Let me start by saying this weekend was my first time in Colorado and Breckenridge was by far one of the prettiest places on the planet...well places I have been anyway. Photos truly do not do it justice because the contrast of the incredibly green trees, the snow capped mountains and the golden rocks were truly breathtaking...not to mention the quaint old school charm of the town itself. So we were walking on Main Street...yes, it is actually called Main Street, cute right? And we were looking for somewhere to have breakfast and watch the World Cup game when we stumbled (not literally we were sober at this point) upon an old school saloon.




The Gold Pan Saloon truly looks like something out of an old western movie, however it has the modern day accoutrements of a sports bar...big screen tvs and pool tables. And a swing a ring at a hook game that people would only attempt after having way too much to drink or imbibing in some of the other legal intoxicant found in Colorado and Washington...I did not participate in the intoxicants or the ring and hook game...just for clarification.


This saloon has been around since 1879, well actually 1861 was the first bar on that property, however initially it was housed in a tent. In 1879 it became a permanent structure, which was around the time that Breckenridge became a booming mining town. In 1880, Breckenridge had 18 saloons along Main Street...that is a lot of bars!! Now one of the other claims to fame that the Gold Pan can claim is the fact that it stayed open during prohibition. The bartender told us that since it was so far west it never made it on a map and so they never got shut down. In addition, he said that no one was ballsy enough to take a drink out of a miners hand, so it has been continuously operating since 1879. Impressive!!


The Gold Pan Saloon has a giant wood bar that takes up a large part of the restaurant space. It is made of mahogany and it is quite solid as we discovered (ouchie knees ay MS). The bar stools are bolted down and it has a giant mirror behind the bar, which according to the bars story, was designed so that a miner can watch his back while enjoying his cocktail.


The bar has 7-8 beers on tap, a full bar and several homemade liquors. I tried the spicy Bloody Mary which had jalapeno infused vodka...amazing!! They also serve lunch and dinner all day. I am pretty much a fan of any place that serves breakfast all day and this place did not disappoint. I had a mushroom, spinach and tomato benedict that was awesome and their home fried potatoes made me happy.


My partner in crime tried the shrimp and grits with Cajun seasoning, which was also really good, but it just didn't photograph as well.


The staff was incredibly friendly and they were fun to talk to, informative and really seemed to enjoy what they did. The staff seemed to be well motivated...partially due to the fact that the Chef made his crew redbull and vodka shots to keep them going throughout their day. I need a job like that!!


Seriously if you are in the Breckenridge area you need to stop by this place! It was the perfect place to chill, watch Brazil win against Chile, after penalty kicks and to just enjoy good food, good drinks and good company. Cheers!