Three New Colorado Craft Beer Stores

Posted by LauraDerb on December 29th, 2020

Colorado Craft Beer Week is a time for great beer, great weather and some really fun and creative beer-related activities. As the seasonal flu bug bites and restaurant sales close, thousands upon thousands of keg beers are heading out of state, into the cooler, for on-line dining or to local bottle shops, liquor stores and more. This makes a real issue for the over 400 local craft breweries, which are now struggling with how best to safely dispose or repurpose the beer they are receiving. Some have been forced to recycle and use keg beer for their regular business operations, while others are asking state regulators for help. Meanwhile, local municipalities are dealing with the deluge of "free" beer that will flow into the communities from out-of-state visitors.

In Denver, Colorado, local beverage wholesalers have started the process of getting rid of their long-dated, hard-to-recycle, and hard-to-market cans and bottles of beers. The can crushers at Denver's Eastlands Distilling Company have come up with a great solution. Using discarded wine and aluminum can crushers, they're mixing the elements to create a water-soaked material that can be poured into keg tanks and used as a bottling bucket. After being cleaned and sanitized (the can crusher washes down the can before it goes into the tank) the resulting liquid can be siphoned out and used as cold stabilization water in new keg tanks, or simply collected into bins and hauled colorado craft beer.

Now in need of a way to clean and sanitize keg drums as part of a larger "purist" reclamation project, our neighboring Colorado Craft Beer Co. is looking for volunteers to help them get started on a new project: A "craft beer on a strap" service. If you have a keg on a strap and no way to clean it, they will sanitize and then store it. No need to throw away the can, either. The company plans to have these services offered at select locations in seven northern Colorado counties beginning in January.

Many of the large Colorado breweries are doing similar things and have even received support from the Colorado Beer Wholesalers Association. Kegs will eventually make their way to more taprooms everywhere. And, they won't have to take all that much of a bath. But for now, these large breweries are going to do what they can to limit the number of can holders that they make. That's because COBRETTORUM owners want to limit the water used. The association also says that small brewers have the option of using glass can holders, but only for "non-alcoholic beverages" like non-iced tea.

At this point, it seems that the association has something to say about everything, even when Watson said that they are still working on it. On a related note, Watson said that he thinks the idea behind the whole thing is great, but that there are some challenges to it. He called the entire concept "interesting", but he was not willing to put his money where his mouth is right now. He didn't think the industry would go this far and has only been able to visit two of the breweries so far.

Two breweries located within an hour of Denver, including Bell's breweries, have decided to open a taproom as well. Bell's owner Howard Bell was quoted as saying that he saw the potential of this type of business for the company, and they are looking into it. Another brewer that is getting involved is named Cleverham. They are planning to have their own taproom built in the near future.

In between all of these brewers, many more are opening up and getting involved in the growing Colorado Craft Beer Market. That means more people will be able to enjoy their beers in the comfort of their own homes. The convenience of shopping for liquor at your leisure and then buying beers will mean more people will be able to enjoy the wide variety available out there today. While Bell and Cleverham are getting involved, other breweries are looking forward to making their presence known, too.

People will likely start clamoring for more Colorado Craft Beer once the taps finally open at these three locations. People will be able to find whatever they are looking for, and they might just decide to start a new love of beer as well. These three stores will only be the beginning. Other breweries are sure to follow, and the demand for great tasting beers will only continue to grow as we move further into the 21st century.