Lost Highway Brewing Will Give Proceeds of District 6 Beer to Wounded Officer

Tina Pachorek, co-owner of the Cheeky Monk and Lost Highway Brewing, has been working with the Denver Police Department's District 6 and its commander, Tony Lopez, for years, trying to make the neighborhood around East Colfax Avenue safer. “He and his staff have been a big advocate for our area for a long time,” she says.

To honor that relationship, Lost Highway named one of its beers District 6 Pilsner, after the district when the brewery opened in 2014. The goal was to ultimately use profits from the beer's sales  to help raise money to support the district's outreach efforts  at some point. Unfortunately, that moment has come early — and in an unexpected and tragic way.

On December 8, Lopez's son, Tony Lopez, Jr., who is also on the DPD, was shot multiple times during a traffic stop near West 37th Avenue and Federal Boulevard. Although he is expected to survive, he lost almost all of his blood after his shooting and nearly died. Since then, he has undergone several surgeries.

To help, Tina and James Pachorek have decided to donate all of the proceeds from the sale of pints, growlers, Crowlers or even kegs of District 6 Pilsner for the next six days  to a fund that has been set up to help the Tony Lopez Jr. family – his wife is expecting the couple's first child soon – pay for expenses. Cheeky Monk will also offer a free pint to anyone who donates blood in Lopez Jr.'s name.

“We really want to give back to him and his family,” Tina Pachorek says. “Between the two of them, they really help our community a lot and put their lives on the line every day for us. So, this is how Lost Highway wants to give back.”

The 6 percent ABV beers is described as being “a classic German style Pilsner brewed with German hops and barley, and Monastery yeast. Pale straw color, this is a refreshing session beer." It was a Silver medal winner at the 2015 Denver International Beer Competition.