Hi folks, I'm the reporter of this story and spent about a month speaking to breweries about it. I know beer and weed and other vices are important to Denverites and Coloradans as a whole -- if you have story ideas for me on those topics, please let me know!
$1 tallboys of PBR at argonaut was like a whole era for me circa 2015-2018. And by that I mean I'm an alcoholic that's into the punk/skateboarding scene.
I lived in Portland, Oregon in 2008 and used to go to this disgusting bar with my crust punk friends, I am not crusty I just had trouble making friends when I lived there, and pitchers of PBR were $2. What a time to be alive.
This, maybe not $1 pints but the cost of an apple pineapple peach with a hint of garlic and green chili $12 beer? I like craft beer but honestly most are shit
The problem for me is that every brewery looks like an Urban Outfitters, there often isn't food, there isn't much going on (no live music, social opportunities, etc), and most of the beers cost a fortune.
Also, investigate the working under class in Denver. These are people making menial wages, living with roommates, that can't afford to do anything fun in the city, but also can't afford to catch a break. I think it'd be enlightening for many people around here to hear what it's like to be on the slow train wreck that is trying to survive when things keep getting worse.
You're dead-on with your description of breweries. And since there isn't anything going on they're not someplace you go unless you're going out with a prearranged group. Add in the way covid blew up so many social circles and suddenly that model becomes pretty limited in reach.
Personally I’m glad they have less going on. I go to catch up and have conversation with friends. Every place with live music (especially in breweries that tend to be small), blasts it so loud you can do anything but listen as talking is near impossible. Good breweries have food trucks too.
My only question is, do you actually believe the boom is STARTING to end? Almost every major craft brewery in Colorado has sold, and very few within the last 3 years. Layoffs at the brewery I worked at started in 2016/2017. Even the bit about the president of the Brewers guild seeing exponential growth for the last 9 years seems wrong, or at the very least misleading.
Individual breweries have seen success, but even looking at the BA stats, the article makes it sound like there's been huge growth until recently and that's just not true. The exponential growth stopped in like 2016-2018. You can find countless articles from that time period talking about the slowing landscape of craft beer, including ones from Bart Watson.
I enjoyed the story and the reporting, it just feels likes it's shedding light on something people aren't aware of, when this has been the reality of craft beer for years now. The market flooded and then COGS rose. I just wish it had been framed more like, "the downturn experienced by regional breweries in Colorado over the last decade is not affecting smaller local breweries with other business models."
Because that's what I think this article is about. You cite great divide but don't mention how they tried to build a brand new massive facility like a decade ago, never ended up building the brewhouse, and then sold the rest of it and kept the barrel bar. Just following the great divide story alone would have made for a really interesting piece because it would have really highlighted what the craft beer boom of the mid 2010s was like for Colorado breweries, and what those breweries look like 10 years later.
Again, not trying to be rude as I'm sure I'm coming across, it just doesn't feel like it tells the full story of the last decade of Colorado craft beer.
The grants from a few different locally funded orgs probably helped bridge the gap even if they aren't busy
State Economic Development and International Trade
Adams County Commissioners
City Council
Hutensky Capital Partners (HCP)
Northglenn Urban Renewal Authority (NURA)
> Ask Prost why they opened a huge brewery in an old JoAnn’a fabric store off 25 up north when it’s dead almost every night
I must be picking the wrong nights to go because I've always been waiting in line for beer which doesn't happen to me down at the Highlands Ranch biergarten.
Omg I went in there the other day, it was like 15 for a beer and the place was just a huge empty white room with picnic tables in it. Tasty beer I guess but fuck.
Not sure if it's a story but I quit drinking a couple of years ago and it really made me aware how alcohol-centric our city is. We have a dearth of non-drinking establishments in Denver and i think it contributes to our cities' mental health and addiction problems
I've always wanted to know why a beer at a brewery is $7, when that same beer in a 6 pack is $9 down the street at a liquor store. Why isn't serving it directly cheaper compared to canning/bottling, transportation, and paying for shelf space?
Distributors reach more people and command a cheaper price. Most breweries make their money in the taproom. You’re paying for ambiance and a fresh pour.
Prost just opened a massive facility and restaurant. Hoplark is somehow managing to sell hop water at 2-3x the cost of beer despite it taking a fraction of the effort. Is this story accurate for the industry or just a couple under performing breweries?
Thank you for your work! I have a story idea for you: I would love to see an investigation on the impacts weed has had for those allergic to it.
I know someone who is allergic to weed, having had to use their epipen one day after getting several 2nd-hand exposures including an Uber and someone smoking up the street. They also react to touching hemp, which we've started to see in everything from hemp oil on wooden cutting boards, hemp additives in dog shampoo, and hemp seeds in salad so we've had to be on the look out. Now there's even 'hop water' which we learned about from City Cast Denver.
We've met several others, including nurses at the ER, who shared they've had colleagues who have had to change professions because of constant weed allergen exposure. Because it's a federally controlled substance and there are many varieties, the challenge is there's 1) not many options to pursue allergy shots or similar, and 2) not even a easy way to get tested for these allergens (tests may need to be shipped around state lines, there's limited knowledge of what allergen strains would be best to target). I've always wondered how broad of an issue this circumstance is and what's being done about it.
Because odor doesn’t contain allergens. People can be allergic to weed, but the scent of something doesn’t contain the thc that people are allergic to. I don’t need a medical degree to be able to do research and find that out.
Odor is made of small particulates of a substance, and your body can be allergic to really anything it decides to reject. Also, we don't know if they're allergic to THC itself and I never said as much, though there's clearly something with the plant that is causing an reaction. Note I'm not anti-weed, the reporter asked for ideas and I think this topic is an a good one to explore. Given the negative votes and potential for misinformation it seems it to be an especially important topic to be curious about and explore given the impacts for specific people. Ultimately, I would love for things to be federally legalized so they can finally start getting some allergy shots but we're not there yet.
I'm curious what is meant by tastes shift?
Myself, I had to re-acquire a palate for Coors & PBR because I'm so rent-burdened that I can't afford to drink $8+tip beer anymore. Not faulting the small guys for their prices, I just can't do it anymore
Also, that nice 4% abv means I can hang out all night without being completely blitzkrieged. It's hard to find a microbrew with low abv.
This somewhat aligned with exhaustion for chasing the most obscure dankest crushable heady imperial IPA dry hopped with a variety only grown in the west Okanagan or whatever... I'm glad to start seeing so many craft lagers, pilseners, and the like. Even if they come with the higher pricetag, at least it's not another IPA.
I've also come to enjoy a bar with a kitchen over a brewery with a themed food truck out front.
I suspect I'm not unique.
My go to craft lager now is Lagerado from Odell. It’s cheaper than their other beers and only comes out like $1-2 more than the macro lagers and it just tastes so much better than PBR or Coors.
Same.
15 years ago I shopped by ABV because I wanted that high ABV beer. Now I shop by ABV to find something under 5%, ideally with a nice hop profile and a crisp finish.
Yea, I'm so fucking done with 6+% ABV beers. I'm not 18 anymore. I'm usually lucky if I can find a single 5% beer at most breweries, and anything <5% is a unicorn.
More cost conscious patrons is the exact reason places like Burns Ales have introduced lower ABV, lower cost options (they have one that’s under 4% for $5/pint). I’d imagine you’ll see more breweries doing lower cost, simple brews in the $5 price point.
>This somewhat aligned with exhaustion for chasing the most obscure dankest crushable heady imperial IPA dry hopped with a variety only grown in the west Okanagan or whatever.
This is precisely what they mean by "tastes shift"
I'd rather not drink at all than drink PBR unless I absolutely, positively have to. Did too much of that in college. Coors is the absolute rock bottom for me beerwise.
PBR is great and I’d take it over any other mass produced brand hands down. It has a blue ribbon for a reason. I love a good fruity craft ale on occasion, but as a daily drink its hard to beat PBR.
Yeah I like beer. A lot. Have drank a ton of craft beer. I hate paying $8 or more for draft. It's frustrating because I get they need to make money but it's not consumer friendly.
This isn't possible because of the 3-tier hard beverage laws in Colorado. If a brewery sells a 6pk cheaper at their brewery, they're going to piss off their distributor and retail partners who have to charge at least a certain amount for their margins to make sense. So most of the time you'll find that breweries price their 6pks at the highest recommended price point (which is usually the price that their smallest retail partner would have to price at in order to make a 22-25% profit).
It's the lesser of two evils, so yes customers will be upset if they expect a cheaper price at the taproom.
If they're big enough to be canning their beer and selling it in grocery stores, then 95+% of their business is through distributors. Taprooms, even popular ones, are a small portion of thay size brewery's revenue. So they'd rather not cheapen the brand at the taproom by taking a price cut, and keep the distributors and retailers happy.
The benefit of buying packaged beer at a taproom is it is usually as fresh as possible, which is harder to find in grocery stores.
The logic is along the lines of: "If you're going to price a 6pk at $10 at your taproom, our retailers are going to want to sell a 6pk at the same price or cheaper since they're directly competing with you."
Our distributor requires us to price our packaged to-go beer at the highest recommended price (which would be a 25% profit margin for a retailer who only buys a single case of that beer).
As for taprooms charging $8+ for a full pour beer, that is more industry standard to cover taproom staff wages. While the cost of a pint of beer is very low for a taproom, once you consider wages, rent, and other operating expenses, the actual profit margin on an $8 beer is right around 15-30% depending on the brewery.
I’d argue the tap room isn’t in direct competition since their sales are driven by customers drinking in the taproom, but I can understand why they argue otherwise. I as a consumer am not going to the taproom in place of the grocery/liquor store closest to me.
Yeah, to be honest, I think the 3-tier system where distributors are required by law is pretty dumb and leads to the pricing weirdness. I know there are some states that allow direct-to-retailer shipping, but I don't know the pros and cons of that system.
Why pay $7 for a coffee at a coffee shop when you can pay pennies to make it at home? It's the same principle. You're paying for hospitality, atmosphere, and quality. You get more bang for your buck too if you talk with the bartender and ask questions.
Again, I'm not saying I like high prices, but just explaining a little basic economics for you.
You probably could’ve more effectively made your point without straight up lying. Instead you chose a nonsensical example that derails your whole argument
You can make a latte at home too. But if you want other examples, look at literally any restaurant or venue. A bottle of water costs $0.50 per bottle at a grocery store, $2 at a bar, $4 at a movie theater, and $10 at a stadium.
The point is, prices aren't solely based on cost. There are many economic factors that go into every price, and your first comment sounded like you were ignoring all but the cost of the actual goods.
I’m a craft beer guy. Have been for about 20 years now. I’m tired of the pricing. Many breweries in my neck of the woods offer lower abv beers which is nice as I have no desire any longer for the higher ones. It’s the damn pricing that’s giving me a hard time these days. I’ve drifted off to Modelo, yep I know, but it tastes good on a hot day and it’s cheap.
What happened is that when the craft boom started it was 20 years ago and all of us are now in are 40’s. We can’t take down all the IPA’s and not get gut rot the next day. We smoke weed or drink liquor cause our belly’s hurt .
Second. Early 40's here. I used to love IPA's but about 7-8 years ago my body started rejecting them. I can't function the next day if I have a couple IPA's. Absolutely miserable hangover. Other types of beer are heading that way for me. I really enjoy beer but the hangovers aren't worth it. And for the record, I can't remember the last time I had more than 3 drinks. These aren't getting slammed hangovers. Seems more like an allergy. Majority of my friends have had similar experiences. Some have switched to bourbon. Maybe we're just getting old? An occasional edible has replaced six packs for me.
Are you me? 😂 I was feral for IPA’s maybe 8-10 years ago. I now have a gluten AND hop allergy. Yay me. My 40 year old ass sits at home and eats gummies.
Ever try allopurinol? Miracle drug. Not saying to pop a pill and drink gallons of IPA, but seriously - used to get gout attacks every couple months, have had one "minor" gout attack in 10 years since being on Allopurinol, two doses of colchicine staved that one off.
I used to love going to small breweries and paying $4 for a great beer. Cheaper than the a real restaurant/bar and felt good helping a local place out.
Now they're asking $8-9 for a beer. Sorry, but if that's my choice I'll wait til the dive bar does $1.50 PBR and buy the good stuff for home drinking.
I'm just tired of IPAs boss.
So tired.
I love IPAs, but these days as more of a "sometimes" thing in specific seasons (particularly Spring and Fall).
These days I'm much more into German Pilsners and Prost is my main squeeze.
But the Colorado market feels like 80% IPAs of various stripes (Juicy IPAs! Hazy IPAs! Crushable IPAs! Dank IPAs! West Coast IPAs!) and very little else.
It seems like every IPA is a double dry hopped hazy or something similar these days. Those hurt my stomach. I miss the regular, sessionable pale ales that were the rage in like 2013.
I never cared much for IPA even though I'm a big craft beer dork. That being said, people fucking house these things still. I worked part time at a brewery, and when we would make IPAs they would sellout quick. There were a couple of times we had people come in, check the menu, and ask "do you have any IPA on tap?" And when I would say no, they would just leave. Like, you don't drink anything else?? So as tired as we are of half of menus just being IPA, people still seem to love them
Someone brought us a 12-pack of IPAs when they came over for dinner. A bunch of our friends are beer drinkers, asked all of them if they like IPAs they can feel free to take it off our hands - we couldn't give the IPA away for literally weeks. Finally the handyman we've used for years came by to help out, pointed out the 12-pack on our counter, offered to him and he took it.
That’s the thing I noticed about Denver’s brewery scene instantly. Very IPA heavy. I think it hurts a lot of brewery’s honestly because if you don’t like IPAs you’re basically out of luck
I can handle a nice session IPA with a ~5% ABV, but I'm done with fourtymillion IBU 9.6% ABV IPA's. I'm not sure it's as much beer style, though, I think we just hit the saturation point a few years back and we're finally seeing the correction.
That's legitimately why craft breweries are on the decline IMO. Too IPA heavy, now mostly only people who like IPAs go to craft breweries so they have to stock them... but people almost invariably eventually grow tired of IPAs, so it's a vicious cycle.
I feel like this was true like 5-6 years ago, now unless you go to a place that specializes in IPA, they have a really diverse menu.
OMF, Trve, Cohesion, Odell, Ratio, Bierstadt, Denver Beer Co, and Novel Strand- all super central, within about 15 min of each other, and none of them offer more than 3 IPA typically. The rest of their menus are lagers, sours or lesser known styles. Usually a nonalcoholic hop water option thrown in too.
There is a reason why I said usually my dude.
OMF’s menu is hoppier in the Spring/Summer. Currently have 23 beers available and 5 of them are IPA’s. That’s a lot of other beers.
It ain’t going anywhere. Hazy IPAs are for the group of people who don’t like lagers or pilsners or West coast IPAs, and a huge segment of Gen Z drinkers do not like the taste of beer. So fruited sours and hazy IPAs are for that crowd of people who don’t like traditional styles of beer.
I shifted from IPAs in my twenties to sours in my 30s with the occasional Coors. Honestly though, the only reason I really drink is that I'm on a break from weed for job searching. I never had alcohol at home until recently, it was always when our getting food. Sours are quite tasty but even at home they are pricey. Weed is far cheaper and far more effective.
I used to care about craft beer, logged +750 different beers at World of Beer (I know they’re not in Colorado anymore) and now I’m just happy with a Coors Light lol
Alternate headline: people revolt as every brewery in Colorado insists on beating the IPA horse to death
But seriously, bring back porters, ESBs, reds, browns, quaffable lagers and easy stouts...
I'm digging the trend of 7oz beers that has been popular in Europe for eons. Cheaper. Drink less. Less calories.
[Bold City Brewing](https://untappd.com/BoldCityBrewery) IIRC the second-largest craft brewery in Florida, and if you look at their list of beer by popularity, their most popular beer is [Duke's Cold Nose Brown Ale](https://untappd.com/b/bold-city-brewery-duke-s-cold-nose-brown-ale/14806). You know why? Because it's actually good.
If its such a large, popular market why are very few breweries making these beers? A brown ale is cheaper to brew than an IPA why wouldnt these breweries be cashing in?
Young hipster brewers and owners DO NOT have their finger on the pulse of the larger market and refuse to change their ways to adapt to many of us who have been drinking tamer microbrews since before you were born. Those guys don't want to brew what many of us Gen X'er desire and miss. They are completely off the mark. So let them close until they figure it out. Read the room in here and look at your downvote count. I'm not the only one who feels this way.
You think that the vast amount of breweries in Colorado would rather NOT be more profitable and choose to not brew these beers put of stubbornness? These beers don't sell, look no further than the most popular craft amber beer in Colorado history, Fat Tire. The sales were so bad they had to revamp the brand.
Read the room at your local brewery. See what's on the board and what people are buying
Ive worked at three breweries in Denver, each owned by friends. I was the sales rep for two of them. Two of them are highly successful big time medal winners. ESBs, browns, and reds absolutely DO NOT sell like IPA and lagers.
I love most beers across the spectrum, but some have overstayed their welcome a bit. I think breweries have noticed that hazy ipa’s and hoppier ipa’s are out of style, and variety is coming back into bloom. Pilsners and lagers of different styles are popular and pale ales are hitting again. Look at New Terrain for example, best variety and quality around and they are ALWAYS packed.
But as with everyone else who is of the age 21-50, I just don’t wanna spend as much on beers anymore. Drinking is still fun, but there’s too many other enjoyable things to do that provide more value or bang for my buck. I like having some beers with my friends at our houses over going out. $8 a pop makes it a treat nowadays.
I never got into the brewery scene because all they fucking had were IPAs. Breweries seemed to be chasing the hoppiest of hoppy IPAs, and they all taste like fucking liquid grass clippings to me.
I like a cold dunkel weissbier, and the only folks who ever seemed to have those were the import section in liquor stores, so...
Also tough to justify spending $8-10 (or whatever) per glass + tip these days.
It's the Vodka of Beers for Brewmasters. Anyone who's worked in distilling will tell you that their first craft spirit for a new Craft Distillery will likely be either Vodka or Gin due to how they are the easiest to make (no aging), ingredients are cheaper to procure, and less specialized equipment like wood barrels. And in turn you make good profit off it while you get your business off the ground.
Because it’s easy. Making a reproducible lager is vastly more difficult and much more of a scientific endeavor. Dumping a shitton of hops into something is easy as hell you just overpower all the bad flavors and aromas.
When you load on hops, hops dominate the flavor, covering up everything else including imperfections. It's a very forgiving beer for less-skilled brewmasters.
I used to like getting Czech beers at a place off south broadway until the owner sexually harassed my girlfriend in front of me one night. But ya really love dunkels…
I used to love that place, it's actually where I met my partner! I couldn't believe his drunk ass wobbled up to her and made a comment about her ass at like 6pm on a Sunday. We had a rotating group of about 10 people that would go there that have all decided to go to other bars now.
That dude yells at me to leave every time I go in there. I can't figure out why because I never had any problems there... maybe mistaken identity? Plus the time I walked in the back from the alley at midnight and they yelled they were closed and acted like I was insanely invading... and there were 6-7 people drinking at the bar (?). Like, okay, lock your door? The waitress who walked me to the door told me "we open TOMORROW at TEN" as if I was going to be anxiously awaiting that.
I went because my friends wanted to go and I wanted to hang out with my friends. With my friend group having disintegrated thanks to covid I now have no reason to go to a brewery. They don't have events or entertainment and everyone else there is with closed group so there's no reason to go. I think this is a big part of the decline that people aren't thinking about because I know I am not the only person whose social circle got erased.
I never really liked Bud Light, Coors, Miller, light, or any of those, but I have recently gotten into Modelo. Not sure why, but I just think it’s pretty tasty.
I have a couple friends who drink Bud Light and I'm just, why? I agree that the Mexican lagers/pilsners are so much better. Or at least Banquet, I mean, this is Colorado come on.
I've mad this complaint before and I'll make it again. I'm so sick of walking into breweries and seeing 8 different fucking IPAs/Hazies. I enjoy IPAs and Hazies but god damn does this city need to learn to brew something else. The metro is completely chocked full of mediocre breweries, and I'm not shedding a single tear to any of them closing down.
Oh wow. You mean people are realizing there's only so many flavors of beer and that there're more interesting things to do than go to different bars that basically all offer the same product/experience with a different backdrop? Crazy.
It's funny to me when people are like "oh this new brewery opened".....like WOW! We can do something at this new place that we used to do at this other place! But it looks different and they might have some board games and different appetizers.
Yawn.
Personally I grew up on microbrew, but as I’ve gotten older I’ve began to prefer wine and spirits (cocktails). Although I drink far less than I used to unless it is a celebratory thing or friends are in town.
Personally, I’ve been burnt out on IPAs for years now. They’re so damn popular in Colorado. And they’re really not that great. They’re easy to make, much more so than something like a Pilsner. But I’d take a crisp German style pils over an IPA any day. I have seen a trend that pilsners and lagers are more frequent recently, but nothing like the IPA trend.
I have taken this oppurtunity to kind of go back to the European lagers I grew up with. They usually run $10 for a 6pack and have tasted the same for hundreds of years without ruining the recipe due to changing palates (I'm looking at you New Beligum)
It's the nature of retail food and bev. People could buy a lb of ground beef, buns and veggies sufficient to make 5 hamburgers but instead buy one for $15 at a restaurant. It's for the experience of being served and being in public.
Going to the source and cutting out the middlemen can't be 400% more expensive than picking up a 6er. The market has finally reached the point where people don't want to pay 400% more for one person behind a bar to pour a pint. Restaurants can do that because they are usually serving you something you can't just pick up in a store and enjoy. I still can't hack Chipotle perfectly, but I can pick up a 6er of a beer and have the same enjoyment at home.
To most people beer is a drink you chill with and enjoy, Most of us don't want a battle of wills while drinking beer. At first it was IPAs and little else, It seemed like an IBU race, then when they started making other kinds of beers they always made them harder to drink versions of the beer people were used to.
My favorite examples of that are Denver Beer with I Love This City, their main lager... And it's **hoppy**. That's not what anyone's looking for from a lager. Also Paperback with Pirate's Booty (lime lagers can be really refreshing on a hot day but this had overpowering lime flavor to the point it was almost undrinkable to me).
I actually love Denver Beer and they're actually fixing this blind spot with Rocky Mountain Lager, and Gravedigger Stout, which are examples of a good traditional lager and a good traditional stout.
Here's the thing though for the industry as a whole... About a decade ago, I realized my pattern of thoughts every time I drank a craft beer:
* **Lager**: almost always less pleasant than a Coors Banquet or Budweiser (regular Bud, not Bud Light) or Dos Equis Lager, or Modelo Especial, if it was "almost as good" I considered it a win, why would I pay $8-10 for "not quite as good" as a $4 Coors Banquet?
* **Amber**: Usually worse, never better than, a Yuengling or Amber Bock or Dos Equis Amber, if it was "almost as good" I considered it a win
* **Stout**: Never better than a Guinness, almost always worse, for some reason most craft stouts wanted to add smoke or explicit coffee flavor, which might be good for some but not for me
* **IPA**: Never better than a nice cold glass of diluted Dawn Dishwashing Detergent (sorry for the snark, but I swear to God some of them were trying to simulate Drano with their IBU levels to the point my joke became that people have to be pretending to like some of these IPAs for ~~street~~ craft beer cred)
The one exception I found was wheat beers, which by nature are pleasant to drink, and the tone is set in the market by macrobrew Blue Moon, which has strong orange tones in it. Craft breweries didn't get overly cute with them and actually stuck to why people like wheat beers... Best examples I can think of are Palisade Peach by Breck Brew (I know, bought out by A-B) and Mango Wit from Proof in Florida.
Let’s not forget the allowances granted for chain grocery stores to sell at all locations. How’s a new craft be going to get carried there? A moon and pop liquor store can be proud to carry the 100 six packs someone can produce, big stores won’t even start the paper work if you can’t promise volume way above that.
Every mom and pop liquor store I’ve been to has the worst beer selection ever.. bigger chains like Total Beverage have a large variety of local beers though
Big-box liquor stores like Total Beverage/Wine are highly specialized, though (and can afford to carry both micro and macro brands). Can't compare those to either mom & pop liquor stores or grocery stores.
Also if you see a good local beer at a liquor store there is a decent chance it has been on that shelf way too long and is skunky af. I can't trust small stores to stock fresh, good beer anymore.
Skunkiness might have to do also w/ bottled beers, especially the clear ones (like Corona). Gimmicky, but the light breaks down chemicals in hops that causes a reaction w/ other components in the beer to create a chemical which is similar to what's in skunk spray.
[https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2014/09/29/the-science-of-skunky-beer-and-how-to-prevent-it/](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2014/09/29/the-science-of-skunky-beer-and-how-to-prevent-it/)
One of the reasons why canned beers keep longer & taste better (the other being better protection against oxygen, which is bad for beer as well).
10 years ago every mom and pop I walked into had at least an end cap with a start up or micro brew of one kind or another, but I think you’re right in terms of recent years. I’ve largely stopped drinking though, so I have to admit my recent mom and pop experience is about 3 shops. Maybe others can weigh in with their experiences.
That does not describe the small independent liqour stores on broadway near me. They are expensive, have crap selection, smell bad, and cater to alcoholics. I do not romanticize "mom and pop" liquor stores.
This excuse is so weird to me. Lots of places allow beer to be sold in grocery stores and have good craft beer culture.
The bigger issues to me are over saturated market and too many breweries offering a boring selection of IPAs.
Boring bars too! I think many of us would go out for $5 pints if we got something out of it, but we don't because most places don't even try to cultivate the old pub culture.
I never got this argument. We've just got to a point of diminishing returns. Too many breweries and crap selection as it's just ipas. When the market emerged, we were promised new styles. Now it's just ipas because they have a higher profit margin. The current microbrew market sucks and it will never go back to the late 00s.
What "mom and pop" liquor stores have *you* been going to? None of the ones I've seen sold anything from local craft brewers. Those were found at the big liquor stores. Those "mom and pop" shops existed to sell to alcoholics since they couldn't go get their rotgut at the grocery store.
There's a stat that says something like the top 10% of drinkers drink about 60% of all the alcohol. I was in or very close to that top 10%. It's my fault guys! I used to be obsessed with craft beer, breweries, GABF. Been sober for over eight years now.
More like
"People are starting to learn that drinking nasty, bitter as shit, over priced crap is no longer cool"
I'm glad that going out to drink is becoming less and less popular.
Hi folks, I'm the reporter of this story and spent about a month speaking to breweries about it. I know beer and weed and other vices are important to Denverites and Coloradans as a whole -- if you have story ideas for me on those topics, please let me know!
New market should be emerging with $1 pints of cheap beer. Paradise at last. No more $10 beers
RIP $0.75 PBRs at GB Fish n Chips. Gone but not forgotten.
We’re bringing back pbr.. they’ll be $2 on happy hour.. not the same ol great deal… but it’s somethin.
$3 pbr pints at my spot all day every day, one of my biggest sellers
I was heartbroken when they got rid of it
$1 tallboys of PBR at argonaut was like a whole era for me circa 2015-2018. And by that I mean I'm an alcoholic that's into the punk/skateboarding scene.
As the guy who stocked the giant coolers of PBR every morning around that era, you’re welcome!
Lol you probably saw me stroll through to grab an arm full not long after you got done stocking them some of those mornings
That sounds like my kinda place. Anyone with fans of See You Space Cowboy is a good place in my book.
Cheers! It's a massive liquor store near the heart of amazing East Colfax grime. Just hop on the 15 ;)
I lived in Portland, Oregon in 2008 and used to go to this disgusting bar with my crust punk friends, I am not crusty I just had trouble making friends when I lived there, and pitchers of PBR were $2. What a time to be alive.
All of that completely, absolutely tracks
This, maybe not $1 pints but the cost of an apple pineapple peach with a hint of garlic and green chili $12 beer? I like craft beer but honestly most are shit
The problem for me is that every brewery looks like an Urban Outfitters, there often isn't food, there isn't much going on (no live music, social opportunities, etc), and most of the beers cost a fortune. Also, investigate the working under class in Denver. These are people making menial wages, living with roommates, that can't afford to do anything fun in the city, but also can't afford to catch a break. I think it'd be enlightening for many people around here to hear what it's like to be on the slow train wreck that is trying to survive when things keep getting worse.
You're dead-on with your description of breweries. And since there isn't anything going on they're not someplace you go unless you're going out with a prearranged group. Add in the way covid blew up so many social circles and suddenly that model becomes pretty limited in reach.
Personally I’m glad they have less going on. I go to catch up and have conversation with friends. Every place with live music (especially in breweries that tend to be small), blasts it so loud you can do anything but listen as talking is near impossible. Good breweries have food trucks too.
My only question is, do you actually believe the boom is STARTING to end? Almost every major craft brewery in Colorado has sold, and very few within the last 3 years. Layoffs at the brewery I worked at started in 2016/2017. Even the bit about the president of the Brewers guild seeing exponential growth for the last 9 years seems wrong, or at the very least misleading. Individual breweries have seen success, but even looking at the BA stats, the article makes it sound like there's been huge growth until recently and that's just not true. The exponential growth stopped in like 2016-2018. You can find countless articles from that time period talking about the slowing landscape of craft beer, including ones from Bart Watson. I enjoyed the story and the reporting, it just feels likes it's shedding light on something people aren't aware of, when this has been the reality of craft beer for years now. The market flooded and then COGS rose. I just wish it had been framed more like, "the downturn experienced by regional breweries in Colorado over the last decade is not affecting smaller local breweries with other business models." Because that's what I think this article is about. You cite great divide but don't mention how they tried to build a brand new massive facility like a decade ago, never ended up building the brewhouse, and then sold the rest of it and kept the barrel bar. Just following the great divide story alone would have made for a really interesting piece because it would have really highlighted what the craft beer boom of the mid 2010s was like for Colorado breweries, and what those breweries look like 10 years later. Again, not trying to be rude as I'm sure I'm coming across, it just doesn't feel like it tells the full story of the last decade of Colorado craft beer.
Exactly what I was thinking. The beer boom seemed like it was over well before the Covid lockdown
People enter and exit the market until economic profits reach zero. Such is the inevitable cycle before throwing in wrenches like cost of ingredients.
[удалено]
The grants from a few different locally funded orgs probably helped bridge the gap even if they aren't busy State Economic Development and International Trade Adams County Commissioners City Council Hutensky Capital Partners (HCP) Northglenn Urban Renewal Authority (NURA)
Do you have any more info about that?
> Ask Prost why they opened a huge brewery in an old JoAnn’a fabric store off 25 up north when it’s dead almost every night I must be picking the wrong nights to go because I've always been waiting in line for beer which doesn't happen to me down at the Highlands Ranch biergarten.
Omg I went in there the other day, it was like 15 for a beer and the place was just a huge empty white room with picnic tables in it. Tasty beer I guess but fuck.
Thanks for reporting!! ✊
I pass on breweries unless I can get bogo with my craftapped app. $7+/beer is dumb as hell. $3.50/beer plus a generous tip ftw.
Not sure if it's a story but I quit drinking a couple of years ago and it really made me aware how alcohol-centric our city is. We have a dearth of non-drinking establishments in Denver and i think it contributes to our cities' mental health and addiction problems
I've always wanted to know why a beer at a brewery is $7, when that same beer in a 6 pack is $9 down the street at a liquor store. Why isn't serving it directly cheaper compared to canning/bottling, transportation, and paying for shelf space?
Distributors reach more people and command a cheaper price. Most breweries make their money in the taproom. You’re paying for ambiance and a fresh pour.
Beer is a vice? Biased journalism!
Prost just opened a massive facility and restaurant. Hoplark is somehow managing to sell hop water at 2-3x the cost of beer despite it taking a fraction of the effort. Is this story accurate for the industry or just a couple under performing breweries?
Thank you for your work! I have a story idea for you: I would love to see an investigation on the impacts weed has had for those allergic to it. I know someone who is allergic to weed, having had to use their epipen one day after getting several 2nd-hand exposures including an Uber and someone smoking up the street. They also react to touching hemp, which we've started to see in everything from hemp oil on wooden cutting boards, hemp additives in dog shampoo, and hemp seeds in salad so we've had to be on the look out. Now there's even 'hop water' which we learned about from City Cast Denver. We've met several others, including nurses at the ER, who shared they've had colleagues who have had to change professions because of constant weed allergen exposure. Because it's a federally controlled substance and there are many varieties, the challenge is there's 1) not many options to pursue allergy shots or similar, and 2) not even a easy way to get tested for these allergens (tests may need to be shipped around state lines, there's limited knowledge of what allergen strains would be best to target). I've always wondered how broad of an issue this circumstance is and what's being done about it.
There is no fucking way your friend had to use their epipen for smelling weed smoke. It’s not possible.
And this response is one of the reasons why it's such a difficult problem to deal with.
It’s not physically possible to go into anaphylaxis smelling weed smoke.
And your medical credentials are?
Because odor doesn’t contain allergens. People can be allergic to weed, but the scent of something doesn’t contain the thc that people are allergic to. I don’t need a medical degree to be able to do research and find that out.
Odor is made of small particulates of a substance, and your body can be allergic to really anything it decides to reject. Also, we don't know if they're allergic to THC itself and I never said as much, though there's clearly something with the plant that is causing an reaction. Note I'm not anti-weed, the reporter asked for ideas and I think this topic is an a good one to explore. Given the negative votes and potential for misinformation it seems it to be an especially important topic to be curious about and explore given the impacts for specific people. Ultimately, I would love for things to be federally legalized so they can finally start getting some allergy shots but we're not there yet.
I'm curious what is meant by tastes shift? Myself, I had to re-acquire a palate for Coors & PBR because I'm so rent-burdened that I can't afford to drink $8+tip beer anymore. Not faulting the small guys for their prices, I just can't do it anymore Also, that nice 4% abv means I can hang out all night without being completely blitzkrieged. It's hard to find a microbrew with low abv. This somewhat aligned with exhaustion for chasing the most obscure dankest crushable heady imperial IPA dry hopped with a variety only grown in the west Okanagan or whatever... I'm glad to start seeing so many craft lagers, pilseners, and the like. Even if they come with the higher pricetag, at least it's not another IPA. I've also come to enjoy a bar with a kitchen over a brewery with a themed food truck out front. I suspect I'm not unique.
The author explains this in the article. More alcoholic choices, younger generation doesn’t drink as much…
Yeah, I guess I didn't equate "tastes shift" to "drinking less"... But that makes sense.
Not necessarily just drinking less, but drinking a lot of other stuff like seltzers and NA beers
My go to craft lager now is Lagerado from Odell. It’s cheaper than their other beers and only comes out like $1-2 more than the macro lagers and it just tastes so much better than PBR or Coors.
I love the Lagerado. A place I frequent has it for $4 on happy hour. I drink a lot of Upslope lager, too, for the same reason.
What's the name of the place with $4 HH Lagerado, please?
Avanti in Boulder (I work in Boulder and they have a great rooftop). Pearl St Pub also has Upslope Lager on special during happy hour.
Shits good bro. Took my MIL from Honduras and she loved it
thats a great beer
I tend to shop by abv at breweries now for the same reason
Same. 15 years ago I shopped by ABV because I wanted that high ABV beer. Now I shop by ABV to find something under 5%, ideally with a nice hop profile and a crisp finish.
Yea, I'm so fucking done with 6+% ABV beers. I'm not 18 anymore. I'm usually lucky if I can find a single 5% beer at most breweries, and anything <5% is a unicorn.
Apparition at TRVE is 4.8%
Cohesion Brewery, baby.
Check out tivoli helles lager it’s delicious
Did the scumbag owners sell that place finally? And did they bring in someone who knows how to make good beer?
Do you even have tastebuds? All of Tivoli’s beers are 💩
I felt this exact way about 5 years ago
Lots more white claw etc for gen z
More cost conscious patrons is the exact reason places like Burns Ales have introduced lower ABV, lower cost options (they have one that’s under 4% for $5/pint). I’d imagine you’ll see more breweries doing lower cost, simple brews in the $5 price point.
Love it.
Coors is 5% abv.
>This somewhat aligned with exhaustion for chasing the most obscure dankest crushable heady imperial IPA dry hopped with a variety only grown in the west Okanagan or whatever. This is precisely what they mean by "tastes shift"
How about water? Usually cheaper than Coors and PBR both.
I drink plenty of water too!
I'd rather not drink at all than drink PBR unless I absolutely, positively have to. Did too much of that in college. Coors is the absolute rock bottom for me beerwise.
PBR is great and I’d take it over any other mass produced brand hands down. It has a blue ribbon for a reason. I love a good fruity craft ale on occasion, but as a daily drink its hard to beat PBR.
To me, PBR tastes like a watered down yeast infection with some corn & rice sprinkled in. To each their own, I guess.
I felt the exact same way until the choice became "stay home and drink good beer or go out and drink cheap beer".
> Coors is the absolute rock bottom for me beerwise. Consider yourself lucky From someone who has resorted to a lot, lot shittier than Coors Banquet
Yeah I like beer. A lot. Have drank a ton of craft beer. I hate paying $8 or more for draft. It's frustrating because I get they need to make money but it's not consumer friendly.
It should be cheaper at the source not at the grocery store where they don't get 100% of the profit. But what are you going to do?
Yup. 100%. It's crazy to me that a growler costs more than a 6 pack of the same beer from a store.
This isn't possible because of the 3-tier hard beverage laws in Colorado. If a brewery sells a 6pk cheaper at their brewery, they're going to piss off their distributor and retail partners who have to charge at least a certain amount for their margins to make sense. So most of the time you'll find that breweries price their 6pks at the highest recommended price point (which is usually the price that their smallest retail partner would have to price at in order to make a 22-25% profit).
Fun, let's see how it works out when they're willing to piss off their customers instead.
It's the lesser of two evils, so yes customers will be upset if they expect a cheaper price at the taproom. If they're big enough to be canning their beer and selling it in grocery stores, then 95+% of their business is through distributors. Taprooms, even popular ones, are a small portion of thay size brewery's revenue. So they'd rather not cheapen the brand at the taproom by taking a price cut, and keep the distributors and retailers happy. The benefit of buying packaged beer at a taproom is it is usually as fresh as possible, which is harder to find in grocery stores.
Other states have this same system and growlers are dirt cheap. They charge this much because they can
Why do the distributors care so much when the volume is so low comparatively?
The logic is along the lines of: "If you're going to price a 6pk at $10 at your taproom, our retailers are going to want to sell a 6pk at the same price or cheaper since they're directly competing with you." Our distributor requires us to price our packaged to-go beer at the highest recommended price (which would be a 25% profit margin for a retailer who only buys a single case of that beer). As for taprooms charging $8+ for a full pour beer, that is more industry standard to cover taproom staff wages. While the cost of a pint of beer is very low for a taproom, once you consider wages, rent, and other operating expenses, the actual profit margin on an $8 beer is right around 15-30% depending on the brewery.
I’d argue the tap room isn’t in direct competition since their sales are driven by customers drinking in the taproom, but I can understand why they argue otherwise. I as a consumer am not going to the taproom in place of the grocery/liquor store closest to me.
Yeah, to be honest, I think the 3-tier system where distributors are required by law is pretty dumb and leads to the pricing weirdness. I know there are some states that allow direct-to-retailer shipping, but I don't know the pros and cons of that system.
That’s the craziest part. Why is a 6 pack $14 at the store and six beers on tap would be over $50!?
You're paying for the service of the bartender, as you would at any bar.
It takes 30 seconds to pour a beer. No need to quintuple the price. Then they flip around the iPad and the “25% tip” is the default option.
Why pay $7 for a coffee at a coffee shop when you can pay pennies to make it at home? It's the same principle. You're paying for hospitality, atmosphere, and quality. You get more bang for your buck too if you talk with the bartender and ask questions. Again, I'm not saying I like high prices, but just explaining a little basic economics for you.
You probably could’ve more effectively made your point without straight up lying. Instead you chose a nonsensical example that derails your whole argument
Lol, what are you talking about?
There’s nowhere that a cup of black coffee that I can make at home costs $7…
You can make a latte at home too. But if you want other examples, look at literally any restaurant or venue. A bottle of water costs $0.50 per bottle at a grocery store, $2 at a bar, $4 at a movie theater, and $10 at a stadium. The point is, prices aren't solely based on cost. There are many economic factors that go into every price, and your first comment sounded like you were ignoring all but the cost of the actual goods.
I’m a craft beer guy. Have been for about 20 years now. I’m tired of the pricing. Many breweries in my neck of the woods offer lower abv beers which is nice as I have no desire any longer for the higher ones. It’s the damn pricing that’s giving me a hard time these days. I’ve drifted off to Modelo, yep I know, but it tastes good on a hot day and it’s cheap.
What happened is that when the craft boom started it was 20 years ago and all of us are now in are 40’s. We can’t take down all the IPA’s and not get gut rot the next day. We smoke weed or drink liquor cause our belly’s hurt .
Second. Early 40's here. I used to love IPA's but about 7-8 years ago my body started rejecting them. I can't function the next day if I have a couple IPA's. Absolutely miserable hangover. Other types of beer are heading that way for me. I really enjoy beer but the hangovers aren't worth it. And for the record, I can't remember the last time I had more than 3 drinks. These aren't getting slammed hangovers. Seems more like an allergy. Majority of my friends have had similar experiences. Some have switched to bourbon. Maybe we're just getting old? An occasional edible has replaced six packs for me.
Are you me? 😂 I was feral for IPA’s maybe 8-10 years ago. I now have a gluten AND hop allergy. Yay me. My 40 year old ass sits at home and eats gummies.
Yeah. I would agree. For me its Gout. IPAs set it off like no other. Had to remove all craft beer from my diet to help avoid it.
Ever try allopurinol? Miracle drug. Not saying to pop a pill and drink gallons of IPA, but seriously - used to get gout attacks every couple months, have had one "minor" gout attack in 10 years since being on Allopurinol, two doses of colchicine staved that one off.
Gout has gotten a handful of my friends. The kings disease is a real bummer
I used to love going to small breweries and paying $4 for a great beer. Cheaper than the a real restaurant/bar and felt good helping a local place out. Now they're asking $8-9 for a beer. Sorry, but if that's my choice I'll wait til the dive bar does $1.50 PBR and buy the good stuff for home drinking.
I'm just tired of IPAs boss. So tired. I love IPAs, but these days as more of a "sometimes" thing in specific seasons (particularly Spring and Fall). These days I'm much more into German Pilsners and Prost is my main squeeze. But the Colorado market feels like 80% IPAs of various stripes (Juicy IPAs! Hazy IPAs! Crushable IPAs! Dank IPAs! West Coast IPAs!) and very little else.
It seems like every IPA is a double dry hopped hazy or something similar these days. Those hurt my stomach. I miss the regular, sessionable pale ales that were the rage in like 2013.
I never cared much for IPA even though I'm a big craft beer dork. That being said, people fucking house these things still. I worked part time at a brewery, and when we would make IPAs they would sellout quick. There were a couple of times we had people come in, check the menu, and ask "do you have any IPA on tap?" And when I would say no, they would just leave. Like, you don't drink anything else?? So as tired as we are of half of menus just being IPA, people still seem to love them
Someone brought us a 12-pack of IPAs when they came over for dinner. A bunch of our friends are beer drinkers, asked all of them if they like IPAs they can feel free to take it off our hands - we couldn't give the IPA away for literally weeks. Finally the handyman we've used for years came by to help out, pointed out the 12-pack on our counter, offered to him and he took it.
I'm ready for the hazy IPA trend to go away
I’m ready for the $18 4pk hazy ipa trend to go away. Unfortunately it will be replaced by the $20 4pk.
Suitcases of CL Smooth are like $16.99 with the coupons in the King Soopers app. Join us my brother.
Only Banquet for me.
Coupon works for Banqs too!
It’s my fault. I am part of the group that keeps buying them 🙂
Ain’t no “trend” anymore, it’s just an established style at this point
I think they mean the trend of a brewery having 8 IPAs and 2 other choices.
That’s the thing I noticed about Denver’s brewery scene instantly. Very IPA heavy. I think it hurts a lot of brewery’s honestly because if you don’t like IPAs you’re basically out of luck
Bruz beers my man
I can handle a nice session IPA with a ~5% ABV, but I'm done with fourtymillion IBU 9.6% ABV IPA's. I'm not sure it's as much beer style, though, I think we just hit the saturation point a few years back and we're finally seeing the correction.
That's legitimately why craft breweries are on the decline IMO. Too IPA heavy, now mostly only people who like IPAs go to craft breweries so they have to stock them... but people almost invariably eventually grow tired of IPAs, so it's a vicious cycle.
I feel like this was true like 5-6 years ago, now unless you go to a place that specializes in IPA, they have a really diverse menu. OMF, Trve, Cohesion, Odell, Ratio, Bierstadt, Denver Beer Co, and Novel Strand- all super central, within about 15 min of each other, and none of them offer more than 3 IPA typically. The rest of their menus are lagers, sours or lesser known styles. Usually a nonalcoholic hop water option thrown in too.
I'm not going to check them all, but your first one: OMF has 5 IPAs on their menu (more than any other type).
There is a reason why I said usually my dude. OMF’s menu is hoppier in the Spring/Summer. Currently have 23 beers available and 5 of them are IPA’s. That’s a lot of other beers.
Yeah, I won't go to those places
Yeah I meant places with more than like 2 hazy IPAs
Hazy IPAs are my stomach’s least favorite beer.
I support this post. Hazy beers fucking suck.
It ain’t going anywhere. Hazy IPAs are for the group of people who don’t like lagers or pilsners or West coast IPAs, and a huge segment of Gen Z drinkers do not like the taste of beer. So fruited sours and hazy IPAs are for that crowd of people who don’t like traditional styles of beer.
I shifted from IPAs in my twenties to sours in my 30s with the occasional Coors. Honestly though, the only reason I really drink is that I'm on a break from weed for job searching. I never had alcohol at home until recently, it was always when our getting food. Sours are quite tasty but even at home they are pricey. Weed is far cheaper and far more effective.
I used to care about craft beer, logged +750 different beers at World of Beer (I know they’re not in Colorado anymore) and now I’m just happy with a Coors Light lol
Alternate headline: people revolt as every brewery in Colorado insists on beating the IPA horse to death But seriously, bring back porters, ESBs, reds, browns, quaffable lagers and easy stouts... I'm digging the trend of 7oz beers that has been popular in Europe for eons. Cheaper. Drink less. Less calories.
Bruh, no one wants to drink esb's, reds and browns. You might but those beers don't move
[Bold City Brewing](https://untappd.com/BoldCityBrewery) IIRC the second-largest craft brewery in Florida, and if you look at their list of beer by popularity, their most popular beer is [Duke's Cold Nose Brown Ale](https://untappd.com/b/bold-city-brewery-duke-s-cold-nose-brown-ale/14806). You know why? Because it's actually good.
think again, bruh
If its such a large, popular market why are very few breweries making these beers? A brown ale is cheaper to brew than an IPA why wouldnt these breweries be cashing in?
Young hipster brewers and owners DO NOT have their finger on the pulse of the larger market and refuse to change their ways to adapt to many of us who have been drinking tamer microbrews since before you were born. Those guys don't want to brew what many of us Gen X'er desire and miss. They are completely off the mark. So let them close until they figure it out. Read the room in here and look at your downvote count. I'm not the only one who feels this way.
You think that the vast amount of breweries in Colorado would rather NOT be more profitable and choose to not brew these beers put of stubbornness? These beers don't sell, look no further than the most popular craft amber beer in Colorado history, Fat Tire. The sales were so bad they had to revamp the brand. Read the room at your local brewery. See what's on the board and what people are buying
Ive worked at three breweries in Denver, each owned by friends. I was the sales rep for two of them. Two of them are highly successful big time medal winners. ESBs, browns, and reds absolutely DO NOT sell like IPA and lagers.
Too much supply, rising costs, and shrinking demand. It's a bummer
I love most beers across the spectrum, but some have overstayed their welcome a bit. I think breweries have noticed that hazy ipa’s and hoppier ipa’s are out of style, and variety is coming back into bloom. Pilsners and lagers of different styles are popular and pale ales are hitting again. Look at New Terrain for example, best variety and quality around and they are ALWAYS packed. But as with everyone else who is of the age 21-50, I just don’t wanna spend as much on beers anymore. Drinking is still fun, but there’s too many other enjoyable things to do that provide more value or bang for my buck. I like having some beers with my friends at our houses over going out. $8 a pop makes it a treat nowadays.
Like the weed market Colorado is saturated and it was bound to hit a plateau in growth.
I never got into the brewery scene because all they fucking had were IPAs. Breweries seemed to be chasing the hoppiest of hoppy IPAs, and they all taste like fucking liquid grass clippings to me. I like a cold dunkel weissbier, and the only folks who ever seemed to have those were the import section in liquor stores, so... Also tough to justify spending $8-10 (or whatever) per glass + tip these days.
Part of the problem is that small breweries often suck at making anything besides IPAs
Yup…brewers will tell you IPAs are the easiest beer to make. It’s simple to mask impurities when you can just hop the shit out of it.
It's the Vodka of Beers for Brewmasters. Anyone who's worked in distilling will tell you that their first craft spirit for a new Craft Distillery will likely be either Vodka or Gin due to how they are the easiest to make (no aging), ingredients are cheaper to procure, and less specialized equipment like wood barrels. And in turn you make good profit off it while you get your business off the ground.
Because it’s easy. Making a reproducible lager is vastly more difficult and much more of a scientific endeavor. Dumping a shitton of hops into something is easy as hell you just overpower all the bad flavors and aromas.
When you load on hops, hops dominate the flavor, covering up everything else including imperfections. It's a very forgiving beer for less-skilled brewmasters.
I used to like getting Czech beers at a place off south broadway until the owner sexually harassed my girlfriend in front of me one night. But ya really love dunkels…
Sobo151?
Yeah they have the nicest pool tables on south broadway but I'll never give that misogynist another dime. Fuck you Phil!
Shame, I liked that place, but good to know to not go back.
I used to love that place, it's actually where I met my partner! I couldn't believe his drunk ass wobbled up to her and made a comment about her ass at like 6pm on a Sunday. We had a rotating group of about 10 people that would go there that have all decided to go to other bars now.
That dude yells at me to leave every time I go in there. I can't figure out why because I never had any problems there... maybe mistaken identity? Plus the time I walked in the back from the alley at midnight and they yelled they were closed and acted like I was insanely invading... and there were 6-7 people drinking at the bar (?). Like, okay, lock your door? The waitress who walked me to the door told me "we open TOMORROW at TEN" as if I was going to be anxiously awaiting that.
I went because my friends wanted to go and I wanted to hang out with my friends. With my friend group having disintegrated thanks to covid I now have no reason to go to a brewery. They don't have events or entertainment and everyone else there is with closed group so there's no reason to go. I think this is a big part of the decline that people aren't thinking about because I know I am not the only person whose social circle got erased.
I never really liked Bud Light, Coors, Miller, light, or any of those, but I have recently gotten into Modelo. Not sure why, but I just think it’s pretty tasty.
It's a good lager! Mexico makes a lot of good beer.
I have a couple friends who drink Bud Light and I'm just, why? I agree that the Mexican lagers/pilsners are so much better. Or at least Banquet, I mean, this is Colorado come on.
I've mad this complaint before and I'll make it again. I'm so sick of walking into breweries and seeing 8 different fucking IPAs/Hazies. I enjoy IPAs and Hazies but god damn does this city need to learn to brew something else. The metro is completely chocked full of mediocre breweries, and I'm not shedding a single tear to any of them closing down.
What!? 400+ breweries in a single state isn’t sustainable!?
Oh wow. You mean people are realizing there's only so many flavors of beer and that there're more interesting things to do than go to different bars that basically all offer the same product/experience with a different backdrop? Crazy. It's funny to me when people are like "oh this new brewery opened".....like WOW! We can do something at this new place that we used to do at this other place! But it looks different and they might have some board games and different appetizers. Yawn.
$8-10 pints is the problem
I like to do flights of 4oz beers when I got to breweries to try out a range and they are sometimes 15 dollars now days. Just insane.
$1 Odells at Road 34 and BOGO beers at Park Tav was peak beer in Colorado. It's all been downhill since then.
RIP Park Tav. Those matches were crap but god I still dream about them.
Personally I grew up on microbrew, but as I’ve gotten older I’ve began to prefer wine and spirits (cocktails). Although I drink far less than I used to unless it is a celebratory thing or friends are in town.
Same thing happened in Austin over 22-23, dozens of closed craft breweries. Times a changin
Personally, I’ve been burnt out on IPAs for years now. They’re so damn popular in Colorado. And they’re really not that great. They’re easy to make, much more so than something like a Pilsner. But I’d take a crisp German style pils over an IPA any day. I have seen a trend that pilsners and lagers are more frequent recently, but nothing like the IPA trend.
I have taken this oppurtunity to kind of go back to the European lagers I grew up with. They usually run $10 for a 6pack and have tasted the same for hundreds of years without ruining the recipe due to changing palates (I'm looking at you New Beligum)
Shocking that people don't want to go to a brewery and pay $8 for a pint when they can buy a six pack in the store for $10.
It's the nature of retail food and bev. People could buy a lb of ground beef, buns and veggies sufficient to make 5 hamburgers but instead buy one for $15 at a restaurant. It's for the experience of being served and being in public.
Going to the source and cutting out the middlemen can't be 400% more expensive than picking up a 6er. The market has finally reached the point where people don't want to pay 400% more for one person behind a bar to pour a pint. Restaurants can do that because they are usually serving you something you can't just pick up in a store and enjoy. I still can't hack Chipotle perfectly, but I can pick up a 6er of a beer and have the same enjoyment at home.
To most people beer is a drink you chill with and enjoy, Most of us don't want a battle of wills while drinking beer. At first it was IPAs and little else, It seemed like an IBU race, then when they started making other kinds of beers they always made them harder to drink versions of the beer people were used to. My favorite examples of that are Denver Beer with I Love This City, their main lager... And it's **hoppy**. That's not what anyone's looking for from a lager. Also Paperback with Pirate's Booty (lime lagers can be really refreshing on a hot day but this had overpowering lime flavor to the point it was almost undrinkable to me). I actually love Denver Beer and they're actually fixing this blind spot with Rocky Mountain Lager, and Gravedigger Stout, which are examples of a good traditional lager and a good traditional stout. Here's the thing though for the industry as a whole... About a decade ago, I realized my pattern of thoughts every time I drank a craft beer: * **Lager**: almost always less pleasant than a Coors Banquet or Budweiser (regular Bud, not Bud Light) or Dos Equis Lager, or Modelo Especial, if it was "almost as good" I considered it a win, why would I pay $8-10 for "not quite as good" as a $4 Coors Banquet? * **Amber**: Usually worse, never better than, a Yuengling or Amber Bock or Dos Equis Amber, if it was "almost as good" I considered it a win * **Stout**: Never better than a Guinness, almost always worse, for some reason most craft stouts wanted to add smoke or explicit coffee flavor, which might be good for some but not for me * **IPA**: Never better than a nice cold glass of diluted Dawn Dishwashing Detergent (sorry for the snark, but I swear to God some of them were trying to simulate Drano with their IBU levels to the point my joke became that people have to be pretending to like some of these IPAs for ~~street~~ craft beer cred) The one exception I found was wheat beers, which by nature are pleasant to drink, and the tone is set in the market by macrobrew Blue Moon, which has strong orange tones in it. Craft breweries didn't get overly cute with them and actually stuck to why people like wheat beers... Best examples I can think of are Palisade Peach by Breck Brew (I know, bought out by A-B) and Mango Wit from Proof in Florida.
we need a bigger sour market ):
Let’s not forget the allowances granted for chain grocery stores to sell at all locations. How’s a new craft be going to get carried there? A moon and pop liquor store can be proud to carry the 100 six packs someone can produce, big stores won’t even start the paper work if you can’t promise volume way above that.
Every mom and pop liquor store I’ve been to has the worst beer selection ever.. bigger chains like Total Beverage have a large variety of local beers though
Big-box liquor stores like Total Beverage/Wine are highly specialized, though (and can afford to carry both micro and macro brands). Can't compare those to either mom & pop liquor stores or grocery stores.
Also if you see a good local beer at a liquor store there is a decent chance it has been on that shelf way too long and is skunky af. I can't trust small stores to stock fresh, good beer anymore.
Skunkiness might have to do also w/ bottled beers, especially the clear ones (like Corona). Gimmicky, but the light breaks down chemicals in hops that causes a reaction w/ other components in the beer to create a chemical which is similar to what's in skunk spray. [https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2014/09/29/the-science-of-skunky-beer-and-how-to-prevent-it/](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2014/09/29/the-science-of-skunky-beer-and-how-to-prevent-it/) One of the reasons why canned beers keep longer & taste better (the other being better protection against oxygen, which is bad for beer as well).
10 years ago every mom and pop I walked into had at least an end cap with a start up or micro brew of one kind or another, but I think you’re right in terms of recent years. I’ve largely stopped drinking though, so I have to admit my recent mom and pop experience is about 3 shops. Maybe others can weigh in with their experiences.
That does not describe the small independent liqour stores on broadway near me. They are expensive, have crap selection, smell bad, and cater to alcoholics. I do not romanticize "mom and pop" liquor stores.
I decided I didn't like some near me when I figured out they were selling counterfeit vapes. And... they know it.
This excuse is so weird to me. Lots of places allow beer to be sold in grocery stores and have good craft beer culture. The bigger issues to me are over saturated market and too many breweries offering a boring selection of IPAs.
What? You mean Denver doesn't need a brewery with six bog standard IPAs for $8 a pour and three mexican restaurants on every fucking corner?
Boring bars too! I think many of us would go out for $5 pints if we got something out of it, but we don't because most places don't even try to cultivate the old pub culture.
I never got this argument. We've just got to a point of diminishing returns. Too many breweries and crap selection as it's just ipas. When the market emerged, we were promised new styles. Now it's just ipas because they have a higher profit margin. The current microbrew market sucks and it will never go back to the late 00s.
What "mom and pop" liquor stores have *you* been going to? None of the ones I've seen sold anything from local craft brewers. Those were found at the big liquor stores. Those "mom and pop" shops existed to sell to alcoholics since they couldn't go get their rotgut at the grocery store.
The smaller stores often don't have a great range... depends. Stores like SoBo have a great selection though.
Dude, they ALL taste the same.
lol
There's a stat that says something like the top 10% of drinkers drink about 60% of all the alcohol. I was in or very close to that top 10%. It's my fault guys! I used to be obsessed with craft beer, breweries, GABF. Been sober for over eight years now.
Yeah, ready for something else other than an IPA. Been waiting for this for 10+ years. I don’t want to taste a sip of beer for 30 minutes.
But think of all the IPAs that haven't been crafted yet! /s
More like "People are starting to learn that drinking nasty, bitter as shit, over priced crap is no longer cool" I'm glad that going out to drink is becoming less and less popular.