Another longtime Colorado craft brewer plans to stop canning and bottling its beer for retail sale.
Wynkoop Brewing Co., the venerable Lower Downtown brewery co-founded by a man who would become the state’s governor, announced plans Thursday to cease packaging beer for sale in liquor stores and other outlets. The brewery instead will “refocus” on the brewpub at 1634 18th St. in Denver.
cease distribution to focus entirely on its tasting room at 3201 Walnut St. in Boulder. The decision was triggered in part by for distribution channels, shelf space and draft lines.
Since launching off-premise sales in 2011, Wynkoop’s flagship beers landed in more than 200 locations along the Front Range, said Ed Cerkovnik, the brewpub’s president. Wynkoop had solid market penetration; however, the math just didn’t add up in the brewery’s favor.
“Looking at the economies of scale to make those packaged beer sales profitable,” he said. “We just concluded that we probably weren’t going to get there.”
After Wynkoop winds down its retail sales arm, the brewery expects to sell its canning and bottling lines, he said. Brewery officials are discussing potential uses for that basement space, including establishing a speakeasy-style bar in which brewers would feature small-batch beers, he added.
Those plans will be further developed once Wynkoop hires a new head brewer, he said.
Wynkoop is part of Breckenridge-Wynkoop, a Denver-based brewpub and restaurant operator that last year for an undisclosed sum.
Breckenridge-Wynkoop previously produced some of its beers at Breckenridge’s former brewery off Kalamath Street in Denver, prior to , which was completed last year, Cerkovnik said. Wynkoop then produced its beer at Sleeping Giant as a months-long brewhouse overhaul took place — replacing kettles and tanks there since its inception — but that was not a long-term solution, he said.
Breckenridge-Wynkoop officials told Westword this year that the in-house brewhouse would be sufficient for its beer production needs.
the Breckenridge Brewery trademark for the Breckenridge Brewery Colorado Craft restaurant in Denver and the Breckenridge Ale House in Grand Junction.
