Since the founding of Parker’s Downhill Brewing in 2017, owners Jake Minturn and Doug Hyndman always planned to expand to multiple locations. By then, the craft beer market had matured enough the duo felt they couldn’t rely on the production and distribution model. Instead, they tried to build a welcoming space — and one with a vibe that could be replicated in new places.
After years of searching, Minturn and Hyndman finally found their ideal spot. Downhill Brewing’s second location in Greenwood Village opened at 9672 E. Arapahoe Road at the beginning of February in the former home of Peak View Brewing Co. Acquiring the defunct brewery afforded Minturn and Hyndman a turnkey spot that was close enough to their original location to leverage brand recognition, but far enough away so as not to cannibalize sales, they explained.
“We looked around everywhere kind of south metro,” Minturn said. “It came down to, for us, the feel of the taproom, location, traffic, (and) space. We weren’t dead set on Greenwood Village, it just ended up that Peak View was the ideal candidate we were looking for.”
Downhill Brewing co-owners Jake Minturn, left, and Doug Hyndman at Downhill Brewing in Greenwood Village on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024. (Photo by Andy Cross/The Denver Post)
As craft breweries look for opportunities for growth amid a market downturn, they’re often finding themselves in the suburbs south of Denver where development is booming and residential communities are flourishing. A recent wave of brewery expansions includes legacy beer companies and newer producers who say there are untapped customer bases in these markets that they can serve with slightly less competition compared to the rest of the Front Range. Though the business climate remains challenging, one brewery’s demise means another’s chance to reach new drinkers in a fiscally sound way.
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The migration of breweries south makes sense to Martin Saylor, managing director at Evergreen-based 1stWest Mergers and Acquisitions, which facilitates beer business valuations and sales.
North of the Mile High City, pioneers like Avery Brewing Co. in Boulder, Left Hand Brewing Co. in Longmont, and New Belgium Brewing Co. and Odell Brewing Co. in Fort Collins helped lay the foundation for the craft beer movement. That region was once considered the Napa Valley of beer, Saylor said. And by that comparison, the suburbs south of Denver could be considered deserts — albeit, deserts full of Millennial parents who were raised on craft beer.
In recent years, beer sales have lost market share to other alcohol options like spirits. And since Gen Z isn’t picking up pints like previous generations, it seems like a sound strategy to “follow the dads,” Saylor said. “You gotta fish where the fish are. As the population and demographic expands and is pushing south, it just makes sense to be there.”
Plus, Saylor added, vacant downtown office buildings, high rent prices and a growing homeless population make Denver less attractive to some small business owners.
Patrick Crawford, co-founder of Denver Beer Co., has also noticed the shift in locals’ daily routines. Many commuters now work from home, so while downtown Denver is quieter than it has historically been, “the suburbs have become a little more lively,” Crawford said.
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In December, the brewery opened its fifth location in downtown Littleton after taking over the space from another beer maker that closed. Residents there bring the whole family in the evenings, Crawford said. To cater to that demographic, Denver Beer Co. expanded its food menu there to include flatbread pizzas.
“There’s opportunities to capture the people who used to come downtown and drink beer in the Denver Beer Co. beer garden at 4 o’clock after working,” he said.
Denver Beer Co. opened its fifth location in downtown Littleton at the end of 2023. Because locals are working from home more and commuting to the city less, co-founder Patrick Crawford saw an opportunity to cater to drinkers and their families closer to where they live. (Provided by Denver Beer Co.)
For many, like John Winter, president of Lone Tree Brewing Co., the price of available real estate was the primary decision driver in where to put down roots. Winter spent the better part of three years scouring the Front Range in search of a second location. New builds and buildings in planning fetched a premium price tag everywhere he looked.
So when Barnett & Son Brewing Co. in Parker decided to tap out, Winter jumped at the opportunity to take over the company’s space. Winter closed on the deal in late February and opened the new Lone Tree Brewing Co. on March 1. Why does he feel confident his business can succeed where another one didn’t?
“Between Lone Tree and Parker, there’s a great deal of residential that’s going in,” Winter said. “There’s still growth potential here. I think so much of the inner city within the Denver metropolitan area, while still there is selective building going on, this has still got land and available opportunities there as communities are built out.”
While now might seem like an inopportune time to expand, Saylor expects to see continued consolidation among breweries that have been over-leveraged since the industry’s heyday of seemingly endless growth. Businesses that are financially ready to strike can seize the moment with the freeing up of brewery real estate.
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Living the Dream Brewing Co. opened in 2014 in Littleton. It recently relocated to Highlands Ranch where it can provide a more comfortable taproom experience and keep thirsty regulars coming back for happy hour. (Provided by Living the Dream Brewing Co.)
In today’s market, locating a brewery within a residential area is a surefire way to build a robust well of customers, especially in the suburban sprawl where competition is less concentrated. Pedestrian-friendly brewery districts used to be a boon for business, but drinking habits have changed, said Jason Bell, founder of Living the Dream Brewing Co.
“People aren’t going to check out five breweries this weekend, but they are still going to their local spot,” Bell said.
Creating a comfortable taproom environment is the best way to ensure people return for another happy hour, he added. That’s why after a decade in its original home in Littleton, Bell needed to move his brewery, which lacked heat and air conditioning. He settled on Highlands Ranch where Grist Brew Co. was vacating two separate facilities, including a brewery and a small bar that only serves residents in Littleton’s Sterling Ranch. Both opened at the beginning of the year.
Moving to Highlands Ranch enabled Living the Dream to remain close to its core consumer base while also upgrading the taproom experience. Though the brewery downsized in terms of square footage, it’s now able to grow its onsite guest capacity and become more operationally efficient — both of which are essential for survival, Bell said.
“The breweries that have managed to really get a good foothold in their community are the ones that can ride this out,” he said.
Great Divide Brewery & Roadhouse opened its first location in Castle Rock in 2020. The concept has been so successful, it expanded with a second outpost in Lone Tree in Feb. 2024. A third one is set to open in Lakewood by the end of the year. (Provided by Electra Productions)
When Brian Dunn opened Great Divide Brewing Co. in Denver in 1994, it was one of about 30 breweries in the state. Today, Dunn has roughly a dozen craft breweries as neighbors between Great Divide’s outposts in Lower Downtown Denver and the River North Arts District.
Dunn partnered with Vibe Concepts to open Great Divide Brewing & Roadhouse in Castle Rock in 2020. A longtime resident of central Denver, Dunn doesn’t see the allure of moving to the suburbs. But he can’t deny the business prospects there.
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Great Divide’s Castle Rock location, which includes a full-service restaurant, “exceeded our expectations,” Dunn said. So when Vibe Concepts approached him about opening a second one in Lone Tree, he was on board. The new Great Divide Brewing & Roadhouse opened on Feb. 22. A third location is expected to open in Lakewood by the end of the year.
“Castle Rock is just booming, absolutely booming. The south part of Denver is booming as well,” Dunn said. “It’s an area we could stand to build our name awareness.”
From an operational standpoint, labor costs are lower in suburban markets due to minimum wage requirements, said Robert MacEachern, Denver Beer Co.’s CEO. That’s an important consideration as the company plans further expansion. MacEachern said details of a forthcoming location will be announced this summer.
“We’re looking forward to continuing our growth and south is definitely a direction we’re heading,” he said.
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More than halfway into his first term, Mayor Mike Johnston finally met with his own Bicycle Advisory Committee and reiterated a familiar promise: Denver can increase road safety without taking any convenience away from drivers. “We want this to be a city where it is safe and easy to get around by bike or by foot,” Johnston told Westword after the meeting. “We want to build infrastructure and a culture that makes that easier, and we think we can do that without making it more difficult for drivers.”
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The mayor is wrong. If Denver is serious about making our streets safer for everyone — people driving as well as people walking, biking, rolling or taking transit — then we have to be honest about what that requires. Real safety improvements will sometimes mean slowing cars down, reallocating space or asking drivers to take a slightly longer route. In other words, we must be willing to trade a bit of convenience for a lot of safety.
We already make this trade-off all the time. Parking in front of the fire hydrant across from my house would be extremely convenient, but I don’t do it because it would put my neighbors at risk if a fire broke out. I don’t enjoy going through security screening every time I attend a Denver City Council meeting, but I accept it because it keeps a critical public forum safe. These small inconveniences are simply part of living in a community where everyone’s well-being matters.
So why is the idea of asking drivers to accept minimal inconvenience — a few extra minutes, a block or two of walking from their parking spot to their final destination — treated as politically impossible, even when it could prevent deaths and life-altering injuries?
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Denver committed to Vision Zero nearly a decade ago, pledging to eliminate traffic fatalities. Yet year after year, the death toll remains stubbornly high, topping eighty lives lost annually since the pandemic. The reason is not mysterious: City leaders have consistently prioritized driver convenience over safety, even as people continue to die on our streets.
For generations, Denver’s street designs have catered not just to driving, but to driving dangerously. The majority of streets on the city’s High Injury Network — just 5 percent of streets where half of all traffic deaths occur — are major arterials like Colfax, Federal, Colorado, Speer and Alameda. These corridors are engineered to move as many vehicles as quickly as possible. People walking and biking are left to navigate speeding traffic with minimal protection, crossing up to eight lanes just to reach the other side.
We know what works. The data is unequivocal: On streets like these, the most effective safety improvements reduce the space available for fast-moving vehicles. Road diets, narrower lanes, shorter crossings and dedicated space for sidewalks, bike lanes and bus lanes all make streets safer for everyone — including drivers — by bringing speeds down to survivable levels.
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And yet, Mayor Johnston’s recent decision to abandon the planned road diet on Alameda Avenue is only the latest example of the city retreating from proven safety measures because they might inconvenience drivers. The city noted that its revised plan for Alameda would save drivers an extra sixty seconds of driving time, compared to the original road diet.
The mayor must confront a hard truth: We cannot keep people safe without changing the status quo, and the status quo is built on prioritizing speed and convenience over human life. Denver cannot have it both ways.
So the real question for Mayor Johnston is this: How many lives is Denver willing to sacrifice to preserve driver convenience?
So far in 2025, we have lost 87 people — and counting.
NEW YORK — The NHL hits a roster freeze at 11:59 p.m. on Friday, so with defenseman Egor Zamula clearing waivers and being assigned to the American Hockey League, it left a roster spot open.
Forward Denver Barkey has been called up.
Drafted by the Flyers in the third round of the 2023 NHL draft, Barkey turned pro this season and has been impressive while skating primarily on the wing for Lehigh Valley of the AHL. The 20-year-old has 16 points (seven goals, nine assists) in 26 games for the Phantoms, primarily playing on the wing with center Lane Pederson and winger Alex Bump.
“I think right from the start, he’s played very well,” Flyers assistant general manager Brent Flahr recently told The Inquirer. “On the production side, he makes plays, he works, and the details are great. Such a smart player. He’s got to get stronger and build up his body to handle the grind and but so far, so good.
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“Down there, he’s been arguably our best forward a lot of nights, and coaches love them plays, plays a lot. He’s certainly going in the right direction.”
» READ MORE: Flyers Q&A: Brent Flahr dishes on prospects Porter Martone, Jett Luchanko, and more
Well, the direction now is east to New York City ahead of the Flyers’ matchup with the New York Rangers on Saturday afternoon (12:30 p.m., NBCSP). The kid from Ontario is in line to make his debut at the World’s Most Famous Arena.
“I call him like a little mini [Travis Konecny],” Flyers director of player development Riley Armstrong said of Barkey over the summer. “He’s all over the puck. He’s grimy when he doesn’t have the puck. He’s always working to get the puck back.
“He’s really good with his stick picking pockets, transitioning, and his eyes are up; I don’t think a little guy like that skating around, his head down, is going to last very long in the game.
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“But when you watch him go into corners, and he’s not afraid of that, he’s quick to get in, he’s quick to get out.”
Some have questioned Barkey’s size at 5-foot-10, 173 pounds, but no one questions his grit, moxie, will, and determination. Last season, he notched 25 goals and 82 points in 50 regular-season games before adding another nine goals and 20 points in 11 postseason games for London of the Ontario Hockey League.
On June 1, he captained the Knights to the Memorial Cup championship despite suffering a high-ankle sprain in the OHL Final. In the finale of the Memorial Cup, against the projected No. 1 for this June’s draft, Gavin McKenna, and Medicine Hat of the Western Hockey League, Barkey drove play and scored a pair of goals.
A month later, he was at the Flyers development camp but did not participate. He did, however, try.
“[Barkey] always comes to me every morning, ‘Hey, do you think you can get me out on the ice?’ No, no, you’re done,” Armstrong said with a chuckle in early July.
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The rest helped. He was again impressive at the Flyers’ rookie camp and in a game against their Rangers counterparts in early September in Allentown.
Barkey opened eyes with his speed, hockey IQ, puck possession and patience, and high-end passing ability. Looking completely healed from his high-ankle sprain, the forward used his quickness, leverage, and ability to win pucks to beat the defense at every turn and notched a goal.
It appears that his summer of eating Italian giant subs — Mike’s way, minus the onions — at Jersey Mike’s with his buddy, and former London teammate, Oliver Bonk, to add weight paid off. Phantoms coach John Snowden called him “a heck of a hockey player” in September.
“Continue to get bigger, stronger,” Barkey said of his summer plans at development camp. “It’s a big jump next year. I’m going to be playing against older men and strong guys. So, continuing to get stronger, faster, and I think the biggest thing is just using my brain and then finding a way to adjust. It’s a different game in pro.”
And Barkey has adjusted well to the pro ranks, skating on the wing of the Phantoms’ top line, which drives play and is relied on for offensive swings. His fellow winger, Bump, was actually the one many thought would be called up.
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The kid from Minnesota, who led Western Michigan to the NCAA championship in April, was pegged by everyone, including The Inquirer, to break camp with the Flyers; however, he was sent down after a poor main training camp. After a slow start in Lehigh Valley, he now has 20 points (seven goals, 13 assists) in 26 games in Allentown.
On the first of Bo Nix’s four touchdown passes against Green Bay, he did what he does more frequently than any quarterback in football.
Nix escaped from the pocket and took off running. He moved up and to the left before hitting Michael Bandy for a 20-yard catch-and-scamper.
The next three touchdowns, though, are where the Broncos offense can dream about a deep postseason run or even more.
Nix, operating from the gun, delivered strikes of all shapes and sizes and did so with clean footwork in the pocket.
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He identified coverage, took a short, one-step drop and fired a perfectly placed low ball to Lil’Jordan Humphrey. Then a three-step drop to get the ball up and down with beautiful pace and timing to Courtland Sutton one-on-one up the right sideline.
Nix polished off the fourth touchdown when he five-step dropped, hitched up in the pocket twice and uncorked a rocket up the seam for Troy Franklin on a motion and route concept the Broncos have made hay on most of the year.
The Packers game represented a breakout as Nix completed 23 of 34 passes for 302 yards and the four touchdowns, but his game’s been heating up more broadly over the past month.
He had an efficient day in a much different style against Las Vegas, completing 31 of 38 passes and engineering three battering-ram touchdown drives. He threw for 616 yards in the two weeks before that in wins over Washington and Kansas City.
In those four games, Nix has completed 69.5% of his passes for 282.5 yards per game and thrown five touchdowns and an interception. Before that stretch, he completed 60.9% and averaged 212 yards per game.
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What’s changed? Start from the ground up.
“I think his footwork has got a lot better,” offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi said Thursday. “And the way he handles himself in the pocket, trusting the protection. We’ve talked about it all year and the last four games he’s done a really good job of that.
“He’s moving when he needs to and he’s hanging in there when he needs to.”
Head coach Sean Payton earlier this season said the quarterbacks get some specific footwork drilling done during a normal game week but not a ton. They’ll work a particular concept or drop between periods, but for the most part, the work is plan-specific.
Nix, though, has been working on his own pocket presence in his own ways in recent weeks.
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“I think he’s probably one of the best … at learning from mistakes, and looking in the mirror and seeing what his weaknesses are,” tight end Evan Engram told The Post.
“He’s sitting in there, he’s trusting the protection, he’s letting it rip. And that’s something that he saw. And he worked on. And like – I can’t say how hard that is. I’ve never done it in my life. You’ve got freakin’ monsters rushing you, every play. And credit to the O-line, too.
The staff also appears to be doing a better job of helping get Nix into good rhythm. Part of that is by playing more frequently from under center. The touchdowns outlined above came out of shotgun, but one commonly held belief is that playing from under center helps keep footwork clean because a quarterback is forced to do it coming back from the center.
Since the Broncos returned from their bye week, the uptick has been notable.
Denver averaged 29.4% of offensive snaps under center the first 11 games. Over the past three, the number is 42.8%.
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Nix has attempted nearly half as many passes from under center the past three games (25) as he did in the first 11 (51). That’s partly because he’s playing more from under center, though Denver’s under center pass rate has also jumped up from 24.5% over the first 11 games to 29.3% the past three weeks.
Nix only completed 1 of 6 passes against Green Bay for 16 yards from under center but the week before, he was 10 of 10 for 71 yards against Las Vegas.
“Each game is different relative to when we look at gun runs, under center runs, try to self-scout ourselves enough to where there’s enough play-action maybe under center, drop back,” Payton said between Vegas and Green Bay, adding that he thought Nix made a quick transition to playing under center even though he hardly did it in college.
“I think that hasn’t been a big learning curve. I think it’s gone pretty smooth.”
Particularly since the bye week, the Broncos have leaned more and more into it. Payton and Lombardi say the usage is dependent on individual game plans.
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The longer this uptick continues, though, the more it looks like a philosophical shift.
Broncos reporter Luca Evans contributed to this story.
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