While breweries might argue over whether bottles or cans are better for packaging beer, two of the companies that make rival packaging equipment are joining forces. Meheen Manufacturing, a well-respected, two-decade-old Washington-based maker of craft-beer bottling lines, and Wild Goose Canning, the Boulder canning-line upstart, have merged into one business…

A few breweries are making a point this year of not brewing pumpkin beers. It’s not that they want to squash the pumpkin craze, it’s just that they want to do something different. Alaskan Brewing, for example, which distributes in Colorado, chose to forego its traditional pumpkin offerings this year…

Imagine this scenario: You’re on the brewery bus tour, hopping from taproom to taproom, trying out new beers and getting a nice buzz on without worrying about driving — and then you notice that the bus driver is drinking, too. In fact, he’s been matching you pint for pint. Would…

Colorado may be the “Napa Valley of craft beer,” but our three major sports venues have always been more like the Death Valley of craft beer: although you can find a can or a cup of something from a local independent brewer if you look hard enough at Mile High…

For longtime Coloradans, late summer means the beginning of the harvest bounty — in particular Western Slope peaches, Olathe corn, Pueblo chile peppers and Rocky Ford cantaloupe. While you can get these gifts of the earth from anywhere, our local versions are particular sweet and delicious. Rocky Ford’s cantaloupe growers,…

It’s easy to like Todd Usry, Garrett Wales and Meg Gill. All three are smart, approachable and passionate about beer. They all have a good sense of humor and firm handshakes. It’s even easier for some people to dislike their decisions, however. All three sold their breweries — Breckenridge Brewery…

Denver Beer Company, which helped kick off the city’s brewery surge when it opened on Platte Street in 2011, is taking its beer and its successful formula on the road: the company plans to open a third brewery and tasting room in a former car dealership in Olde Town Arvada…

Halloween night, that creepiest of holidays, is full of pumpkins and horrors. But those horrors don’t compare to the ones that beer drinkers face every August when breweries in Colorado and nationwide begin releasing pumpkin beers while it’s still 95 degrees outside. Ah, yes, #firstworldproblems. Still, it’s a little rough…

The majority of Denver’s public schools opened their doors this week, ringing in tens of thousands of students with the first bell. And although the teachers who give their all would love a few apples, it’s likely that they’d prefer a beer — or two. That’s why Spangalang Brewery is offering…

Former Future Brewing is a thing of the past. The present lies with Black Project Spontaneous & Wild Ales. James and Sarah Howat, who founded Former Future on South Broadway in 2014, have decided to refocus and rebrand their brewery — changing the name, the decor and, most importantly, the…

The Germans have been brewing lagers the same way for hundreds of years. So when Ashleigh Carter and Bill Eye open Bierstadt Lagerhaus on Saturday inside the building that also houses the Rackhouse, they have no intention of changing things up. “No flair, no twist, no added things,” says Carter…

John Carlson, who has led the Colorado Brewers Guild for two decades, has taken a “leave of absence” from the organization while the state’s craft breweries try to sort out what direction they are heading next. The move comes two months after fourteen craft breweries — including the state’s four…

Colorado’s biggest mega-brewery may own the naming rights to one of the state’s largest sporting venues — Coors Field — but our largest craft brewer is getting in on the action, too. Fort Collins-based New Belgium Brewing said late last week that it would donate $4.3 million to Colorado State…

IPAs are still the top selling style among craft beer drinkers by far, making up nearly a third of the craft market, and Colorado breweries have long specialized in hoppy beers like these. Odell, Oskar Blues, Avery, Great Divide and Ska Brewing all made their names in part because of…

Sorry to startle you, but summer is over. Yes, it’s only the first week in August, but the first pumpkin beer has been released: Thank you(?), Upslope Brewing. And hops farms are getting ready to pick their sticky-fresh cones for wet-hop season. One of the first to do this is…

By most accounts, the 2015 Great American Beer Festival was one of the best in recent memory: the Brewers Association, which hosts the fest every year, was finally able to make some changes that resulted in a less stressful experience for participating breweries and a more pleasant experiences for the…

The Boulder-based Brewers Association — the not-for-profit trade group representing craft brewers — said this week that craft beer production volume increased by eight percent during the first half of the year, a slowdown from previous years. But the volume numbers aren’t the best indicator of growth since the BA…

Three women are planning to open a tiny brewery, Lady Justice Brewing, in the small Denver suburb of Mountain View this August that will serve as fundraising tool for local charities. And instead of a taproom, the brewery will offer memberships, delivering beer to customers once a month. This business…

TJ Slattery and Willy Truettner could have spent less money to rent space for their brewery in a different neighborhood or on the outskirts of Denver, but when they found the former home of the Green Garage — an eco-friendly auto mechanic with solar panels on the roof — they…

U.S. Presidents can only serve two terms, but beers — they can serve longer. Avery Brewing first created Ale to the Chief in 2008 to celebrate Inauguration Day, January 20, 2009 (which we wrote about way back then, as the Democratic National Convention was in Denver), and brewed a second…

The owners of the Cheeky Monk Belgian Beer Cafe and Lost Highway Brewing next door are closing the restaurant after ten years and moving the brewery to a new location, where they will begin canning beer. The restaurant shut its doors today,  while the brewery will stay open through the…

As the Colorado Brewers Guild struggles to hold itself together in the wake of the defection of fourteen craft breweries — including the state’s four largest — its membership has elected to change the Guild’s bylaws so that representatives of large breweries will no longer be allowed to hold voting…