The new Breck digs under a Colorado sky (Eric Gorski, The Denver Post)
In one of the more anticipated local craft beer happenings of the year, Breckenridge Brewery this weekend will celebrate the grand opening of its impressive, sprawling and quite shiny new $36 million farmhouse-style brewery property in Littleton.
Founded in 1990, Breckenridge is one of the state’s legacy breweries and a sneak preview earlier this week was testament to that, attracting Colorado craft beer royalty including Adam Avery of Avery Brewing, Doug Odell of Odell Brewing and Brian Dunn of Great Divide.
The rise of the destination brewery is yet another sign of the growth and maturation of the local craft beer scene. Avery was first this year with its new restaurant and brewery in Boulder, and Great Divide is slowing turning dirt into a huge brewing complex Denver’s River North neighborhood, where last weekend it threw its 21st anniversary party.
Public tours at the 12-acre Breck property begin Sunday — — and will cost $3 a head if you are 21 or over (not sure how many breweries charge for tours, so this could be something to watch).
We have covered the progress of the project since , but to recap some of the highlights:
The barrel room at Breckenridge is bigger than a lot of Colorado breweries (Eric Gorski, The Denver Post).
— Initial brewing capacity is 110,000 barrels, not quite twice the capacity of its longtime home on Kalamath Street it will soon shut down.
— The brewery/cellar and warehouse — including a roomy barrel room — spans 76,000 square feet.
— Equipment-wise, there’s a 100-barrel German brewhouse, 16 400-barrel American-made fermenters, six grain silos and a 2-acre hop field.
— The Farm House restaurant offers a “Colorado Fresh” menu, seats 296 indoors and an impressive 292 outdoors (including a wrap-around porch, patio and beer garden that is supposed to be ready to go for the Father’s Day opening). The bar in the main restaurant building — dubbed Brewery Lane — includes 16 Breckenridge taps, six guest taps (as a brewpub, Breckenridge can offer other breweries’ beers) and a growler station.
— A tasting room in the brewery features a half-dozen taps.
