Monkey Barrel

What a great little place! A wide variety of beer on tap and live music from a very talented man on a Friday night, can’t go wrong. We decided to try this place out after dinner down the street and I’m glad we stopped in.

Great spot on the Platte
Fact, it’s a Monkey, not a cat
Tho cool cats roll through
Beers on tap, you, clapping
Crowd of chill cohorts
And amiable sorts
I’m liftin’ smiles w Clifton
Open mic thursday night thing
No fighting, just writing, of songs
If it’s catchy, they’ll sing along
Fling a thong, share a small bong
And cheer. Great to be here.
— Breezy Briel

Pretty cool neighborhood spot with a surprisingly good beer list. They have NFL Sunday ticket but not a lot of TVs. Patio is great when the weather is nice, and really the only downfall to this place would be a random crowd on weekends.

Located on a nice quiet city street with adequate parking this place is worth going to. I’ve only visited this bar once but I would come back based on my first experiences there. Firstly if you’re a fan of sour beer they had 3 or 4 on tap when I was there. The live music was good and simple, no complaints there. They do however seem limited on their cocktails/​mixed drink knowledge. But overall I stayed close to 3 hours. Left spending less than 50 bucks and happy!

There is no way this place can get less than 5 stars! THEY HAVE N64 IN EVERY BOOTH!
Oh yeah. the beers on tap are awesome too!
I came here after meeting some friends for drinks at Beer Co. Obviously the beer here is much better. It was a weeknight so it was pretty chill inside. The bartender was really cool and knew his stuff about the beers on tap.
Going to have to come back to check out the patio and food!

It should be pretty obvious … Awesome beer list + sweet location + MARIO KART = 5 stars. Seriously though I like going to this place because they carry a lot of local beers that are very unique and diverse. I also realized they have a pretty sweet patio out the back door. I’ll look forward to hanging out there when the weather is nice again next year.
If anything could be improved, it would be to buy some new N64 controllers. Looks like new ones on amazon are about $ 12.
Overall, this place is a pretty sweet hangout.

Monkey Barrel is one of Denver’s best kept beer bar secrets (so don’t go telling too many people). It’s a fun little hole in the wall, with friendly bartenders and a really solid beer list. While they may not sport 100 taps (closer to 10 – 20), they always have some funky brews that you don’t see around here very often. They also have old school game systems (N64, Super Nintendo) and great live music on the weekends, specifically a 2-​man band consisting of guitar and bucket-​drums that can cover just about any song. Pretty cool stuff, pretty cool bar.

On a recent trip to Denver, we happened to stumble into this place looking for a beer, and we probably could have stayed all night. If I lived in the area, I could definitely see this being a favorite hangout and a place to go with friends.
They had a good beer selection, at reasonable prices. The music was exactly our taste, and I loved that they had video game consoles in the booths!

Great beer. Good people and frigging nintendos. Pizza was better than I feared would order again.
Did I mention great beer?

Went downtown to see what was new in the old «Paris on the Platte» location, and did not like the new business. Just didn’t feel right. So we walked down the block a bit, saw the chalkboard sign in front of Monkey Barrel and saw they had a great drink special, so we walked in. Wow! This place is exactly what you think it would be in this area. Cool and funky, with a good staff and great selection of beers! Perfect on a hot day, cold day, winter day, fall day, or any day. And the kicker of the whole experience? The 4 booths in the front each have an N-​64, TV and 4 controllers. Yea, I should have led with that! :)

Stopped in after trivia night at Denver Co. next door. This place has a really cool old-​school theme going. I thought the name implied a different concept, but once I walked inside, it all made sense. The liquor bar was all decked out in traditional Mario v. Donkey Kong fashion. Each shelf was a classic nintendo (NES) scaffolding piece equipped with ladder to the next level. While Mario didn’t move his way up the bar at all, he was present, along with the captive princess, barrels to jump over, and Big Olé DK at the top. Aside from that, a triforce emblem was blazoned on the wall above the speaker. Lastly, and certainly not the least in all of the details, each of the three booths were equipped with either an N64 or SNES and accompanied by Mario Kart and 4 controllers.
Check this place out for an old school, classic themed, blast from the past. Also, they have a great selection of beers on tap for you to choose from.

You can’t go wrong with sipping on tasty cocktails while playing old Nintendo games in the booths. There’s also a pretty chill patio in the back. The bartenders are nice and they usually have some form of entertainment going on. On one particular day we went, there was a guy (I’m brain farting his name) belting out cover tunes and shooting his music video. Great voice and song selections! They don’t serve food here, but if you’re lucky, the hot dog cart will tide you over.
FYI — Free parking on the right side of the building!

No food but the beer is high quality and the cheapest in the area! Also usually has live music on the weekends.

Mind blown by punk rock meets super Mario Brothers motif. Great atmosphere inside and awesome deck out back. Fun and friendly staff with great beers on tap. And where else can you play old-​school Nintendo games while listening to live music?

Hate to say it but initially this was our second choice. My boyfriend and I first attempted to go to Denver Beer Co. up the block and it was packed 110% with people and dogs so we gave up immediately after taking a step inside. It was mid afternoon, I know this place gets popular but this was ridiculous.
We made our way to Monkey Barrel which was considerably less crowded. Booths lined the walls with old school video games and a TV, one at each table, awesome! We made our way to two open spots at the corner of the bar and were greeted right away.
Framed black and white pictures of rock stars hung on the walls. It was a small place but big enough that I assume it attracts quite a crowd weekend nights. There were signs saying they have live music here, I assume this is in the basement or something? I definitely did not see any space for a band to play at this place.
Anyways, I went for a cherry beer, I want to say it was Strange brewing that made it but I could be wrong. Whatever the case, it was very good. My guy told me that beer had won awards. I believe it. Their beer selection here is really good.
We would have stayed longer but our free time allowed in the REI parking lot was running out so we had to get going. Upon checking out the building we found it cool that there was a big Payton Manning painted on the wall, but unfortunate that his face was a complete inaccurate likeness.

This is a great little spot to go if you want to listen to live music, play old school video games, and drink cheap beer. Everything about this bar scream laid back. The staff here is friendly and will help you with whatever you need. Everyone that comes here loves the old school video games that they offer for you to play.

This place is awesome.
Booths with video game consoles for those socially awkward people who don’t want to talk to others while getting their drink on, or for those who want to turn a friendly video game challenge into a drinking game!
Awesome patio with plenty of seats and views of the surrounding neighborhood. Wine out of a can! Friendly service!
but only a single person ladies room with a wonky lock… other than, this place rocks!
Will definitely return!

Stopped in here on a short trip to Denver. It was empty but the first thing we noticed was they had N64s mounted at the booths with various games– including one of the original MARIO KARTS. Oh emm gee!!!
Needless to say, we stayed awhile and played more-​competitive-​than-​necessary Mario Kart and Golden Eye old school style.
Oh, and the beers. They were good too. There were some definite funky brew concoctions on the beer list (Cranberry Spice? It was nasty) but a few good ones– the Pinner Session IPA was a well done classic and the Cherry Cider was tart, refreshing, and not too sweet. I’m a bit of a cider snob so I was pleasantly surprised by this one. There seemed to be more beers on tap than were on the list but I was too wrapped up in Mario Kart to bother looking too closely.
Oh, and they have live music and play good music that you likely won’t hear anywhere else– old school hard rock and some grunge. Nirvana, even some Tool in there.
It was a good time– I’d definitely go back when I’m in Denver again.

I was looking to move in across the street from this place. It’s got a great location and a nice local feel.
It’s never been all that crowded when I’ve been in there, but I always meet some interesting people. The last time I was there, a guy was grilling brats on the sidewalk just down from the entrance, and he came in and asked if anyone wanted any. I indulged, and it was amazing. I don’t know if he is out there regularly or not, but if you see him, definitely buy whatever he’s cooking.
Overall, they’ve got cool décor, as well as old school video games at the booths (original nintendo, uh yeah) and they’re booze is as good as anyone else’s. Definitely check it out if you’re in the neighborhood.

Did I just walk into a bar with Sonic the Hedgehog? Yeah I did.
Monkey Barrel could probably use a little help with its marketing but once inside you’ll be glad you found it. The conversation with my drinking companion went:
«I think there is a new bar on Platte and 16^th» (not that new it turns out)
«I walk past that every day and have no idea what you’re talking about. Colt & Gray?»
«No, across from that. It says «BAR»
To which he responded with a picture of the non-​descript door just to make sure.
Once inside, its smaller than it looks and everyone inside seemed surprised to see new faces. 20 beers on tap (don’t quote me on that but it was a lot). Decent prices, fairly attentive staff. Clearly still has that brand new feel.
It took a few minutes before we realized there were video games in the booths. A machine with your choice of a ton of classic games. We played Sonic (for free).
To quote my drinking companion: «My six year-​old self never would have predicted that 32 year-​old me would be playing Sonic in a bar with a beer in my hand».
Good find.