As thousands of beers – and eventually, people to drink them – make their way to Denver for the Great American Beer Festival (GABF), it feels apt to check in with the craft scene on the ground.
In a year where once-thriving brewpub chains and decades-old craft stalwarts have or are preparing to go under, what’s the state of things in one of craft’s most important cities on the eve of one of its most important weeks?
Colorado is home to 456 craft breweries – down from a peak of 468 in 2023 – ranking fourth nationwide in 2024, according to the Brewers Association (BA), which hosts GABF. Those breweries produced a combined 779,338 barrels of beer and generated $2.5 billion in economic impact for the state, according to BA data.
Closings accelerated in 2024, when there were 41 compared to 35 in 2023. Since the COVID-19 pandemic hampered the hospitality industry in 2020, 140 Colorado breweries have shut their doors, according to a press release from the Colorado Brewers Guild (CBG).
Brewery closings are higher in Denver than other parts of the state, CBG executive director Shawnee Adelson told Brewbound.
“That being said, Denver has a lot more breweries than the other areas,” she added.
Last month, 10-year-old Call To Arms Brewing announced plans to close in December, citing declining alcohol consumption, the COVID-19 pandemic and rising costs among reasons driving the decision.
Co-founder Chris Bell told KDVR that 2024 was the brewery’s “highest grossing year ever,” but skyrocketing expenses in labor and property taxes, among other things, could not offset increased revenue.
Increasing costs and waning consumer demand have plagued craft breweries across the country for several years, leading to a 4% volume decline in 2024, according to the BA. As a result, craft breweries nationwide have been seeking partnerships to share resources and consolidate capacity, a trend that remains strong in Colorado.
Wilding Brands – the Colorado platform that includes hospitality-focused craft producers Stem Ciders, Denver Beer Co., Great Divide, Funkwerks and Station 26, among other brands – began to take shape in 2024. The company’s network of 11 taprooms and restaurants “had a steady summer overall,” Wilding Brands chief development officer Charlie Berger told Brewbound via email.
Wilding Brands’ locations spread from downtown Denver to the city’s suburbs, with varying foot traffic.
“The suburban taprooms definitely seem to have helped their own in a way that the urban ones haven’t quite done,” Berger said. “We see families out for a weekend outing more so at the taprooms farther from the urban core.”
At Denver’s Full Frame Beer, which opened earlier this year, co-founders Alyssa Hoberer and Jacob Kemple told Brewbound taproom traffic has been up and down and is sensitive to weather.
“We’re in a walking city – if it rains, nobody’s coming in,” Kemple said.
Full Frame is in the former location of Jagged Mountain Brewery, where Hoberer had served as head brewer before it closed in October 2024. Just three blocks from Coors Field, home of the MLB’s Colorado Rockies, once-reliable game day business has ebbed too.
“The traffic for that is so hit or miss and so much different from where Jagged used to be,” she said.
Both Hoberer and Kemple are veterans of Denver’s venerable craft industry. Kemple was previously lead brewer at Our Mutual Friend. No strangers to the rigorous demands of brewing and service, the current iteration of the industry they find themselves in still feels different.
“What’s surprising is how hard it is now,” Kemple said.
The duo focuses on pale ales and lagers, as well as morning coffee service, and is in the process of applying for a brewpub license to expand Full Frame’s bev-alc offerings.
“You have to think of yourself as a beverage company,” Kemple said.
Many Colorado breweries are pursuing the license switch in order to meet the omnibibulous moment, Adelson told Brewbound, referencing the term coined by BA president and CEO Bart Watson to describe consumers who drink across the bev-alc spectrum.
“A lot of business owners are recognizing that and offering different types of beverage offerings at their taproom– not just beer, but NA [non-alcoholic] products or seltzer or cider or wine,” she said.
Colorado brewpub licenses require that owners make at least 15% of their sales from food, so breweries need to invest in that capability to get started.
An influx of beer-loving guests will be a welcomed boost for Full Frame and fellow Denver-area breweries. GABF – taking place October 9-11 – is in its 43rd year, but enthusiasm still builds, Adelson said.
“Breweries in Denver and the Denver metro area are excited to host GABF again and bring in beer lovers and industry professionals from around the country for this large celebration,” she said. “We still see a lot of breweries doing a lot of special events, which I think shows that they are still very excited about the week.”
As one of the breweries within walking distance of the Colorado Convention Center, where GABF takes place, Full Frame has packed its schedule with events for festival attendees and visiting industry professionals, starting with a daylong celebration of pale ales on Wednesday, October 8.
The brewery will host fellow Colorado brewers and spectators for a “friendly competition” of “brewing-related challenges that highlight creativity, technique and beer knowledge” before GABF kicks off Thursday. The following day from 2-5 p.m., Full Frame will host a meet up for women in the beer industry.
Full Frame will round out its GABF-week event gauntlet with a watch party for the awards ceremony of the festival’s competition on Saturday morning.
Similarly, Wilding Brands has several events lined up at the Outpost on Platte, its brand-agnostic event space close to Denver’s Union Station.
“This will be our 15th GABF in biz,” Berger told Brewbound. “We are tapping some fun small batch brews we are excited about. It’s what I imagine it would be like when the Super Bowl comes to town.”
Wilding Brands’ events include the Great American Pre-Party on October 8, a collaborative celebration featuring beers from Wilding’s portfolio and Tripping Animals, Other Half and Everywhere.
On October 11, Denver Beer’s Cerveceria Colorado sister brand will host the Great Mexican Beer Fiesta, a block party featuring craft breweries from Mexico, luchador wrestling, live music and specialty food vendors.
Great Divide, which Wilding acquired earlier this year in a deal that included its distribution business and future taproom rights, will release this year’s Barrel-Aged Yeti in collaboration with
Denver’s Laws Whisky House. The release will take place at Great Divide’s RiNo Taproom.
The brewery’s original taproom on Arapahoe Street, which was excluded from the sale to Wilding, was listed for sale or rent this week. The nearly 19,000 sq. ft. facility is available to lease at $12 per sq. ft. or for sale at $3.5 million, according to the Denver Business Journal.