Brett “Brettman” Williams and his wife, Kris Williams, celebrate the opening of Little Machine Beer near Sports Authority Field in October 2015. (Photo by the Brewtography Project).
As 2015 comes to a close, we’re once again asking leading figures on the Colorado beer scene to reflect on the past year and look ahead to next.
This next installment in our 5th annual Beer In Review features Brett “Brettman” Williams from , a new brewery in Denver that is focused on remaining a neighborhood brewery.
Onto Brettman’s picks:
Favorite beer of the year: “Smoked Gose” from . I was so impressed because it’s something I never would have thought could work (salt, smoke and sour all in one beer). After hearing about it I thought “interesting, but probably not very good.” But, man, they got all the flavors to work together so well.
Colorado brewery of the year: This year I’m going to have to give a shout-out to the crew at . It’s just awesome to see a successful brewery keep the culture and the fun alive. This is hard to do when you’re in a constant state of growth. From hosting awesome events, like having killer bands play their anniversary, to sweet beer projects like their all-Colorado beer (we’re doing one as well) and even just keeping it a cool place to work. They’re doing it right.
New Colorado brewery of the year: Other than my new brewery Little Machine I’m assuming… This is a tough one because, as I talked about in this segment last year, there were several brewery openings in 2015 which were set up, and are owned by, bad-ass brewers. , and all came out the gate with great beer. We send customers who are on beer-tours to those breweries all the time. These are all brewers who proved themselves by working their way to the top of the industry then made lifestyle choices to get back to their roots. You knew they’d all be good, and they are.
Colorado brewery to watch in 2016: is going to be a powerhouse. There may be a ton of breweries in River North, but they’re so unique. Their combined space with C2 Ciders and Rackhouse Pub, the mezzanine level and all that visible copper is like no other brewery project in Colorado right now.
Most notable craft beer news or trend of 2015: The most obvious one is buyouts of full-flavored breweries for massive dollar amounts. The second, and opposing trend, is the continued openings of neighborhood breweries. While the big guys are gaining control of the market share that’s being taken from them on liquor store shelves, people seem more inclined to get their beer from the source anyways. The full-flavored beer industry is in an interesting state.
Craft beer trend to watch for in 2016: I’m guessing, with so many small brewery openings, you’ll see a lot more niche brewing from new breweries. While opening Little Machine everyone always asked “how are you going to be different?” My answer is that we have great beer and a great space. Our aim, at least for now, is to serve the neighborhoods around us. We’re going to make all beer styles (including unique, experimental beers) so there’s something for everyone who comes in, and because we have fun making different beers and talking about them with our customers. It used to be exciting to say you were going to make all styles of beer. But now, to gain media interest it seems breweries need to pigeon-hole themselves into some story that seems more interesting or unique. New brewers also feel the need to qualify getting into the industry by having some specialty. My suggestion to small breweries is to prove you can make solid examples of classic styles before expecting your customers to venture into the experimental stuff with you.
Here are previous entries:
