Upslope Brewing shuts off the tap for three weeks to get ready for a big expansion

Like many other Colorado craft brewers, Boulder's Upslope Brewing has grown exponentially over the past year. And so Upslope has shut down its tasting room for the next three weeks so that it can knock out walls and expand into space next door. When it reopens on April 26, the...

By Jonathan Shikes

April 4, 2011

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Like many other Colorado craft brewers, Boulder's Upslope Brewing has grown exponentially over the past year. And so Upslope has shut down its tasting room for the next three weeks so that it can knock out walls and expand into space next door.

When it reopens on April 26, the tap room will be twice its current size, and also will include a stage and a garage door that be opened to accommodate live bands. There will also be a new, larger bar and two more tap handles.

The expansion will also make more room for Upslope's three new thirty-barrel fermenters, which it bought in January.

"The idea is to release a fourth can and go for statewide distribution," says Upslope spokesman Henry Wood. The brewery currently cans three of its beers: a pale ale, an IPA and a brown ale. It hasn't announced what the fourth can will be yet.

Founded in 2008, Upslope was the second Colorado brewery to use cans exclusively in its packaging. The brewery has the capacity to make 4.500 barrels in 2011.

Follow Westword's Beer Man on Twitter at @ColoBeerMan.

Jonathan Shikes is a Denver native who writes about business and beer for Westword.

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