All Drinks Are $5 at Lincoln's, a New Bar Hidden Downtown

A $15 vodka soda inspired Mark Ohlson to rethink the traditional bar business plan. The result is Lincoln's, a cash-only watering hole named for the president on the five-dollar bill that's now open inside the IceHouse building near Union Station — though you'll have to do some searching to find the entrance.

While it's important to Ohlson that exact instructions for getting to the bar aren't revealed — "that takes the magic out of us being a hidden bar," he notes — this isn't a speakeasy: Prohibition ended in 1933, after all. But with no sign and a sprawling subterranean space, Lincoln's does feel like a secret.

A really good secret that you're definitely going to want to spill to your friends. The concept is simple: Every drink here, which includes beer, wine and a list of spirits available neat or with simple mixers, costs just $5, tax included.
Ohlson is a wine and restaurant industry vet from Vermont who was at a tasting event in Boston in 2013 when he ducked into a bar and ordered a vodka soda. When he got the bill — $14 plus $1.12 in taxes — "it seemed flippantly expensive," he recalls. So he set out to find a way to do things differently.

He knew that the cost of a typical mid-range vodka soda is around $2, so why the high markup? In contrast, retail store markups are typically around 100 percent. "So why not open a drink shop?" he remembers thinking.

In 2015, he did just that, debuting the first Lincoln's in Portland, Maine, where he's lived for the past fifteen years. The bare-bones approach — no televisions, no upgrades, no credit cards — proved to be a hit. Even Dave Chappelle is a fan: Ohlson says he stopped in one night and returned the next, calling it his favorite bar of that tour. In 2017, Ohlson added a second location in the college town of Burlington, Vermont.
He'd visited Denver frequently over the years to see friends and was scoping out the Mile High for a third Lincoln's in 2019, but the pandemic put those plans on pause. "When the smoke cleared and COVID slowly started to fade, I started looking again," he says. "I really like the energy and the scene."

Denver is a much bigger city than Portland or Burlington, and Ohlson's newest Lincoln's is right in the heart of downtown. "This is a great space in a great neighborhood," he notes.

The IceHouse building was constructed in 1903 as the headquarters for the Littleton Creamery, replacing its offices at 18th and Market streets; the space where Lincoln's is now was once used for butter production. It's been various bars and clubs before. In 2022, there were plans to open an electronic dance music club in the spot, but those fell through after neighbors expressed concerns.

Lincoln's is a much more low-key spot. Once you find the door, you check in at the host stand, where your ID will be scanned — a security measure that ensures Ohlson can track down any guests who cause trouble, like swiping one of the many portraits of Abe that can be found on the walls.
There are no neon signs or plant-covered walls here. It's simply a place to imbibe and connect with others: a bare-bones bar that gets back to the basics. The space does boast plenty of comfy seating, including booths made from 110-year-old church pews and a 156-year-old couch from Chatham, Massachusetts. A self-described fan of puns, Ohlson dubbed one corner the "John Wilkes Booth."

There's a piano, too. "We hope to have piano players come in, because, uniquely, everyone here has dollars in their pockets, so someone could come in, put out a tip jar and make $100 an hour on a busy day if they know how to work a room," Ohlson says.

The drink menu lists ten spirits, including Tito's Vodka, Mile High Spirits Gin, Jack Daniel's and Four Roses Bourbon. Mixer options range from soda water and tonic to lemonade, cranberry juice, ginger ale, Pepsi and Starry. There are also red and white wine options, boozy seltzer, cider and several beers, including Lincoln's Lager, which is being brewed for the bar by Odell. And because all bars must serve food, chili mac is available — for $5, of course.

"We want people to have the experience of finding us," Ohlson concludes. And when you do, you're probably going to want to stay a while.

Lincoln's is open from 4 p.m. to midnight Monday through Thursday, 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. Friday, noon to 2 a.m. Saturday and noon to midnight Sunday. For more information, follow it @lincolnsdenver on Instagram.