Medieval mead bar Carw Gwyn debuts with opening on Colfax in Denver

For Douglas Wagner, opening Carw Gwyn was an exercise in Murphy’s Law.

“It just seemed like everything I could run into, I did,” the first-time restaurant owner said.

He hoped the medieval Europe-themed mead bar, pronounced “ca-roo gwinn,” at 1509 N. Marion St. in Denver’s City Park West would open in July. But after monthslong permitting delays, his mead bar had its first day of service Nov. 12.

“It ended up being very convoluted and opaque,” Wagner said. “We’re glad to be at the starting line for a business, and now we’re going to have all the challenges that a business in Denver normally faces.”

The star of the show at Carw Gwyn is its rotating selection of 20 meads served on tap, in bottles or glasses and in flights. All are made along the Front Range, Wagner said, and he’s in talks to feature more local mead makers in the future.

“Despite it being the oldest alcoholic beverage known to mankind, a lot of people are coming to us to sort of develop their palette and investigate and learn,” Wagner said.

The spot also has beers, ciders and whiskeys available, alongside a list of house cocktails. Wagner is particularly excited for the Deerhound, a take on the Greyhound, which features vodka, mead and grapefruit.

Carw Gwyn also serves stews, a sausage platter and a charcuterie and cheese plate. Wagner is sourcing turnover-style pastries called Cornish pasties from The Pasty Republic, which has spots on Tennyson Street and in Cherry Creek.

Wagner also said the spot will host such weekly events as live acoustic music, storytelling or game nights, all related to the medieval and fantasy themes of the restaurant. Those have yet to be finalized, but he sees the stage space near the back of the unit as the perfect venue.

“It’s to drive traffic on the days we’re slower,” he said, noting he’s had lots of other types of events proposed to him.

Wagner spent 27 years at the Denver Art Museum before jumping into Carw Gwyn full time in March. In Englewood, he also runs a European martial arts school called the Rocky Mountain Swordplay Guild, which teaches medieval fencing techniques.

Wagner said he has always been fascinated by that period of history, and his idea for a Carw Gwyn-style tavern started over a decade ago, when he was exploring ways to boost revenue for his school outside of teaching classes. But the Swordplay Guild eventually grew enough to sustain itself, and he put the idea on hold until two years ago, when he and an assistant instructor decided to band together for the project.

The journey to opening was a tale in itself.

The 2,000-square-foot building was home to Kinga’s Lounge from 2007 to 2022 and then The Mansion, which closed a year ago. Wagner bought the restaurant from The Mansion owners, took over the several years left on its lease and hoped to open relatively quickly after some cosmetic interior renovations.

That construction started in March, and Wagner said his contractor, engineer and designer all told him he didn’t need to pull permits because they weren’t touching the plumbing or electrical. He was only putting in wooden beams and updating the bar to make it feel hundreds of years old.

“By and large it looked like the place was finished,” he said, noting that outside of a few minor things, Carw Gwyn looks the same now as it did when construction wrapped up in July.

But after a city inspector came that same month, Wagner discovered permits were needed. He had to retroactively pull building and wastewater permits, as well as bring fire suppression systems up to code — something he assumed had been taken care of by the previous tenant.