Craft beer’s course correction has continued to take a difficult turn for an industry that was booming just four-five years earlier. And what was once the country’s hottest brewery neighborhood, boasting the most breweries per capita in a square mile radius is not immune to the headwinds as 14er Brewing, located in Denver’s River North Arts District announced its upcoming closure earlier this week.
Founded by childhood friends, Andrew Kaczmarek and Nato Francescato, 14er Brewing bucked tradition when they launched in the summer of 2016 without a taproom location, focusing solely on contract brewing and canning their beers for liquor store sales for the first year.
That gamble proved successful earning the two a gold medal at their very first Great American Beer Festival last October for their Rocky Mountain Saison, a Cilantro Lime Chili Saison, which took home top honors in the Chili Beer category in 2016, followed by a bronze medal just last year for Pina Colada Milkshake IPA in the Experimental IPA category.
Kaczmarek and Francescato would eventually secure a traditional taproom location at the corner of 28th and Walnut in October 2016. And just a year and a half later in July of 2018, 14er would quickly expand production and taproom space by moving into the former Beryl’s Beer Co. facility at 3120 Blake St Ste C just a few blocks down the road.
However, while the appeal of expanding while remaining one of the most densely populated brewery hubs in the country was certainly an appeal, the new location also brought about a number of challenges.
“It’s a challenging location,” explained Kaczmarek. “One of the big issues is that the outside space is great, but we’re set back from the street and visibility is a challenge. And while we’re in RiNo, it’s been a bit of a challenge being located off the two main arteries where most of the other commercial businesses are located.”
Kaczmarek also cited consumer demographic shifts within the neighborhood in the aftermath of COVID-19 as another contributing factor.
“RiNo and particularly in the part we’re located in, has changed in the last few years,” said Kaczmarek. “We’ve seen a shift in the type of customers coming down here, and people are less excited about craft beer. It’s also been really difficult with office traffic not picking back up since COVID. There are several offices near us that are completely empty so we’ve been missing out on all of the happy hour business that used to help kick off the afternoons.”
But the setbacks didn’t end there as the 14er team also noted increases in property tax, unexpected maintenance costs, labor costs and a steep increase in the cost of material goods which all compounded at around the same time and as they were approaching a lease renewal at the end of this month, decided it was time to move on.
“Ultimately it just wasn’t sustainable here at this space anymore,” said Kaczmarek. “There’s still hope that we can get to a different location. My passion, heart, and soul are in the craft beer industry I can’t imagine myself not doing this and the 14er brand is still so special to us.”
14er Brewing will officially close its RiNo taproom and brewery after one last day of service this Saturday, November 23.
