Just up the street from Proto's Pizza and Paris on the Platte, the 3,400-square-foot space will be renovated to include a seven-barrel brew house, a tasting room and an outdoor, German-style beer garden. Berger, a former sales rep at Wynkoop Brewing Co., and Crawford, an engineer, will focus on rotating seasonal beers.
Last week, the pair traveled to Newington, Connecticut, where they picked up a used brewing system that had been used in a now-closed outlet of the Hops Grill and Brewery chain. "This system is beautiful," Berger says. "Those big corporate Hops guys bought nice stuff and they were taking care of it. We feel like we got a deal."
To get their hands on the equipment, however, Berger and Crawford had to knock out a wall of the Hops building. Then, because there was three feet of snow on the ground, they had to hire a crane to lift it 75 feet into the air and load it onto a flatbed truck.
On Tuesday, the copper tanks arrived on Platte Street, where Denver Beer Co's ("Co," not "Company," Berger says, because it has less of a corporate sound) lease begins March 1.
Once they open, Berger and Crawford plan to offer a continually changing selection of beer, along with Bavarian-style pretzels and dipping sauces. They'll also be taking suggestions from customers about what styles to make -- "no matter how wild."
