Tucked behind the controversial Park Hill golf course, where the neighborhood meets a series of industrial parks, 4 Noses Brewing’s brand-new production facility and taproom offers an unusual view of Denver’s skyline — and maybe of the future of the craft beer industry in Colorado.
The company, which got its start in Broomfield in 2015, has been making beer in the warehouse space, at 4040 Dahlia St., for a few months now, but it opened the doors to the taproom and patio at the end of September, after two years of construction and planning. The interior, which is airy and modern, features 32 taps, while the patio wraps around the side and offers great views.
“The sunsets are beautiful,” said 4 Noses marketing director Dustin Ramey, adding that neighbors began turning out right away. During the first few days, there were “bikes everywhere, on the rack, chained to the fence. That is something that we just don’t get” at the Broomfield taproom.
But the bigger story is what’s behind the taproom, an enormous 40-hectoliter (about 34 barrels) automated brewing system that includes specialized equipment allowing 4 Noses to easily make everything from decoction-mashed lagers to juicy, dry-hopped hazy IPAs.
Its size and efficiency also mean that 4 Noses’ parent company, 4NB Holdings, can make beers not just for its taprooms in Broomfield and now Denver, but also for the two smaller breweries it owns, Odd13 Brewing in Lafayette (which 4NB bought in 2021) and Wild Provisions Beer Project in Boulder (created by 4NB in 2020) to focus on sour ales and Czech lagers.
There’s also room to brew beer for other Colorado breweries on a contract basis, Ramey said, something that has become important to many larger beer manufacturers because it provides another source of income at a time when breweries are feeling pressure to diversify.
“It’s not good if we are too heavy on the taproom side and people stop coming,” like during the COVID-19 pandemic, Ramey said. “Or if we are too heavy on the distribution side,” which is a complicated sales game now that Colorado supermarkets can sell beer everywhere.
“But we also want to help smaller breweries that want to grow but don’t have the capacity to do that,” he added, talking about contract brewing. “We want to help them expand their knowledge.”
Other larger, independent and craft breweries in Colorado that have extra space and capacity — including Great Divide Brewing, Avery Brewing, Dry Dock Brewing and Copper Kettle Brewing — also take on contract jobs from their colleagues from time to time.
Shawnee Adelson, director of the Colorado Brewers Guild, said multiple revenue streams are important to the future of craft breweries because the overall industry isn’t growing right now.
“Beer is getting creative in order to continue to exist and thrive,” she said. In addition to contract brewing or opening multiple taprooms — like 4 Noses, Denver Beer Co., Odell Brewing and others — some are altering their business models by adding kitchens or coffee shops.
Even in a down year, though, 4 Noses’ Ramey said the company saw 3% to 5% growth in 2023, and if the new Park Hill taproom, which is bigger than the one in Broomfield, brings in at least as many customers, 4 Noses is cautiously optimistic that it will continue that slow growth in 2024.
In fact, Ramey believes the brewery will reach a milestone next year: 15,000 barrels brewed annually, which would put it in the category of a regional brewery, according to the Brewers Association, the Boulder-based trade group for independently owned U.S. craft breweries.
As of the beginning of 2023, 4 Noses was the ninth-largest craft beermaker in Colorado, the BA said. (A caveat: That list didn’t include non-reporting Colorado breweries or those that the BA doesn’t consider to be independent, like Coors and Budweiser, New Belgium Brewing, Avery Brewing and Breckenridge Brewery, which has since been returned to the “craft” category. Nor does it include Sweetwater Brewing, which is based in Georgia.)
4 Noses and 4NB Holdings are owned by Tommy Bibliowicz and his family. Bibliowicz’s brother David, an architect, designed both the Park Hill space and Wild Provisions in Boulder.
Ramey said the Park Hill opening should allow 4 Noses to move some of its other equipment to Denver so that it can expand the seating area in Broomfield — something that is desperately needed there. A smaller, 20-barrel brewhouse will remain there as well.
“I was employee number 5 or 6 and now we have 60 employees. That is exciting,” he added. “The beer is fun and great, but we’re also putting something out there that makes a difference.”
