A Denver drink distribution trio is trading their delivery routes for their own dining room. Terruño Ancestral Spirits is set to open later this month at 1526 Blake St. in Lower Downtown, taking over the former Honor Farm space with tequila, mezcal and rare Mexican spirits alongside regional Mexican cuisine that goes well beyond Tex-Mex. The bar and restaurant will run from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., with an attached grab-and-go café serving coffee, energy drinks and Mexican pastries from 7 a.m. through 1 p.m.
Guides, Not Waiters, Explain Every Pour
Instead of traditional waitstaff, Terruño plans to staff the floor with guides trained to walk diners through spirit pairings and the story behind each bottle, according to The Denver Post. Co-owner Bere Vallarino told the paper that guides will share the history behind every drink and cocktail served. The menu will lean on hundreds of spirits sourced mostly from farmers in Mexico, rounded out with beer, whiskey, vodka, gin and other liquors from local distilleries and breweries, plus cocktails developed by co-owner Miguel Salgado, who has experimented with mixology.
The venture is an extension of work Fabiola Castillo, Vallarino and Salgado have already been doing for three years, distributing tequila, mezcal, raicilla and sotol to restaurants and bars across Colorado while working only with small and medium-sized producers. Vallarino said the principal idea behind the business is to help producers in Mexico, and the trio says it pays fair prices for the products it sources. The paper reports the group will keep running that distribution business alongside the new restaurant, and plans to hold educational sessions several times a month, including visits from Mexican farmers who will travel to Colorado to discuss their products.
From Importers To Restaurant Owners
Vallarino and Salgado moved to Colorado in 2019 after previously living in Mexico City, leaving the country after facing threats from gangs, per the same report. Once in Colorado, they became importers of Mexican candies and other small goods, work that led them to meet Castillo, who ran a similar importing business of her own; Salgado had also run an importing business back in Mexico City. Castillo, for her part, had left Mexico in 2000 and spent decades working as an accountant in the United States before the three joined the alcohol distribution trade together three years ago.
A LoDo Address With A Storied Past
The building the trio is moving into carries more than 160 years of Denver drinking history. Constructed in 1863 after a city fire prompted Denver's brick building ordinance, 1526 Blake St. first housed the Charles Eyser Boarding House & Saloon, making it one of Lower Downtown's oldest commercial structures, according to HomeToDenver. Its basement still holds a walk-in steel vault built in the 1880s by Union Foundry Works of Chicago, an 1890 freight elevator, and underground tunnels tied to Prohibition-era alcohol transport.
Before Terruño, the space cycled through a long list of tenants, including the Pueblo-themed Fuel & Iron, Brass Tacks, the decade-long saloon The Blake Street Vault, which operated from 2008 to 2018, and the American Costume Company for decades before that, as Denver Westword has reported. Its mezzanine also hosted Hell or High Water Tiki, a haunted gay pirate ship-themed lounge run by the owners of Edgewater's The Electric Cure, from July 2022 until December 2025. Most recently, the building housed Honor Farm, where Chopped champion Dave Hadley ran his Samosa Shop and turned out his viral Lamb Kabob Smashburger and other Indian-Caribbean street food, according to DiningOut, before Honor Farm closed at the end of 2025.
New Lease Follows A Chance Delivery Stop
Castillo, Vallarino and Salgado found the space while delivering spirits to an account near D'Corazon Mexican restaurant, and the trio signed a 10-year lease in May 2026, the Denver Post reports. Commercial real estate broker Zach Cytryn of Axio Commercial Real Estate marketed the former Honor Farm space to the group; Cytryn and Axio partner Nathan Stern had purchased the building back in April 2022, according to Denver Westword. Because a bar has operated in the space for over a century, the team only needed to make cosmetic changes rather than a full buildout, though the property has also served as a hostel at points in its history.
Riding Mexico's Spirits Boom
Terruño's arrival lands amid a broader surge in American demand for Mexican distillates. U.S. imports of Mexican distilled spirits hit $4.4 billion in 2023, more than double 2019 levels, making the United States the world's top export market for Mexican tequilas and mezcals, per Mexico Business News. Alternative agave spirits such as raicilla, sotol and bacanora are projected to grow globally at a 7% compound annual rate through 2028, outpacing traditional tequila, according to IWSR. Both sotol and raicilla carry official Designation of Origin protections from the Mexican government, granted in 2004 and 2019, respectively, which legally restrict production to specific regions and artisanal standards.
Opening a new restaurant bar in Colorado isn't a quick process. Launching on-premises spirit service requires dual approvals from state and municipal authorities, a process that can take anywhere from 40 days to six months and requires applicants to show the establishment serves neighborhood needs and desires, according to Toast. Terruño's owners appear to already have cleared that path as they prepare to open their doors later this month, bringing regional Mexican chefs and cuisine from different parts of the country to LoDo, per the Denver Post.
