Entry No. 9 — the Grand Junction file — filed under: speakeasy
Manhattan Project
“The name is local history, not a gimmick.”
Handlebar Tap House looks like a post-ride beer stop — 24 taps, bikes everywhere. But follow the yellow trefoil markers up two flights of stairs and you'll hit a bathroom sign next to an old bookshelf. There's a buzzer hidden on the shelf; press it and the bookcase clicks open onto a roughly 20-seat cocktail room done up in 1940s atomic style. The name is local history, not a gimmick: the real Manhattan Project refined its uranium right here in Grand Junction.
The move: Order a beer downstairs at Handlebar, tell your date there's a second bar somewhere in the building, and race to find the buzzer behind the bookshelf — loser buys the first round of Manhattans.
📍 Before you go Enter through Handlebar Tap House and follow the yellow atomic-logo markers up two flights; the door is the bookshelf beside the bathroom sign, with the buzzer hidden on the shelf itself. The room seats only about 20, so reserve through the Handlebar site or show up on the early side — walk-ins are welcome but it fills. It only opens evenings late in the week, which makes it a natural finish to a day at the Lunch Loops trails or Colorado National Monument, both just up Monument Road. There's a parking lot at Handlebar.
- 📍 Grand Junction
- 💸 $$
- ⚡ Up for anything
- 🌗 Indoors
Where: 417 Monument Rd, Grand Junction, CO 81507 (upstairs inside Handlebar Tap House)
Hours: Added 2026-06-11 — confirm current hours before you go.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Proof: source 1 · source 2 · source 3
last checked: 2026-06-11