The Post Brewing Co. will bring its much-loved fried chicken and craft beer to Denver International Airport next summer, becoming the newest local brewery to help the airport better reflect the state's favorite liquid asset.
Big Red F, the Post's Boulder-based parent company, will also build a Jax Fish House & Oyster Bar inside the airport as part of a contract awarded by Great Hall Partners, the private developer that is handling the $1.8 billion renovation of the airport's Great Hall. Other vendors slated to join the Post are Caribou Coffee, Kabod Coffee, Denver Street Eats and 5280 Market, as well as a retail and convenience store.
The Post was founded in 2014 in Lafayette by chef/restaurateur Dave Query, with the brewing side of the operation launched by Dogfish Head brewer Bryan Selders (who has since returned to that company). Big Red F now has a second brewery and restaurant in Boulder, along with non-brewing outposts in Denver and Longmont. The airport version will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner menus created by chef/partner Brett Smith. And, yes, that includes the fried chicken that has quickly become a Denver-area favorite, along with award-winning lower-ABV beers.
The Great Hall project, which began in July, will overhaul the fifth and sixth levels of the 1.5 million-square-foot Jeppesen Terminal. Projects include "enhancing security, increasing capacity, updating aging systems, improving passenger flow and elevating the overall passenger experience," the airport says. There will also be at least fifty stores, restaurants and other commercial outlets.
In May, the airport revealed that longtime Denver brewery Great Divide Brewing would take over a spot in Concourse C that had previously been occupied by Rock Bottom Brewing. When it opens in late 2018 or early 2019, the Great Divide Brewhouse and Kitchen will sport eighteen Great Divide taps, including some of the brewery’s core brands, along with seasonals, specialty beers and one-offs.
Denver's Tivoli Brewing and Consumer Concept Group, which runs the Smashburger chain and Tom’s Urban Diner group, is also the midst of building out their working brewery and restaurant, which will open in the Westin Hotel at DIA later this year. Tivoli recently received delivery of its brewing equipment for the spot, which faces the plaza between the hotel and the airport terminal.
New Belgium Brewing, Boulder Beer Company and the Denver ChopHouse (which has a brewery downtown) also currently have taprooms at the airport.