Sanitas Brewing Co. Drains Its Last Train Beer

Sanitas Brewing, the Boulder-born neighborhood brewery that celebrated a train rolling by with discounted pints and recently expanded into Lafayette and the Denver suburbs, has poured its last train beer and turned off the lights.

It is only the latest in a steady drumbeat of brewery closures, including downtown cerveceria Raices, metal mainstay TRVE, and Berkeley icon Call to Arms. Other breweries have merged or been acquired, allowing fans of those brands to continue enjoying those beers in an evolving context.

The brewery announced in mid-November that the it would be shutting down operations. The Lafayette taproom closed on Thursday, December 18; Englewood on Friday, December 19; and the brewery held last call on Saturday, December 20.

Brewery founders Michael Memsic and Chris Coyne and controller Zach Jardinico posted a goodbye letter on the Sanitas website and its social media accounts, noting the environment that small breweries face these days.

“It is no secret that the craft beer industry is currently facing significant challenges that impact business viability, and Sanitas is not immune to these realities,” the letter states, noting that one of the company’s primary values is to do the right thing for the community, the customers, the company, and the team. “Please trust that closing is the right, albeit bittersweet, decision today.”

Sanitas was founded in 2013 near the intersection of Foothills Parkway and Pearl Parkway in Boulder, with the Englewood taproom opening in 2023 and Lafayette in 2024. The letter noted that the locations offered a safe space for people to relax, work, or conduct business, and “hosted hundreds, if not thousands, of celebrations and happy moments.

We hosted bands, DJs, films, art, charities, weddings — even saunas at one point! We navigated a worldwide pandemic! 1.7 million cans of Sanitas beer went to your homes or your friend’s homes. We not only distributed in Nebraska, Maryland, Connecticut and Rhode Island, but thousands of cases of our Lime Lager were sent all the way to Sweden, Prague, and Australia! Sanitas was pouring on draft at hundreds of bars all over the Front Range — reaching more craft beer enthusiasts than our three taprooms could. And we took home a few medals and awards over the years. Sanitas achieved what we set out to accomplish and more.”

The letter closes with a nod to the team’s goal of spending time with loved ones: “We look forward to turning our energy and attention to being with our own friends and family — probably with a craft beer still in hand too.”