DENVER — It’s going to be a busy few weeks for two Denver area breweries. Denver Beer Company is officially opening their Lowry taproom, while FlyteCo Brewing is celebrating their fourth anniversary. They’re just two examples of how Colorado’s craft breweries have rebounded and are thriving than more than ever following the initial challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic.
Denver Beer is throwing a grand opening party for its fourth location, as the company opened up a brand new new spot on Lowry Boulevard and Pontiac Street, right next to a local park.
“We’re standing in our brand new Lowry taproom,” Denver Beer Co. cofounder Charlie Berger said. “Forty-two hundred square feet inside and the patio is like another 8,000.”
For FlyteCo, it’s an anniversary party weekend.
“We’ll be celebrating our fourth anniversary at FlyteCo Tennyson,” Morgan O’Sullivan, cofounder of FlyteCo said. “In today’s world, any year you’ve made it is just as important as a ten year or 20 year (anniversary) in my mind.”
Two Denver breweries, celebrating milestones over the course of the next few weeks. They’ll also be celebrating a bit of an emergence from the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“There were a few years honestly that drinking beer in the taproom with your neighbors and friends was a small risk,” Berger said, sipping a pint.
Denver7 anchor Jason Gruenauer asked O’Sullivan if there were times that he wasn’t sure they’d make it to a fourth anniversary.
“Oh, I would be lying if I said otherwise. Yes,” he responded.
Now in 2023, both breweries have seen crowds return. They’ve expanded, DBC opening their Downing Street location while FlyteCo expanded to the FlyteCo tower in Northeast Denver. Their numbers are back to some form of ‘pre-pandemic levels,’ and their confidence to continue to grow is back.
“We had to pump the brakes. we couldn’t just rush in because of COVID and because of some those things,” Berger said, explaining the longer process to eventually open the Lowry taproom. “So to be open today feels fantastic. It’s been a long journey.”
It’s not just these two.
The Colorado Brewers Guild tells Denver7 that five more breweries are expected to open this year, with several more expanding their taprooms and footprints, with some locations opening in Colorado Springs and Crested Butte.
“We have these beautiful taproom existing and new locations popping up that allow people to enjoy beer and camaraderie with friends and connect with neighbors in community,” O’Sullivan said.
“I feel like we’re back, yeah. This is where people want to drink beer with their neighbors with their friends,” Berger added.
As far as how they’re celebrating, Denver Beer Co.’s grand opening party for the Lowry taproom is on Saturday, Feb. 25. FlyteCo’s fourth anniversary party is all weekend the following Saturday and Sunday, March 4 and 5.
