Located inside the former Heavenly Daze Brewery, at 200 South Kalamath Street, the Rackhouse will feature twenty tap handles (mostly Colorado microbrews), rather than the fifty that had been originally planned, along with a full menu, a pool table and other bar games.
The pub will also serve locally made micro-distilled products, says Chris Rippe, who is running the show at the Rackhouse. At the moment, there are only seven Colorado micro-distillers, but it helps that the place is located inside one of them.
The Rackhouse is renting its space from Stranahan's Colorado Whiskey, which bought the building in May so that it could triple production of premium whiskey.
As a result of this connection, the décor at the Rackhouse - which takes its name from the part of a brewery where the barrels are stored -- is heavy on barrels, says Rippe. Barrels decorate the walls, a column is surrounded by barrels and another wall is built out of barrels. And some of the Rackhouse's featured microbrews will be the powerful ones aged in whiskey barrels (typically Stranahan's) that have become popular recently.
Rippe has taken over management duties from Eric Warner, who also owns the Barking Goat Tavern, at 363 Village Square Lane, in Castle Rock. Warner is still a silent partner, however; both guys used to work for the Flying Dog Brewery, which moved from Denver to Maryland in 2008.
