After 40 Years, Boulder Beer Co. Is Closing its Brewpub

Only three months ago, Colorado craft beer fans were shocked by the announcement that Boulder Beer Co., the state’s oldest craft brewery (celebrating 40 years of beer), would be ceasing packaging and distribution of their brands to focus exclusively on the company’s original Boulder, Co taproom. It was yet another sign of how difficult and challenging it has become to work within the current craft beer climate, stuffed with more than 8,000 breweries nationally, when even a revered company like Boulder couldn’t make distribution make sense. In December, meanwhile, the company managed to strike a deal with Denver contract brewer Sleeping Giant, which would keep Boulder beer brands on the shelves, at least locally, which some looked at as Boulder Beer Co.’s salvation. Unfortunately, it seems that we spoke too soon.
Today, Boulder Beer Co. announced the equally shocking upcoming closure and sale of their original brewery/taproom location at 2880 Wilderness Place, Boulder, CO. It will mark the end of Boulder Beer Co. existing as an independent craft brewery, although a handful of the company’s brands such as the popular Shake Chocolate Porter will continue to be brewed and distributed via Sleeping Giant—it’s unclear how far that distribution will reach.
Still, this has to be viewed as the end of an era; the death knell of one of Colorado’s most important early craft breweries. Today, The Centennial State is among the best and most diverse in the country in terms of its brewery coverage, boasting meccas that include Denver, Boulder and Fort Collins, but it will be sad not to see Boulder Beer Co. among them. So many of the brewmasters operating today’s hyped Colorado breweries surely cut their teeth on bottles of Planet Porter or Buffalo Gold.
Boulder Beer Co. was majority owned by Gina Day, wife of Boulder area restaurateur Frank Day, who founded the influential Rock Bottom national brewpub chain. Gina Day, meanwhile, put out the following statement on Boulder Beer Co.’s closure. We wish her (and all the Boulder Beer Co. employees) the best in their future endeavors.
A Letter to Boulder Beer Company Customers and Friends