"We started planning location two in 2017," says co-founder and CEO Michael Memsic. "We got really close on a location in Denver, and I got cold feet right at the finish line during lease negotiations. We pulled back out of that project; it was too expensive and too competitive in that area. So we hit the brakes, went back to the books and said that coming out of 2019, 2020 will be the year for location two." And while COVID derailed the 2020 plans, Memsic and his team restarted the hunt for location two in the fall of 2021.
The search landed in Englewood, where the brewery signed the lease for a 4,800-square-foot space in April 2022; construction began in late July last year. One important feature for any potential taproom was a substantial patio, says Memsic. The new location fulfills that requirement, with roughly 2,500 square feet of usable outdoor space.
The Englewood outpost will also be the home of CBurger, a new concept from restaurateur Bryan Dayton, the owner of Corrida, Oak at Fourteenth, Bellota and Brider, and chef Samuel McCandless, whose résumé includes Frasca and the now-closed Arcana. Memsic says that it was important to partner up with restaurant professionals in order to provide a stronger overall offering from day one. There will also be coffee from Littleton's Atlas Coffee.
Sanitas will celebrate the grand opening of its new location June 23-25.
Sanitas Brewing/Instagram
There is a strong charitable component to the beers, as well. "We try to do things that are specific community drivers locally, as well as larger things [like water] that impact us locally," says Memsic. The brewery already has a core beer, Everyday Mountain Pils, that helps support the Boulder Open Space Conservancy. "They take care of open space," says Memsic. "A lot of time and energy goes to Mount Sanitas, and that's important to us."
Another charitable beer is Earl's Out, a collaboration with DV8 Distillery that combines Earl Grey Vodka and Sanitas's fruited sour beer prowess. The result is an Earl Grey lemon sour beer. It was brewed specifically for last year's Big Queer Beerfest, with some proceeds supporting Out Boulder, an organization that works to ensure that LGBTQ+ people and communities thrive in Boulder. Memsic is excited to continue these types of beers at the Englewood location.
During its grand-opening weekend, June 23-25, visitors can sip on $5 cans of Englewood Hazy IPA, a beer that celebrates its arrival in the suburb, which is home to only two other breweries.
Sanitas plans to continue to grow beyond the second location, as well. Memsic says that the company would like to open a new taproom every year to two years in the future. "Our search radius is throughout the West," he notes. "We're looking up and down the Front Range and throughout Colorado, as well as Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Arizona and New Mexico."
Sanitas opened in 2013 with the goal of becoming a major regional brewery. "Our vision was to fill semis with cans and ship them all over the country," recalls Memsic. "We were going to chase the likes of Odell, Avery, New Belgium and Oskar Blues." At that time, there were only about 1,200 breweries in the United States.
With close to 10,000 today, Memsic believes that the dynamic has completely shifted. "It took us a while to really learn that and then look inward and figure out [our identity]," he says. "It really comes back to our taproom; it's our number-one strength. There's an overall feeling that we're driving the community, we can talk about the stories of the beer, the beer has a charitable component. That feels good, and our bartenders get excited about that."
Sanitas Brewing Englewood is located at 200 West Belleview Avenue and will be open from 3 to 9 p.m. daily beginning June 23. For more information, visit sanitasbrewing.com.
