Craig Rothgery, who founded tiny DeSteeg Brewing in 2013 in an alley off of North Tennyson Street, has sold the operation to a pair of Denverites who had always wanted to open a brewery. Longtime friends Ken Klispie and Tom Martinez bought DeSteeg on October 1. They plan to ramp…
The Thirsty Monk, an established brewery and bar chain in Asheville, North Carolina, will make the leap west to Denver next month; it’s buying Deep Draft Brewing, at 1604 East 17th Avenue. Opened in 2015 by Robert Lee and his family, Deep Draft had been for sale for several months…
The fifth annual Collaboration Fest may still be five months away, but that doesn’t mean the brewing hasn’t already begun. Among several collaborations that took place while out-of-town brewers were in Denver for the Great American Beer Festival two weeks ago was one by representatives of fourteen different state beer guilds…
Once a rare treat in Colorado, coconut beers caught on in 2016 and then rolled into 2017 like a warm tropical storm. Many of them are one-off or infrequent taproom specialties — including long-gone brews from Cerebral, Weldwerks, Copper Kettle and Horse & Dragon — while others are returning seasonals…
Just thirty minutes into the opening session of the Great American Beer Festival last week, Neil Fisher knew he was in trouble. A line had formed at his booth in section U almost immediately — and it was getting longer. “We had a decent crowd last year, but nothing like…
When Sean Guerrero moved to the city of Huzhou, China, with his wife and their kids two years ago, he discovered one very depressing fact: “There was really no good beer,” he says. All he could find were mass-produced light lagers and “international pilsners” made by giant corporations. So Guerrero,…
Aspen Brewing will be forced to close its downtown Aspen taproom at the end of this month after the developer who owns the building made plans to lease it to another tenant. But the brewery, which actually produces its beer at a different facility in the Aspen Airport Business Center,…
Growing up in the 1980s, Brian O’Connell was bombarded of images of the Cold War, of Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, of the Soviet boycott of the Olympics and of the end of the U.S.S.R. Years later, when he founded Renegade Brewing, O’Connell decided to highlight the idea of independence…
Colorado held steady at the Great American Beer Festival this year, winning a total of 38 medals on Saturday, the same number it won in both 2015 and 2016. And while that doesn’t seem like a lot of bling for a state with more than 320 breweries, it’s notable because…
The Great American Beer Festival, now in its 36th year, has changed drastically over the decades. It has grown significantly in size, while the industry it represents has grown even more. These days, the specifics of the fest itself aren’t too different from year to year, but the issues surrounding…
The Brewers Association has, for the past ten years or so, been a little slow to respond to trends, changes and issues in the craft-beer industry. This is both a little strange, since the organization is the primary trade group for independent breweries nationwide, and understandable, since the BA is…
How many breweries does Denver have? People ask me that question all the time, and I don’t have a good answer. Why? Because it is complicated. Some breweries have two locations where they brew and serve beer, while others have two locations, but only one with a taproom that is open…
Based on the size of his beer cellar, you might think Adam Avery was the sentimental type. Over the past fifteen years, he’s collected hundreds — make that thousands — of bottles of his own beer: one-off sours, barrel-aged stouts, discontinued high-gravity ales that used to sell out on the…
The Great American Beer Festival has always been a little geographically lopsided. Since the annual event — which begins Thursday — was founded 36 years ago in Boulder, it’s no surprise that Colorado is the most heavily represented state. California also brings the brews with more than 150 breweries at…
If you don’t like beer, then Great American Beer Festival week, October 2-8, is a great time to head for hills to take in the beautiful reds, yellows and golds of Colorado’s fall colors. But if beer is your passion, then those reds, golds and yellows are all right here in town —…
If you’ve lived in Denver for a while and you like craft beer, chances are you’ve been to the Great American Beer Festival at least once — and maybe you’re even a seasoned veteran. Chances are better that you now like to regale people with tales about how crowded the…
A brewery should be a place where everyone feels comfortable. “There shouldn’t be constraints based on your race or your ethnicity, or what language you speak or who you want to kiss,” says Tamir Danon. “Nothing should make you feel alienated in the brewing community. If you are from a…
Did you buy a pint of beer at your local brewery in 2016? Then you can be proud to boost the Colorado economy. Craft breweries and brewpubs nationwide contributed $67.8 billion to the U.S. economy in 2016. That’s a lot of pints, and it’s an increase of 21.7 percent from just…
It’s stunning how quickly things are evolving these days in the craft-beer industry: styles, trends, rules and regulations, even the packages that beer is sold in. Breweries are bought and sold; they change names, change focus and change addresses. And collaborations between brewers can fall victim to the change.
The Great American Beer Festival, which hits town next week, is an interesting time for any brewery that participates and usually results in some great stories. For Telluride Brewing, one of those stories begins in May 2012, just five months after Chris Fish and Tommy Thatcher opened the brewery. Still getting…
Judging by the long lines that snaked away from the Dad & Dudes Breweria booth at the Great American Beer Festival the past two years, just about everywhere in Denver has tried cannabis beer. Last year’s version, called George Washington’s Secret Stash was an IPA infused with cannabidiol, a non-psychoactive…
Most people assume that owning a brewery in Colorado is like living the dream. You get to make beer, talk beer, drink beer, sleep beer and hang out with your beer-loving friends all day and night. What could be better than that? The reality, though, says one Denver brewery owner…
