After graduating from brewing school at the Sibel Institute in Chicago in 2015, Monahan opened up Little City Brewing in Raleigh, North Carolina, and stayed on for almost two years before launching Little Brother Brewing in Greensboro, where he was head brewer for five years. “I figured I’d jump into another startup,” he says.
His vision goes beyond that of the typical brewer, though. While in North Carolina, he started an organization called Brew Like a Girl. “We raise money for women enrolled in brewing science programs and further education,” he explains.
The building that Kodiac occupies previously housed Smokin’ Dave’s BBQ, so it also has a scratch kitchen. “The team has spent a lot of time upgrading the building,” Monahan says. One of those upgrades is a custom brick oven, where Neapolitan-inspired pizzas are cooked.
It’s not just the equipment that helps the kitchen stand out. The ingredients are a prime focus. “We use Baccio cheese [for our pizzas],” notes Kodiac general manager Gordon Cresswell. “The cheese is made with a touch of buffalo milk, giving it a beautiful melt and creaminess." That attention to ingredient detail extends elsewhere on the menu, from the burgers, which are a blend of chuck, brisket and short rib, to the pizza sauce, which is made in-house.
“We are going to ride the line between a sports bar-type setting [and] a place where families feel welcome,” says Cresswell of the atmosphere. “We want Mom and Dad to enjoy a nice beer with dinner while watching the Broncos game, but we also designed our menu to be approachable to kids."
Head brewer Stephen Monahan.
Kodiac Brewery
The brewery has seven in-house taps available, and Monahan is brewing a variety of beers to fill them. He’s brewing on a seven-barrel ABE brewing system, a setup he calls “very automated” and far less laborious than the previous equipment he’s brewed on. Opening-weekend beers included Darkest Energy, a 7.9 percent ABV American stout; Crystal Filter, an American amber; Dispensation of Light, an American lager that specs out similarly to a German helles; two flavor-forward, lightly bittered IPAs called Hop Headed and Globulous Entity; a fruited sour called Berried in Fruit; and a hefeweizen called Hefe the Weisse Man.
Monahan also has a passion for barrel-aged sours, but he just doesn’t have the space at the brewery to develop a dedicated program. However, he is excited about doing funky beers. “We will be doing a lot of [them],” he notes. In fact, Monahan already has plans to do a farmhouse beer and an IPA with Greenwood Village’s Peak View Brewing. The beers will be featured this March at the Colorado Brewers Guild’s Collaboration Fest in Westminster.
Monahan is hoping to make his mark in Colorado, carrying over the success he had in North Carolina, where he won many medals for his beers, including a 2018 GABF gold for Civil Rest Hefeweizen, when he was at Little Brother. He was also awarded the 2021 Industry Impact Award by the North Carolina Brewers Guild for his recruitment efforts on behalf of the guild.
For now, he’s been trying to immerse himself in the local beer culture, a scene that has changed quite a bit from his early home-brewing days in Colorado decades ago. “I like to hang out at Peak View and Resolute,” he says, naming Station 26, Cheluna, Seedstock, TRVE, Copper Kettle, Westbound & Down and Lady Justice as recent spots that he’s enjoyed. “I try to stop at a new place whenever I’m driving home."
Kodiac Brewery is located at 7685 East Arapahoe Road in Centennial and is open from 3 to 9 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday and 3 to 10 p.m. Thursday through Saturday. For more information, visit kodiacbrewery.com.
