132 E. Elkhorn Ave, 970/586-9381, www.thewheelbar.com, Estes Park, Colorado

Open every day except Christmas since 1945, the Wheel Bar is a one-of-a-kind, Estes Park’s oldest and rowdiest watering hole, with a strangely hypnotic wheel rotating behind the bar. Opened by Orlando Nagl and still operated by the Nagl family, this joint has a long and storied history as the town’s de facto bank, gambling den, and pretty much everything else you can imagine in its 60-plus-year history. Attracting tourists and locals alike, the Wheel is the best spot for a post-backpacking bender after going walkabout in Rocky Mountain National Park.

An eastern journalist once wrote that Julesburg was “the wickedest city in the West.” In 1867, Union Pacific deemed the town the “end of track” and the frontier outpost immediately became one of Colorado Territory’s biggest towns, teeming with swindlers, prostitutes, bounty hunters, and other Western rogues. Storefronts lining the dusty streets were dominated by saloons, brothels, and gambling dens. Amidst all the drinking and whore-mongering, a guy known as “Blacksnake” used to whip cigars out of people’s mouths. But soon Cheyenne became UP’s new end of track, and most of the wickedness moved on.

So where does modern Julesburg rank on the wickedness scale? Not very high. On my research trip, only one bar was identified, and zero brothels.

11229 S. Colorado 93, about 10 miles north of Golden, Colorado, wwww.rockyflatslounge.com, 303/499-4242

Located in the windswept middle of nowhere between Golden and Boulder, the Rocky Flats Lounge is the consummate roadhouse, with a woodsy, slightly ornery vibe and loads of character. A payroll office turned watering hole for employees of the nearby Rocky Flats Plant, a nuclear weapons facility that was shuttered due to safety violations and the ensuing controversy, the lounge nowadays attracts mostly blue collar types, namely bikers, and fans of the Green Bay Packers, but it still plays off its toxic heritage in its T-shirts: “I got nuclear wasted at the Rocky Flats Lounge.”

5453 Manhart St. (just west of U.S. 85), Sedalia, Colorado, 303/688-9967

What was Herman’s Garage became Bud’s Bar in 1948 when Bud Hebert went into the libation business. (I’m not sure what happened to Herman.) About a dozen years later, Bud got a job as a Douglas County judge, so he legally couldn’t own a bar. He sold it, but his name stuck through the years. The place is known for cold beer and burgers. In fact, the menu has just four options—hamburgers, double hamburgers, cheeseburgers, and double cheeseburgers—and “No Fries, Dammit!” Chips. No Coke either. Pepsi.

In the Oxford Hotel, 1600 17th St., Denver, Colorado, 303/825-1107

Swathed in dim red light, the Cruise Room oozes swank and cool. Opened the day after Prohibition ended in 1933, this bar off of the lobby of the Oxford Hotel in LoDo was modeled after a lounge on the Queen Mary ocean liner, its Art Deco panels depicting drinking toasts from different cultures and its bar staff the most capable martini makers in town.