Grist will be the first independently owned craft brewery to open in Highlands Ranch; it will have eight beers on tap to start, including a kölsch, an IPA, a hefeweizen, a brown, a stout and a Belgian strong ale, served in four-ounce tasters as well as pints, half-pints and 32-ounce growlers. The El Toro the Tot food truck will also be on hand.
See also: Two22 Brew will open in Centennial with a focus on craft beer and philanthropy
Owner Rob Kevwitch is an organic chemist who grew up in Colorado before spending most of his professional life in Arizona and Texas. His brewery will have a twenty-barrel brewing system and a 6,500-square-foot brewery and tap room.
There are currently only a handful of breweries in the southern suburbs, including Lone Tree Brewing; Saint Patrick's Brewing and the Brew on Broadway, both in Englewood; Elk Mountain Brewing in Parker; Dry Dock and Dad & Dudes Breweria in Aurora; and outposts of the CB & Potts and Rock Bottom chains.
But help is on the way.
Blue Spruce Brewery and Two22 Brew are both scheduled to open in Centennial by the end of 2013; Three Freaks Brewing should join Grist in Highlands Ranch early next year. Meanwhile, 38 State Brewing is planning to open in Littleton, while Hall Brewing, which already bottles its beers from a production facility near Parker, plans to add a tap room in that town next year.
And finally, Breckenridge Brewery is planning to move its Denver headquarters to a twelve-acre, $20 million brewing campus in Littleton in 2014.
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