Denver, CO
Craft breweries tap suburbs south of Denver to succeed in challenging market
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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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(Photos by Zachary Spindler-Krage/The Denver Post)
A large crowd gathered in City Park to march through the streets in response to recent Israeli military strikes on Rafah, a city in the southern Gaza Strip, on Saturday, June 1, 2024, in Denver, Colorado.
PUEBLO – Brayden Epperhart’s last prep baseball game was one for the memory books.
The senior fired 5 2/3 innings of one-run ball and had an RBI bunt, powering Denver Christian to a 2-1 win over Limon Saturday for its second-consecutive Class 2A state championship at Colorado State University-Pueblo’s Rawlings Field.
“I didn’t get a lot of sleep (Friday night), I’m going to be honest,” the 6-foot-3, 180-pound righthander said. “I came in with the mindset that we have been here before. This isn’t anything new and just trusting in the Lord and making sure that everybody is working in unison and the only way we can win a baseball game is if we are all working together.
“This feels pretty great. I give all the honor and the glory to the Lord. It’s an awesome legacy to leave at an awesome school. It is great way to go out.”
This is Denver Christian’s fourth state baseball crown in school history to go along with the ones it captured in 1996, 2013 and 2023. DC, which beat Limon 5-3 to win 2A state in 2023, finished the season with a 24-4 record.
Limon (28-2) was playing in its fourth-consecutive 2A title game – it won state in 2021 and 2022.
The Badgers would have had to beat Denver Christian twice to earn the 2A state championship because Limon lost to Lyons 5-1 in the first weekend of the state tourney and came back through the consolation bracket, finishing with a 4-2 record in the double-elimination tourney.
This season Limon edged Denver Christian 8-6 on March 23.
“This year was an absolute battle,” Denver Christian coach Sam Jones said. “The first one is nice, you get the monkey off your back, and this one was a whole different animal. I’m so proud of these guys and I love them so much. I’m so blessed to be their coach and I’m so grateful for the opportunity God has given me to be their coach and lead this school and this program, all the glory to Jesus Christ. It is just a privilege to coach these young men and coach alongside these amazing assistant coaches, they do an outstanding job every single day.”
The game turned into a marvelous pitching battle between Epperhart and Limon star athlete Jordan Rockwell as the game was scoreless through five innings.
That set the table for a drama-filled sixth inning.
With one out in the top of the frame, Mason Reilly registered an infield hit beating the throw by Limon shortstop Cale Bennett to the bag. Asher Hawes then smashed a single up the middle, allowing Reilly to race to third and Hawes to move to second on the throw to third.
Up came Brayden Epperhart and he bunted a slow roller to Rockwell. Rockwell scooped up the ball and threw to catcher Trey Smith, but Reilly slid in safely.
“Our philosophy in this program is to find ways to manufacturer runs and I’m a big believer in small ball,” Jones said. “I think that is the way the game should be played and Brayden Epperhart did an amazing job of executing that well and Mason did an outstanding job getting in there and diving into home. That’s stuff we practice every single day. They get so sick of practicing bunting, but it shows up in the big moments like this and you never know when the little things are going to translate in those big moments right there.”
Patrick Elson then stepped to the plate and the junior, who struck out in his two previous at-bats, was given choices by Coach Jones – bunt of hit away.
Elson selected the second option and responded by cracking a single up middle to score Hawes and give DC a 2-1 advantage.
“This feels amazing,” Elson said. “I was going up there expecting that Coach (Jones) was going to rely on me to bunt and then he gave me that option and put that faith in me and asked me if I wanted to swing the bat. I told him I did and there is just no more rewarding feeling than getting that hit and scoring for the team and having all my brothers behind me cheering me on.”
Limon countered in the bottom of the sixth.
Keon Bandy drew a one-out walk and then Lance Beedy, the next batter, drove a double over left fielder Nolan Epperhart’s head, plating Bandy. Epperhart, a sophomore, and the younger brother of Brayden, however, was able to fire the ball back in and Beedy was tagged out at third.
Holding on a slim 2-1 lead, Brayden walked the next batter Brody Scherrer. That brought Cale Bennett to the plate and Coach Jones summoned for relief pitcher Reilly.
Reilly came through by striking out Bennett.
Limon had one final opportunity in the bottom of the seventh to tie or win the game, but Reilly slammed the door again. The junior struck out the side to secure DC’s title.
BROOMFIELD — Past fields of yellow wildflowers, tall grass and prairie dog burrows, an Adams County geology teacher, four of his students and the Broomfield mayor huddled around the fossilized footprint of a horned dinosaur that roamed this land some 70 million years ago.
“To have this in our own backyard,” Mayor Guyleen Castriotta said. “You can’t beat it.”
The Friday afternoon field trip was the result of Northglenn High School geology teacher Kent Hups stumbling across dinosaur fossils about three years ago while out scouting.
Hups is a researcher with the Denver Museum of Nature and Science who has excavated fossils throughout the West for decades. During the height of the pandemic, he stayed closer to home and took his high school geology students on virtual walks around his community hunting for natural treasures he could share with them over Zoom.
That’s when he first found dinosaur fossils on Broomfield open space, adjacent to a suburban neighborhood. To help preserve the area, Hups doesn’t want to disclose the exact location.
“I’m excited as hell,” Hups said. “You do a lot of whooping and hollering by yourself when you find these things. When you find footprints, you’re looking at something that was left by a living animal. To be able to touch that — it’s like 70 million years ago, this thing was alive and stepped right here. I’m stepping in the same place. It’s an amazing feeling.”
Traversing through thick grasses and shimmying up and down steep hills, Hups led the class to three dinosaur footprints, but said there were surely more in the area. The fossilized footprints looked like garden stepping stones jutting up from the grass, a little larger than a basketball with ridges and indentations that Hups explained were the dinosaurs’ toes.
Based on the toe patterns, Hups said it was a horned dinosaur — possibly a Triceratops.
It took a while working with the city of Broomfield to get the proper permits, but on Friday, Hups was finally able to take some students to investigate the area. He handed out plastic bags to the teens — some who had trekked out in Doc Marten boots and Converse sneakers — and showed them how to crouch low to inspect the dirt for bones.
Alanna Santa Cruz, 15, whipped a magnifying glass out of her back pocket as she squatted on the ground, her knees touching the earth through the ripped holes in her jeans.
Alanna is in Hups’ school paleontology club.
“When I was a kid, I was obsessed with dinosaurs,” she said. “I knew all about them and had a bunch of the toys and watched all the movies. I wanted to see what it would be like to be a paleontologist.”
The area they visited Friday was ripe with small fossils and bones sticking out of the ground among rocks, cacti and dirt. Some were more obvious to the untrained eye — shaped like vertebrae, for example — while others could be confused for stones and debris. The pieces of creatures were small enough to fit in the palm of a hand and scattered everywhere, broken into bits after years of exposure.
Students approached Hups with cupped palms full of objects. Sometimes Hups told them they had just found a mineral, but other times, his eyes lit up as he announced they had found bone.
“If you’re not sure, lick it,” Hups said, bringing an object from the ground to his lips and grazing it with his tongue. “If it sticks to it like ice, that’s a fossil.”
Hups’ students looked at their teacher with disgusted grimaces.
“Try it!” he said with delight.
“No, thanks, mister,” Alanna said.
When Hups turned his back, Alanna marveled at an object in her hand, turning it over and over trying to determine its value. She brought it to her mouth and snuck a quick lick.
“You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do,” she said, declaring it a fossil and popping it into her bag.
The class wrote down the GPS coordinates of their finds so they can bring them back later in the year after they’re done investigating them, so as not to disturb the natural resources, Hups said.
Jonah Rotert, 17, was quiet and reserved at the start of the trek, but he couldn’t help but grin as his bag filled with tiny bones belonging to prehistoric creatures. Hups said he was sure Rotert had found a crocodile bone.
“It’s a really cool feeling,” Rotert said. “I’m the first person to touch these in millions of years.”
Millions of years ago, these massive creatures walked where the class stood, Hups said, pointing toward cars speeding down U.S. 287 in the distance.
“I love seeing the modern on top of ancient life,” Hups said.
Next school year, the students will present their findings to the city of Broomfield and come up with ideas on how to educate the public about the land, the fossils and how important it is to report findings, Hups said.
“What did this environment look like all these years ago?” Hups said. “Until we find fossils, we don’t know. What’s most important about them is the story they tell.”
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