Goldspot Brewing, which will be located on Lowell Boulevard about a block from Regis University in northwest Denver, is named for the gold spot that symbolizes the sun on both the city and state flags.
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"Since I moved to Colorado in 2005, I've fallen in love with the place and I can't imagine living anywhere else," says Hughes, who owns the brewery with his brother-in-law Alex Sward. "We wanted it to have a Colorado feel, but we also wanted the name to be more obscure" than just employing local geographical features or locations.
And although the brewery is named for Denver and Colorado, the taproom won't necessarily have any kind of theme. "Our theme is beer," Hughes says. "My favorite brewery in Denver is Great Divide. They take beers from around the world and put their own spin on them, and that's what we're hoping to do as well."
When it opens, possibly as soon as early spring 2014, Goldspot will feature several core beers made on a seven-barrel system, including an IPA, an imperial oatmeal stout and a wheat beer, but Hughes also plans to serve rotating seasonal ales and lagers.
Hughes worked as a brewer, sales rep and jack-of-all-trades for the Wynkoop Brewing Company for a year in 2011, and, says Sward, began talking to him then about starting their own brewery. Hughes didn't want to, but later changed his mind.
After taking business classes, securing finances and searching for a location, Hughes and Sward finally picked their spot just a block from Regis.
When it eventually opens, the brewery will feature a taproom with room for about seventy people and an outside patio area in a parking lot behind the building.
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