So Many Roads "Will Not Be Back for Long" After New Year's Shows

It's been quite the year for So Many Roads Museum and Brewery.

The Deadhead bar and venue, located at 918 West First Avenue, was forced to close for ninety days starting October 1, after reaching a settlement with the City of Denver for serving alcohol to a minor. So Many Roads' liquor and cabaret licenses are also being held in abeyance for a year, meaning any additional violations will shut the bar down for good.

This isn't the first challenge for So Many Roads, which had to close in October for a month last year after providing alcohol to a minor, selling alcohol to a minor, distributing a controlled substance and disorderly behavior. The same employee who sold the controlled substance at So Many Roads was also a bartender at sister venue Sancho's Broken Arrow, which ended up closing for good as a result.
When So Many Roads reopened on December 1, 2022, many of its loyal fans called it a "story of resilience," and reveled in the Deadhead bar's ability to rise again, noodling to tunes by Grateful Dead tribute band the Cosmic Charlies. At the time, former So Many Roads and Sancho's owner Jay Bianchi — who retired after sexual-assault allegations in 2020 but still is a regular face at the venue (and was the bartender who most recently sold drinks to underage police officers) — warned on Facebook that "unfortunately, this may set off a chain of events that makes it impossible for business to continue...It may be the last month of existence for this museum, this lifetime work, this little slice of paradise."

While So Many Roads did not come entirely to the end of the line, it will be on shifting ground when it reopens for New Year's shows on December 30 and 31 with Pink Talking Fish, which covers Pink Floyd, Talking Heads and Phish. Bianchi again took to Facebook, writing, "These nights not only mark our great grand re-opening, they mark the last New Years Eve run of So Many Roads Museum and Brewery."
According to Bianchi — who, despite not having ownership, still appears to be So Many Roads' de facto public face and uses "our" when speaking of the bar — the shows won't actually end on New Year's Day. There are several shows slated on So Many Roads' website from January 2 through January 14. What are now being called the final shows, running from January 12 to 14, will feature Forgotten Space with Stu Allen, a Grateful Dead cover band.

Robert Driscoll, a lawyer representing So Many Roads, confirms that the venue will reopen on December 30. When asked whether the January shows will be the final ones, as Bianchi suggests, he replies: "I have no idea."

So Many Roads owner Tyler Bishop did not respond to a request for comment.

"This will be your last chance to see this magnificent place," Bianchi wrote, "so let's come together one last time and revel in our triumphs as well [as] celebrate the doors that will be opening as this particular chapter of our history draws to a close."

Pink Talking Fish, Saturday, December 30, and Sunday, December 31, 918 West First Avenue. Tickets to the Saturday show are $20-$25; tickets for Sunday are $35-$50.