Westbound & Down Brewing has laid out a new roadmap for Colorado craft breweries over the past few years, and it will follow the directions on that map even further west beginning today.
The company has just purchased two other Colorado beer makers: Aspen Brewing, with its brand-new, 7,000-barrel-capacity production facility near the Pitkin County Airport; and Capitol Creek Brewery in Basalt, according to a statement released Friday afternoon. Both had been owned by High Country Brewing LLC, an investment firm that acquired them in 2019 and 2021.
“We have had a goal for some time to open more brewpub locations and have always kept an ear to the ground for locations that might make sense,” said Jake Gardner, Westbound & Down’s director of brewery operations and one of its operating partners, in a statement.
“Although we were originally looking into opening completely new projects in unoccupied spaces, this serendipitous opportunity was brought to us and continues to align with our dream of operating Colorado brewpubs that serve as gateways to the outdoors and the mountains.”
For now, Westbound & Down will keep both breweries’ identities and “continue to build on the rich brewing tradition that these two brands have established in the Roaring Fork Valley,” Gardener said. But the company will also “assess” everything further down the road.
Westbound & Down said it has also hired Matt Husted, a partner and former hospitality director at Denver chef Kelly Whitaker’s Id Est restaurant group, which owns Michelin Star restaurants Bruto (located next to Westbound’s Denver taproom) and The Wolf’s Tailor, among others. Husted will help streamline the food and beverage operations at all of Westbound’s properties.
Founded in 2015 in Idaho Springs in a partnership with the owners of the historic Buffalo Restaurant & Bar, Westbound expanded to Lafayette in 2021, where it built a new brewhouse and restaurant; it later added a small taproom at 1801 Blake St., in Denver’s Dairy Block.
But those spaces aren’t enough to keep up with Westbound’s continued success: The brewery won three medals at the Great American Beer Festival earlier this year, tacking those on to multiple other medals and awards, including GABF’s Midsize Brewpub of the Year in 2019. The company is known for its IPAs, in several styles, as well as lagers and barrel-aged stouts.
In addition, its brewing capacity in Lafayette is “maxed out, although new tanks are on their way that will allow for an additional 1,500 barrels of beer to brew to be made annually. Westbound & Down produced 3,400 barrels of beer in 2022 and is on pace to 4,300 barrels by the end of 2023.
Friday’s acquisition, which also includes Aspen Brewing’s Aspen Tap pub in Aspen, continues a trend in Colorado that has seen sometimes dramatic consolidation in the craft beer industry. For instance, earlier this month, Dry Dock Brewing in Aurora announced that it would close its production facility and turn over brewing and canning to Great Divide Brewing in Denver.
4 Noses Brewing in Broomfield also opened a new production facility this year where it makes its own beer and that of Odd13 Brewing, which 4 Noses’ parent company bought in 2021.
“Brewing is a resource-heavy industry where the ability to scale contracts, equipment, and personnel is critically important,” Gardner said about consolidation.
Starting soon, both Aspen Tap and Capitol Creek will begin pouring a small sampling of Westbound beers, along with a few of its signature dishes, the company said. Westbound & Down also will likely use Aspen’s production facility to make some of its beers in the future.
“Aspen Brewing’s location and long-standing, dedicated fan base and Capitol Creek’s fresh look and dedication to high-quality food and beer were both attractive out of the gate,” Gardner said.
“In getting to know key personnel on the brew staff at Capitol Creek, as well as amazing leadership in the food and hospitality program there, we immediately felt like it would be a natural fit for what we’ve been building at Westbound & Down,” he added.
