Denver's Best Food and Drink Things to Do From December 28 Through 30, 2018 | Westword
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The Best Food & Drink Events on the Culinary Calendar This Weekend

Toast to your dog, enjoy a New Year's Eve Eve dinner and get a taste of aged beers, all this weekend in Denver.
Celebrate the season at Diebolt with your favorite four-legged friend.
Celebrate the season at Diebolt with your favorite four-legged friend. Courtesy Diebolt Brewing Company Facebook
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You've consumed Christmas dinner, drank the house dry and sent the relatives packing; the only logical thing to do now is to encase yourself in a cocoon fashioned from ribbons and remnants of wrapping paper and silently meditate upon your liver for the next three nights (in preparation for New Year's Eve, of course). But if you're not one for logic, here are four food and drink events that will tide you over until the next party, as well as some dates to put on the 2019 calendar.

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Don't give your dog beer — but if you do, make sure it's better than Miller Lite. But seriously: Don't give your dog beer.
Friday, December 28
Spend the last Friday night of 2018 partying with friends who will never hook up with some loser at the bar and abandon you, get so drunk they puke in your car or steal your food without asking. Okay, they might do that last one, but it's a small price to pay for the unconditional love you get from your canine companion. Diebolt Brewing, 3855 Mariposa Street, is throwing a party for you and your pup on Friday, December 28, that will benefit Maxfund Animal Adoption Center. Tickets, $12, include pet caricature drawings, a ball thrower, dog food and treat samples (including a scoop of Sweet Action ice cream for humans), entry into the peanut-butter-licking contest (for your dog, not you), and the chance to hang out with your most reliable of buddies while drinking good beer. The party runs from 7 to 8:30 p.m.; snag your tickets on Eventbrite.

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Get a bellyful of barrel-aged beers at Renegade this Saturday.
Courtesy Renegade Brewing Company Facebook
Saturday, December 29

Build a base for the parties to come at a pancake breakfast at Four Seasons Farmers' and Artisans' Market. From 9 to 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, December 29, you can feast on pancakes made with special buckwheat flour from Pfz Farms in Haxton, topped with syrup from Pam's Jams. And may we suggest a side of Harvest Acres sausage? The market is located at 7043 West 38th Avenue in Wheat Ridge; find out more by calling 720-560-6648 or visiting fourseasonsfam.com.

Contemplate your advancing age as you head into the new year at Renegade Brewing. The taproom at 925 West Ninth Avenue is tapping some of its own well-aged brews from 2018 on Saturday, December 29. From noon to 10 p.m., six barrel-aged beers will be poured during the brewery's Barrel Aged Tap Takeover. Versions of Hammer Imperial Stout, Chocolate Oatmeal Stout (spiced with berbere), Cherry Farmhouse on Brett, Bedwetter Barleywine, Renegado Rye Mexican Lager and Pancakes Maple Porter (aged in rum barrels) will make appearances, as will The One and Only Jon Ham, who will be crooning from 6 to 9 p.m. Find out more on Renegade's Facebook page. Pro tip: If you drink enough, you won't care that you're aging at about the same rate as these beers.

Bistro Barbès has your back if you don't want to venture out on NYE.
Danielle Lirette
Sunday, December 30
Ring in 2019 a day early — and avoid crowds, inflated prices and general fuckery — on Sunday, December 30. Bistro Barbès, 5021 East 28th Avenue, is hosting a seven-course New Year's Eve Eve dinner at 5 p.m.; offerings include salmon terrine, gnocchi, diver scallops and beef Wellington for $80, with wine pairings for an additional $40. And in consideration of those with dietary restrictions, vegetarian, gluten- and dairy-free substitutions will also be on the menu. Find out more on the restaurant's Facebook page, then call 720-398-8085 to book your seat.

Keep reading for future food and drink events:
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Chances are good you'll get some fresh sausage in Il Porcellino's meat CSA box.
Courtesy Il Porcellino Salumi Facebook
Sunday, January 27, 2018
Il Porcellino Salumi, 4334 West 41st Avenue, expanded dramatically this year with the addition of a production facility in Basalt, and with its increased capacity, it's also bringing a slew of new products to market. One of those is the meat CSA the Berkeley shop is debuting in 2019. Just think of a typical summer produce CSA, but for carnivores. Each box comes with the makings for two meals for two people, such as polenta, shredded beef in chile sauce and a half-chicken marinated in white wine, butter and garlic. The program will run from January through March, with four boxes each month; customers for February (the first month of the CSA) must order by Sunday, January 27, and can pick up their goodies at the shop each Sunday, beginning February 3. A one-month commitment ($200) is required, so call 303-477-3206 to sign up, then say goodbye to hitting the grocery store and fretting about recalled ground beef for the next thirty days.

Friday, February 22, through Sunday, March 3, 2019
Denver Restaurant Week is coming, so clear your calendar from February 22 through March 3; you'll want to visit a different eatery every day. Hundreds of Denver’s top restaurants will offer multi-course dinners for three tasty prices ($25, $35 or $45) during the fifteenth year of the wildly popular week. Stay tuned to Visit Denver for a list of participants and menus, and book your first choices right away, before someone else nabs your table.

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Paddle away on a river of suds at Collaboration Fest.
Danielle Lirette
Saturday, March 16, 2019
Beer festivals in this town are serious business; there's at least one happening somewhere in the metro area every weekend, and many are long-running ventures with the attendee count growing each year. Some people (not us, of course) even plan their fests a year in advance. Collaboration Fest is hoping you're one of those people, as tickets for the Saturday, March 16, event are now on sale — even though the beers won't touch your lips until March. Early-bird tickets are priced at $55 and $80 at collaborationfest.com, where you can get a few details about the festival, which will run from 3 to 6 p.m. at the Hyatt Regency Denver, 650 15th Street. The upside to snatching up those tickets now? By the time the fun rolls around, you'll have forgotten how much you spent to have it.

If you know of a date that should be on this calendar, send information to [email protected].
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