This Week in Beer: Tivoli Is No Longer Brewing at Auraria, Crooked Stave FoCo Is Closing and More

As the local brewery scene continues to evolve and grow, we're rounding up the news, events and new releases you need to know about. Here's the latest:

Tivoli Officially Ends Brewing Operations at Auraria Campus
The Story: Tivoli has moved operations to the Gold Buckle Beer facility in La Junta. It will continue to run the taproom at Auraria until at least December 2024.
The Scoop: Tivoli has put an emphasis on its Outlaw Beer, and needed a facility to accommodate the higher volume, tighter margin macro beer focus. The brewery required major changes to make the Auraria facility work, and could not come to terms with management. We'll have more details on the changes at Tivoli Brewing coming soon, but you can dive into the history of the original Tivoli and its 2015 reboot at Auraria here.


Axios Denver Announces 2023 Beer Awards
The Story: Westbound & Down was named the 2023 brewery of the year. Second Dawn was named best new brewery, and Cerebral's Rare Trait was crowned best beer.
The Scoop: With votes from over 250 local industry members and craft beer fans, the list serves as a look into what the local industry and motivated fans are thinking. There aren't a lot of surprises here; these breweries (and the runners-up) have very strong reputations in the area.
Crooked Stave Fort Collins Closing
The Story: The FoCo taproom of the popular Denver beer maker is closing at the end of the year.
The Scoop: Draft beer will be half off, and merch and cans will be 30 percent off December 26-30. Crooked Stave has shifted focus in recent years, as wild and sour beer popularity has declined. The brewery has built a core lineup of beers such as Juicy West IPA and New Zealand Pilsner, while still offering beers like Sour Rosé.

The closing isn't necessarily a reason for Denver fans to worry about the main taproom and brewery. Fort Collins has been a very competitive beer market for years, even during the highest growth period. The city contains many hyper-local businesses and owner-operators, not to mention the added challenges of competing in the shadow of larger longtime breweries like Odell and New Belgium.
Upcoming Events

An Emo Nightmare Before Christmas
Thursday, December 21, 5 to 9 p.m.
LUKI Brewery
14718 West 65th Way, Arvada
LUKI is back with another pop culture-themed creative event. This one involves Tim Burton's classic movie playing on the televisions with temporary tattoo and hair-coloring stations set up in the taproom. DJ Saddy Jeff will be playing emo songs all night long and a flight of cookies and beer will be available for $20. The brewery invites patrons to celebrate everything dark and emotional, to don black attire, and to find the beautiful melancholy of this unique event.

Wynkoop Pale Ale Beer Tapping
Friday, December 22
1634 18th Street
Wynkoop is releasing its Knuckles' Pale Ale, a 5.5 percent ABV tropical beer brewed with grains of paradise. The beer is named after Knuckles the Grilla, the Wynkoop's longtime doorman.
Beer of the Week:  Little Fir Cone from Wild Provisions Beer Project, German-style Pilsner, 5.1 percent ABV
From the Brewery: Inspired by our favorite pilsner originating in the Black Forest of Germany, Little Fir Cone is brewed with soft water, premium German pilsner malt, Hallertauer Tradition and Tettnang hops. This beer is triple-decocted and open fermented, bringing a robust maltiness paired with a bright hop character.
From the Glass: The beer pours with a generous amount of soft, creamy foam on top because of the use of side-pull faucets. A firm bitterness greets you immediately but mellows into gentle, earthy and herbal Noble hop flavors. The bready, grainy pilsner malt stands out from the long boil and multiple decoctions, and a light hop flavor of lemon accents the dry finish. This is an ode to the classic Rothaus Tannenzaepfle Pils from the Black Forest in Germany, and a great unfiltered take on that legendary beer.
Availability: On draft now.