Quad Side Tavern Now Open in Former Tivoli Brewing Space

The latest chapter in an iconic Denver location is now starting.

After the exodus of Tivoli Brewing from Auraria’s Tivoli Student Union, Quad Side Tavern opens today, September 22, in the historic space. The new operation will no longer incorporate a brewery, but will still have eight rotating beer taps, bottled beer and wine, and a big focus on cocktails, according to Andrew Klosterman of Peak Beverage, which will run the Quad Side in coordination with the Auraria campus administration.

Peak Beverage hosted a pop-up bar there in May, surveying visitors on what they wanted from that space.

“There’ll be a good mocktail list. We’re going to bring in some adaptogens,” Klosterman says. “We’re trying to stay at the forefront of non-alcoholic options and low ABV options as that’s a big trend, especially with the younger generation today.”

Quad Side will also have a selection of featured cocktails that will get banked over the years, beginning with 2026 as Volume 1. “The thought behind that is we really want to create a college campus experience where alumni, if they come back, they can go back to the bar and say, ‘Hey, can you pull up Volume 3 from when I graduated? I love that cocktail that I had when I was a student on campus.’ So we can bring that back and we’re building more of a library,” he says.

The restaurant will feature both tavern fare and healthier options, ranging from hot dogs and hamburgers to sandwiches, appetizers, soups and salads.


“We’re also looking at some to-go options, potentially,” Klosterman adds. “If someone wanted to stop in, get a breakfast burrito or something like that on their way to class, we’re going to be exploring that as well. That might not be right at opening, but certainly something that we’re gonna be looking at.”

Peak is also looking at offering parking validation for nearby events, such as games at Ball Arena, in exchange for a purchase at the tavern, as well as a loyalty program and a student discount program.


For Auraria administrators, part of the appeal of working with a bartending, catering and venue management provider like Peak Beverage was its experience with handling a variety of events.

The Tivoli building, as the Quad Side Tavern’s name indicates, is located next to the campus quad. With the Denver Christkindlmarkt relocating there while Civic Center Park is closed for construction, and other events also being held on the quad, Auraria deputy chief activation officer Alyssa Nilemo says that Klosterman’s team offered the ability to more fully integrate the indoor tavern space with the outdoor events space.

“It makes it easier for two entities that I think somewhere else might clash with each other, or there might be a lack of communication, or they might see each other as ‘Oh, you’re really close to my event footprint. Do I need to be nervous?’ Or ‘Oh, this event’s coming in, is that going to impact my bar?” she says. “Peak has the understanding and…just creates a space where big events can feel like a win-win for everyone. And we hope that as other clients and commercial folks come here, they also feel that relationship and benefit.”

Quad Side Tavern is the first phase of a post-brewery life for the space, according to Nilemo. While the fate of the production area is undetermined, she expects future phases to involve removing the brewing equipment to make room for something new.

What will remain, though, are the old copper kettles. What became the Tivoli Brewery in 1900 was founded in 1859 by German immigrant John Good in the short-lived mining camp of Auraria, which soon merged with Denver. The current brewery space was built in 1864, with the Turnhalle added in 1868 and the iconic tower in 1903.

By the mid-1960s, the brewery was struggling and eventually closed its doors in 1969. The building gained recognition on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973, as the Auraria campus was being developed. It was then restored and developed for commercial use, with a three-story atrium combining multiple historic buildings. Initially, it housed restaurants, including the legendary Rattlesnake Club.

In 1991, students at the Auraria campus voted to buy back the building, which was reopened in 1994 as the Tivoli Student Union.

Corey and Debbie Marshall revived the Tivoli Brewing brand in 2012, bringing beer production back to the building after several decades. In 2018, Salomon Juan Marcos Villarreal acquired a majority stake in that brewery via his real estate investment group. (Villarreal is also the owner of Mexican textiles manufacturer Grupo Denim.) But in late 2023, the brewery announced that it would be moving brewing operations to La Junta in order to focus on growing the volume of its Outlaw Lager brand. As a result, the campus taproom closed in December 2024, though the company continues to maintain the Tivoli Tap House at Denver International Airport.

Metro State University, one of the three educational institutions on the Auraria campus, offers a brewing science degree, Nilemo notes, but the program has its own equipment and only a loose relationship with the Tivoli operation involving tours and speaker opportunities.

With the exit of Tivoli Brewery, Auraria administrators launched a campaign called Tivoli Reimagined to refresh and update the space.
“I think what’s happening here in the Quad Side Tavern is sort of a kickoff to what we’re hoping is a larger transformation on campus, and then it becomes one of those centerpieces of growing up in Colorado,” Nilemo explains. “You have these great memories about campus and want to become a student here, or you have great memories of campus and you’re excited to tell your young student, ‘Oh, yeah, that’s a great place to go to school. But it’s also a great place to be a part of Denver.’”