New Belgium Brewing will begin construction on a new 10-barrel pilot brewery this summer in downtown Denver where it will focus on small batch, barrel-aged sour offerings, the company announced today.
Slated to open in the first quarter of 2017, the brewery will occupy 2,000 sq. ft. on the ground floor of the forthcoming Source Hotel, right next door to ‘The Source,’ a relatively new 25,000 sq. ft. culinary complex and marketplace in Denver’s budding River North district.
New Belgium will install fifty oak barrels on the new building’s eighth floor to create a rooftop lounge in collaboration with what the Source Hotel called “The Woods.” There, beers brewed on premise will compliment small plates and snacks and come complete with a pool and roof deck, the brewery said in a news release.
The estimated cost of the project was not disclosed.
“We’ve long considered creating a Denver location to bring the New Belgium experience to more of our Colorado fans and to the millions of travelers who visit Denver,” Jenn Vervier, New Belgium’s director of strategy and sustainability, said in the release. “This small batch brewery will allow us to collaborate with The Woods’ chef and mixologists to create innovative beers, drinks, and pairings you can’t get anywhere else.”
The beers will be brewed for consumption specifically at the Source Hotel and The Source.
This isn’t the first time Zeppelin Development, the development company behind the marketplace and hotel, has worked with an area brewery. In addition to hosting a cheese and spice shop, a wine bar, and even a photography studio, Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project operates a taproom in the marketplace as well.
Headquartered in nearby Fort Collins, New Belgium is the second Colorado brewery to announce plans to build a new pilot brewery in the River North neighborhood. In April, Blue Moon Brewing — the lead brand in the MillerCoors’ Tenth and Blake craft portfolio — announced it would build its own pilot brewery, capable of producing 10,000 barrels annually, in the same area.
New Belgium is the nation’s fourth largest craft brewery, according to the Brewers Association. It sold 945,367 barrels of beer in 2014.