Boulder County’s craft beer explosion isn’t done yet — or that’s the assumption for the owners of a new wave of breweries-in-planning that are shooting to open this year. We count at least eight breweries that have made some degree of progress toward opening.
June
If you hadn’t noticed, one of our favorites is BRU, the brewery owned and operated by Jax chef Ian Clark. Currently brewed in Clark’s garage, BRU is opening BRU Handbuilt Ales & Eats as soon as June 1 at 5290 Arapahoe Ave., Unit 1 in Boulder, Clark’s wife Bryce Clark says.
Another brewery already at work without a space is Twelve Degree Brewing, the Belgian-focused brewery setting up at 820 Main St. in Louisville. Owner Jon Howland said on May 20 that Twelve Degree is “shooting to open [its taproom] in about a month.” Its collaboration with FATE Brewing, the rarely seen IPA-like Belgian style Hommelbier, should be ready “very soon.”
The current holdup for Front Range Brewing Company is the unusual “We need a gas meter from Xcel,” brewer and owner Chris Dutton says. The Lafayette brewery, located at 400 South Boulder Road, Ste. 1650, is aiming for a June 29 opening. Its website lists styles like a farmhouse ale, an imperial milk stout and a rum-barrel-aged coffee quadrupel.
July
Tom Horst, the owner and brewer of Crystal Springs Brewing Company, is moving his three-year-old garage operation to Louisville, aiming to open in July. Horst couldn’t confirm an address, but says the taproom will have 13 taps.
Lafayette’s superhero-themed Odd13 Brewing, opening at 301 East Simpson St., groups its brews into the superhero beers The Odd Squad (year-round beers like a red IPA, a saison and a porter), the villainous Legion of Odd (rotating taps including multiple IPAs and Belgians) and the rare Sidekicks. Co-owner Kristin Scott says Odd13 is “hoping to open in late July or the first weekend in August.”
That’s the same opening period that Sanitas Brewing is looking at, according to co-founder Zach Nichols. The Boulder brewery-in-planning run by Boulder Beer Company alumni will occupy 3550 Frontier Ave., Unit A, in Boulder. It is planning two year-round cans — “one is bold and full of hops, and one is light and refreshing,” Nichols says — and “quite a bit of barrel aging.” He name-drops imperial stouts, double browns and barrel-aged sours as possibilities. Sanitas will announce its year-round beers on Facebook June 3.
August & September
No breweries are slated to open in late summer. Which of course means 10 or 12 will. We’ll keep our eyes open.
October
Dan Distlear of 300 Suns Brewing says the brewery has a “potential location” in Longmont. Ditslear says he’d like to open before the Great American Beer Fest, Oct. 10-12. 300 Suns brewers have homebrewed (and posted to Facebook) beers like a strong ale, an IPA, a stout and a French Biere de Garde, similar to a saison.
November
The Big Red F restaurant group will open The Post Brewing Company at 105 W. Emma St. in Lafayette in November, according to events manager Iva Townsend. Bryan Selders, former brewmaster for Delaware’s Dogfish Head, will lead the brewing. He says he has “penciled in” 25 percent of The Post’s opening beers to be lagers. Brewery equipment and grain orders are on their way.
