WeldWerks Backs Out of Colorado Springs Taproom Plans

Nearly three years after WeldWerks Brewing thrilled Colorado beer lovers with plans to open a second location in Colorado Springs, the brewery has backed away from the project.

Instead, WeldWerks will expand production at its home base in Greeley in order to keep up with demand for its beer, particularly its New England-style hazy IPAs, its fruited sours and its pastry stouts; the brewery's output has doubled in just three years, and it now plans to buy a thirty-barrel brewing system.

"After careful consideration and upon exhausting every other viable option, we have decided to permanently cease construction on the Colorado Springs property," the Greeley-based brewery said in a statement. "We share in your disappointment as the Colorado Springs location has been something that we have been diligently working on, and were very excited about, for over three years.⁠
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"This project has experienced significant delays from the onset, some of which were inadvertent byproducts of our design and project decisions, but the vast majority of which were completely out of our control," WeldWerks continued. "Supply chain constraints and labor shortages due to COVID-19 further delayed the timeline and drastically increased the overall budget for the project. "

The plan had called for a family-friendly taproom (without a brewery) in a former diner called The Dive, at 3043 West Pikes Peak Avenue in Colorado Springs. WeldWerks liked the historic building, as well as the smaller-town feel that was more akin to Greeley than Denver or Boulder.

"Shoving ourselves into RiNo or somewhere else in Denver just isn't who we are," WeldWerks spokesman Jake Goodman told Westword in April 2019. "Colorado Springs is bigger than Greeley but much smaller than Denver, and we just enjoy kicking it in a quiet, hardworking but really lovely town."

But after an endless series of delays, as well as an analysis of the time, money and effort that will be needed for the Greeley expansion, "we determined it was in the best interest of the brewery, our staff, and patrons to direct all of our efforts and resources towards increasing production capacity at the Greeley location and transition away from the taproom project in Colorado Springs," the brewery says.

WeldWerks owns an entire square block in Greeley where its brewery and taproom are located, and it recently opened a small eatery on site. In addition, the beer maker intends to expand its office space and renovate its outdoor patio over the course of the next few months.