Bringing people together over beers is the idea behind Cohesion Brewing, which takes its name from the word for uniting different pieces into a single whole; the brewery should open in July in north Denver.
After a decade of frenzied openings that saw the number of craft breweries within Denver city limits rise from eight or nine in early 2010 to more than 75 by the end of 2019, not a single brewery with a Denver address opened in 2020. Meanwhile, six breweries in the city closed their doors last year.
But 2021 will be very, very different. Two breweries have already opened: Denver Beer Co. s second Denver taproom (its third overall) on South Downing Street, and Odell Brewing s Sloan s Lake Taphouse, which is also this brewery s second Denver spot. And six more should open over the next few months, including Wah Gwaan Brewing, Cohesion Brewing, Smash Face Brewing, Danico Brewing and Ratio Beerworks, which will debut its second location inside the former Declaration Brewing spot on South Cherokee Street. A.C. Golden Brewing, a Coors subsidiary, will also unveil a branded taproom (but not a brewery) near Coors Field.
It was April 2020, and Justin Baccary, the owner of Station 26 Brewing, was prepared for a bloodbath. Like many other states, Colorado had forced its bars, breweries and restaurants to close in March to try and stem the rising rate of COVID-19 infections, and it was becoming clear to Baccary and others that what had once looked like a three-to-six-month nightmare was turning into an indefinite hell-scape for businesses of all kinds.
The Brewers Association trade group had just released the results of a sobering survey: nearly 12 percent of independent breweries nationwide said they would have to close by the end of the month if social distancing restrictions weren t lifted. Nearly 60 percent said they would be out of business by July. That would have translated to a stunning 4,500 breweries across the country and 250 beer makers in Colorado.
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