This piece is part of Ringleader Magazine's Roundtable Series exploring the intersections between Music and the Culinary World
Sunnyside’s Semiprecious Pairs Upscale Cocktails with a Cozy Neighborhood Atmosphere
A Hip yet Laid-Back Denver Watering Hole
December 4, 2025 | Evan Dale
Headed West on 44th through Sunnyside, Semiprecious can sneak up on you. The newly opened neighborhood haunt feels unassuming from the outside and is uniquely located on its own little stretch of otherwise barless terrain. But its floor-to-ceiling windows painted with the bar’s royal blue, handwritten logo are inviting, and for Sunnyside residents, it’s a short walk from home. Once inside, the space is designed in way that bridges the gap between a warm, local’s-only watering hole and a chic Mediterranean cocktailerie, while its menu of technologically perfected concoctions finds a similar balance between the haute and the nonchalant.
For owner and operator, Mike Capoferri – who also runs LA bars, Thunderbolt and Night on Earth – it’s that laid-back atmosphere while upholding high quality standards that underlines everything about Semiprecious, even its name. “At the end of the day, it’s a neighborhood bar,” he explained. “It’s not pretentious, it's not too fussy. But it should be beautiful, and the drinks should give people a reason to keep coming back. Throughout the concept process, we kept saying that it shouldn’t be too precious…. It should have thoughtful, beautiful design, but it should still be comfortable. You should be able to sit on everything, get everything wet, and not have it get ruined. It's all functional, and nothing about it should feel so precious that it can’t be used.”
Finding that harmony between the bar’s beautiful design and casual warmth was brought to life by Capoferri’s longtime partnership with all-encompassing Denver-based design firm Wunder Werkz, who also led the design of his California concepts. “They absolutely crushed the brief on branding,” lauded Capoferri. “I’ve been working with these guys for seven, eight years now. They do everything from web design and graphics to brand identity and interiors. They did our branding and design for Thunderbolt and some interiors there, too. They did our full design suite for Night on Earth – our second bar in LA.”
For Semiprecious in particular, the attention to design detail is apparent at every level of the bar’s character and space. Walking through the usually sun-drenched windows ornamented by an array of hand-drawn logos, a guest enters into the cozy, buttoned-up interior. Dressed in jewel-tones, detailed with timeless, comfortable post-modern-esque furniture, the bar is transportive to Mediterranean apéro culture without feeling out of place in Denver. The neighborhood nuance and the timeless décor bridge one another in a way that provides any guest with their own version of a lowkey yet upscale experience.
Liquidly, the Semiprecious offerings, too, mirror that same ethos. “We wanted to hone in on this amalgam of our favorite elements of all these different cultures,” explained Capoferri about the how the bar menu came together. “From the casual style of drinking to the bespoke spirits that are used, it’s been an opportunity to dial in all of our favorite things. Fun fortified wine from Western Europe and all the cool Spirits and liqueurs give you a ton to work with. We’ve put ourselves in a box creatively, but it's a big box. It's a big region with a ton of character to play with.”
Hand in hand with the technology at the heart of all Capoferri’s bars – where a belief that a cocktail’s temperature is itself a key ingredient – batched and nearly frozen, refrigeration techniques open up some extra creative elbow room for the bar team. “Perfecting the dilution and temperature makes for exactly the same serve, at exactly the right temp every time,“ detailed Capoferri. “We’re doing some uniquely savory stuff here, and I can't believe how well received it's been,” he continued. “We thought it would be a little polarizing for anywhere, and especially in a neighborhood joint like this, but it’s selling. We have a Sour Cream and Onion Martini that I absolutely love. Not that I'm allowed to pick favorites, but the Tomato Highball is also amazing. Clarified tomato juice with a Oaxacan rum. It’s got these wild sorts of flavors that people have really embraced.”
But it’s not all experimental, savory cocktails that make Semiprecious such a unique and welcomed addition to Denver’s barscape. “I think our two best-selling cocktails for the past month or so have been the Guava Sour and the Pineapple Infante,” said Capoferri. Both pair perfectly with the unpredictability of late Summer weather. And if a cocktail feels a little too strong, a canned Mango Spritz, Italian Beer, Basque Cider and a rotating wine list – amongst an NA menu – ensure that there’s something for everyone.
Rounding out the ambiance, a simple and seasonally changing selection of bites and charcuterie pairs with everything from the bar. And future plans for live music and partnerships with food trucks will only keep driving more business and bar crawlers to Semiprecious.
Semiprecious is located at 2839 W 44th Ave, Denver.
Its hours are Tuesday through Thursday 4:00p.m. – Midnight, Friday and Saturday 4:00p.m. – 2:00a.m., and Sunday 4:00p.m. – Midnight.
