.

Nothing tastes better in 90+ degree weather after wine tasting, than a frosty mug of beer.  We entered with Freebird blaring on the jukebox and a short woman instructing the bartender to put MORE BOOZE, MORE BOOZE, MORE BOOZE into her vodka and soda on the rocks.  She then yanked the bottle of olives out of her hand and began to dirty up her drink.  She closed her show by writing a check for said drink.  Now THAT is what I'm talkin' 'bout!

We decided to order an Amber Bock on tap which was the darkest beer they had to offer.  It was served in a frosty glass mug for only $2.  The other choices for beers on tap were Bud, Bud Light, Coors, and Coors Light.  Most patrons were drinking bottled beers.

During our libation there was shift change.  The old bartender told the new that she forgot to ask Mike to get them more ice.  The new took her position at the bar commandingly answering the phone as it rang off the hook.  The last ring ended in her yelling out that the lights on her truck were on.  She instructed her mom, the short woman who wrote the check, to go turn them off for her.  There was confusion between mother and daughter about how to turn off said headlights but in the end, peace was restored.

Freebird played on.  We finished our Amber Bocks and much to my amazement, the hubby then wanted to order a Silver Bullet.  We were in the Rockies after all.  I mistakenly just called out Coors Light and the bartender brought us a bottle.  I was hoping for another frosty mug.  Oh well.  When that bottle was gone, we hit the hot streets to tour the drive though liquor store front and take in the local flavor a bit more.

On our way back to our car, the short woman pulled up with a back seat full of ice asking us how long we would be in town.  Unfortunately we only had one more night so we would miss the touring farmers market that she claimed made this downtown pit-stop quaint once a week.  We thanked her for her hospitality and jumped into our Hyundai Accent and headed back to our Hampton Inn in Grand Junction.

Now that felt like a day on vacation!