Beer Calendar: Platt Park Brewing Opens Gates Deli & Grog

The owners of Platt Park Brewing have quietly opened Gates Deli & Grog, a takeout sandwich spot next door to the brewery, at 1875 South Pearl Street. Tucked into a tiny, 550-square-foot space, Gates will serve food through two windows, one to the brewery itself and one facing the street.

Named in honor of the Gates family that helped create and support the Platt Park neighborhood, the deli has eight “culinary junk food” sandwiches that brewery and deli owner Colby Rankin modeled after the fare at Turkey and the Wolf, a New Orleans eatery that won Bon Appétit’s Best New Restaurant nod in 2017. Some of those sandwiches will use bison, since Rankin’s family also owns Rocky Mountain Natural Meats, a large bison management, production and distribution company based in Colorado.

To open the space, the Rankin family is applying for a brewpub license that will also allow them to serve wine and cocktails. In a Facebook post, Rankin says he hopes that will happen in about a month.

Continue reading to see craft-beer events into late July.

Wednesday, July 10
Novel Strand Brewing has gone once around the sun, and the owners feel like celebrating, so the Baker neighborhood brewery will be releasing new beers each day from Wednesday through Sunday. Today's draft releases are Popular Demand, a German-style kellerpils-inspired lager brewed and lightly dry-hopped with Kohatu, Motueka, Taiheke and Waimea hops; and Muscles from Brussels, a small saison fermented with a blend of three Brettanomyces strains and lightly dry-hopped with African Queen and Rakau.

The folks at TRVE Brewing have once again collaborated with their friends at Cerebral Brewing, whom they affectionately call "the nerds." This time, they brewed an IPA called The Sciences, an East Coast-style IPA dry-hopped with Citra, Motueka, Taiheke and Idaho 7. The Sciences will be available on tap and in cans at 3 p.m.

Thursday July 11
Novel Strand Brewing continues its birthday celebration by tapping Supreme Supreme, a strong, hoppy ale brewed with Mosaic and Nelson Sauvin hops. Michigan Colorado Chefs will be outside with food.

Friday, July 12
Novel Strand celebrates its one-year anniversary with a triple can release. The first beer is Green Showers, its hoppy flagship. The second is Baby Showers, a small hoppy ale made with Amarillo, Huell Melon and Mosaic hops. The third is A Lot Cooler If It Was Green, a strong, hoppy ale brewed with Idaho 7, Mosaic and Nelson.

Join Ratio Beerworks for the return of Major Nights Lime Gose, a summer seasonal that "blends tart, savory, acidic flavors into one beautiful, easy-drinking summer classic," the brewery says. "This mildly tart, mildly salty, traditional German-style wheat beer received the addition of nearly 400 hand-zested limes. Major Nights is an explosion of unique savory flavors brought on by the use of coriander and red-gold Hawaiian sea salt, as well as the bright, refreshing tartness of fresh limes."

Falling Rock Tap House will celebrate Christmas in July by tapping a few kegs of Gouden Carolus Christmas and Anchor Brewing Company's Our Special Ale.

Saturday July 13
In keeping with its international theme, the Intrepid Sojourner Beer Project will host its third annual Bastille Day party and tap a specialty saison made with a blend of French culinary herbs and spices. In honor of the French Revolution, the brewery will host a French-cheese-focused beer pairing with the Truffle Cheese Shop, a beer garden with lawn games, and a local artisan craft market. Ninja Ramen will be the food truck.

Novel Strand Brewing releases Dancing on the Moon, an ale brewed with local malted barley, wheat, oats and aged hops and "fermented and conditioned in freshly emptied cabernet sauvignon barrels by a mixed culture composed of various strains of Brettanomyces, Lactobacillus, Pediococcus and Saccharomyces," the brewery says. It was "naturally re-fermented and conditioned in the bottle by residual microflora." The beer will be available in 500 mL and 750 mL corked and caged bottles only. La Patrona will be outside with tacos.

Alpine Dog Brewing will test out a new yeast strain when it taps a "Walloon-style Saison" at noon. This is a "light and dry summer beer with nice pepper and citrus notes," the brewery says.

Cerebral Brewing will release two bottled beers, one of which should have fans of the brewery lining up. They are Space Cake Imperial Rye Stout, at 12.9 percent, which has been aging for fifteen months in freshly dumped Breckenridge Bourbon Barrels and then conditioned on walnuts, Mexican cacao nibs from Cultura Craft Chocolate and Madagascar bourbon vanilla. The second beer is Raspberry Drupaceous, a 7.5 percent wild ale aged in French Oak barrels for seven months before being conditioned on copious amounts of raspberry and raspberry honey. For details on the release, the line and more, go to Cerebral's Facebook page.

Join 2 Penguins Tap & Grill in Centennial once again for its IPA Smackdown from 3 to 6 p.m. This time, six of Colorado’s best hazy IPAs will battle for supremacy of your tastebuds; cast your vote once you’ve tried the flight of six hazy IPAs "in the blind." Your vote is also an entry to win some Colorado craft-beer swag.You can also try to guess all six breweries correctly for a special bonus prize. The competitors are Woods Boss The Oswald, Cerberus Elysium IPA, Something Haze & Juice, River North Mountain Haze, New Terrain Golden Haze, and Odell Mountain Standard IPA.

The Colorado Brewers Rendezvous returns to Salida's Riverside Park for its 23rd iteration as a fundraiser for the Colorado Brewers Guild. This year's fest will pour beers from more than seventy Colorado breweries, along with music and food. Tickets are $45, and the fest starts at 1 p.m.

Sunday July 14
Novel Strand Brewing wraps up its birthday week by tapping Shot on Location, Vol. 1, an ale fermented with a blend of three different Kveik strains of yeast from Scandinavia and cold-infused with coffee beans from Coffee Arabica berries fermented in Colombia using a culture of Brettanomyces and Lactobacillus. This beer is a collaboration with Queen City Collective Coffee. Ninja Ramen will be out front.

Tuesday, July 16
Ratio Beeworks taps Rooftops Mexican Lager, a summer seasonal brewed with flaked corn. "Rooftops is clean and crisp, with a slight touch of salinity," the brewery says.

Thursday, July 18
As a fundraiser for Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, Cerebral Brewing has put together a special beer called Hands Off My Fruit, a 6.5 percent ABV fruited sour with raspberry and pineapple. "While almost everything seems to be polarizing these days, we believe deeply that health care shouldn’t be. We share the belief that comprehensive and compassionate health care should be available and legal for anyone who seeks it. This belief is at the core of what Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains embodies, and we are proud to stand with them in the best way we know how — brewing beer," the brewery says. Cerebral will donate $1 from every pint sold, along with all can sales of the beer today, to Planned Parenthood.

Friday, July 19
Little Machine Beer Company will tap a new beer called Plum Juice Tart. This 5.4 percent ABV beer was brewed in collaboration with the band the Elegant Plums, which will play a release show in the tasting room.

Saturday, July 20
Join Wonderland Brewing in Broomfield as it commemorates the fiftieth anniversary of the moon landing by tapping a special beer called Conspiracy Theory. "The moon landing isn't the only thing we have to be proud of. We've re-created the 1960s classic American pilsner — with a playful twist," the brewery says. There will be raffles every hour, and Wonderland will be talking about all things moon landing.

Westbound & Down Brewing will host a release party at its shared Denver barrel cellar, the Cultural Center. The brewery will have four new Grape Squad variants. "These four golden sour blends are built around some of our favorite wine grape varietals harvested from California’s Central Coast. All four beers will be available on draft and in bottles to-go," the brewery says. They are viognier, riesling, cabernet Franc, and a still version of the cab Franc. The Cultural Center, 6381 Beach Street #A, opens at noon.

Boulder Beer Company will celebrate its milestone fortieth anniversary with a party from noon to 6 p.m. The brewers will tap "a slew of experimental pilot brews in the Rare Beer Garden, including a Pecan Nut Brown, a Key Lime Gose and a Honey Blossom Wheat, along with two hard seltzers and two beer slushies. There will also be live music from Timber at noon and the Matt Flaherty Band at 3 p.m., followed by festive outdoor karaoke after 6 p.m. The event is open to everyone, but there are tasting packages that come with a commemorative glass as well as tickets for a Killer Penguin Barleywine Vertical Tasting with brewmaster Rob Black happening at 3 p.m. in the brewhouse. Murray’s Cheese and On Tap Kitchen Pretzels will also be on site handing out samples, but the brewery's kitchen will be open as always.

Wibby Brewing in Longmont will throw its second annual Hoopla-gers All Lager Pool Party and Beer Festival starting at noon. Described by many as one of the best fests of the year in 2018, Hooplagers features lagered beers from more than fifty breweries in a commemorative mug, a "legit" beach party with oversized pools, a sandy beach and live music from the Pan Association Steel Drum Band. There will also be "a tropical silent-disco-arcade taking over our blacked-out, black-lit, air-conditioned taproom filled with bubbles and mystic steam," the brewery says. Tickets, $36 to $65, include access to artisan vending, interactive crafts, outdoor games, food trucks and more. To gain entrance, all attendees must bring one non-perishable food item, as the event is also a food drive. There will be two party trolleys running from Denver and one from Wheat Ridge (tickets are extra). Get more information at Wibby Brewing's Facebook page.