Westbound & Down Announces Plans to Open Wheat Ridge Tasting Room

As local beer lovers celebrate Oktoberfest this month, there's another reason to raise a glass. One of the state's top breweries is expanding once again.

On September 10, Westbound & Down Brewing Company announced plans to open an expansive new tasting room at 5540 West 29th Street in Wheat Ridge.

The new 4,000-square-foot space, which is projected to open in late 2026 or early 2027, will feature eighteen draft lines and a full kitchen with pizza, sandwiches and other pub standards on the menu, built off of the kitchen program at the company's Lafayette brewery and tasting room.

Spanning two adjacent buildings, the Wheat Ridge Westbound & Down will also include a 300-square-foot outdoor courtyard space and a 1,600-square-foot rooftop patio with an additional eighteen draft lines.
"We are beyond ecstatic to bring our full Westbound & Down experience to the greater Denver area," says brewery CEO and director of brewing operations Jake Gardner in a press release announcing the news. "The greater Denver community has always shown us tremendous support and we are stoked to match that enthusiasm with our coolest buildout yet!"

The brewery recently completed its first round of crowd-funding through DealMaker to help fund the company's growth, hitting its $1.2 million goal in two months — four months faster than expected. A new round of crowdfunding that has just launched will help the company to buy its Wheat Ridge location outright and fund further growth and expansion, with plans to quadruple production by 2028. Dealmaker allows everyday enthusiasts to support local brands with investments as small as $750 and tiers of investor perks.

"This is about meeting demand with intention," Gardner notes. "Denver has long been one of our strongest regions, but we haven't had a true home there — until now."
The brewery was founded in Idaho Springs in 2015 and has earned numerous industry awards, including silver medals at the 2023 and 2024 World Beer Cups; two golds and a silver at the 2024 Great American Beer Fest; a bronze, a silver and a gold at the 2023 GABF; two silver medals at GABF 2022; two silvers at the 2019 GABF; being named Midsize Brewpub of the Year in 2019 at GABF. The Idaho Springs location was also named our 2024 Best of Denver Best Stop for an Apres-Ski Pint.

In 2021, the company acquired the former Endo Brewing space in Lafayette, focusing production operations on that location. In 2022, the company opened a satellite taproom in Denver's Dairy Block market, then acquired Aspen Brewing Co. in Aspen and Capitol Creek Brewery in Basalt in late 2023.