Pint glass half full: For every Colorado brewery that closes, another one opens. Pint glass half empty: For every Colorado brewery that opens, another one closes.
Either way you look at it, it’s been a big year for both — and it’s not over yet. At least three breweries have opened so far in the extended Denver metro in November.
Bearded Brewer Artisan Ales
Omaha-area brewery owners Kirk and Alyssa Hearon have teamed up with Longmont local Brandon Knudsen to open a second outpost of their Nebraska company, Bearded Brewer Artisan Ales. The brewery specializes in making adventurous beers and will have 18 different selections on tap. Current beers include a blueberry cotton candy sour, a cream ale with peanut butter and marshmallows, and a blonde ale with cinnamon roll flavors.
1425 S. Airport Road #100, Longmont; beardedbreweraa.com
Bent Barley Brewing II
Bent Barley Brewing, which opened in 2018 in Aurora’s Southlands Mall, 6200 S. Main St., added a second location this month in Centennial. The new spot has its own four-barrel brewing system and will make some of its own beer, according to owners Mark Job and Paul Dampier. Bent Barley specializes in making what the owners call “beer-flavored beer,” meaning straightforward styles, including a stout, an amber, a fruit blonde, a kolsch with honey and an IPA.
15416 E. Orchard Road, Centennial; bentbarley.com
Monolith Brewing
Professional brewer Stephen Monahan took over the former space belonging to Black Project Wild & Spontaneous Ales on South Broadway earlier this year, and has spent the past six months turning it into a new brewery with a new look and a new vision. Monolith Brewing opened earlier this month, using Black Project’s old system, and serving an IPA, a pale ale, a stout, a wheat, a chile beer and more. Beer styles will vary going forward.
1290 S. Broadway, Denver; monolithbrewing.com
