Will DIA’s on-site brewery ever make beer again? The answer is up in the air.
When Denver Worldwide Airport introduced in 2015 that it was on the lookout for a neighborhood firm to construct and function a brewery contained in the hooked up Westin lodge, it was large information. Not solely would an onsite brewery spotlight Colorado’s exploding craft beer scene, however it could additionally give DIA some cachet as one of many first and solely airports to have a brewery bodily positioned on its property.
“It’s an opportunity to be distinctive and do one thing that another person hasn’t performed,” DIA’s then-senior vice chairman for concessions Neil Maxfield informed Westword on the time, including that the successful brewery could be required to make a signature IPA that will be served solely on the airport.
However that was one of many final instances airport officers had something frothy to say in regards to the brewery, which has confirmed to be something however a celebration. Whereas the restaurant portion of the taproom stays open, simply off the plaza on the south facet of the Jeppesen Terminal, the beer-making gear — together with tanks and a small, 3.5-barrel brewing system — has been mothballed for the reason that pandemic started in March 2020. And it might keep that means for the foreseeable future.
Final month, DIA’s brewery started a brand new chapter when the concessionaire that ran it, Midfield Concession Enterprises (MCE), bought its contract to a different concessionaire, SSP America, in keeping with SSP vice chairman of name technique, Lana Cramer. SSP’s father or mother firm operates practically 3,000 eating places and shops at 600 journey places around the globe.
“As the brand new house owners proper now, we’re assembly with the model and attempting to get our arms across the operation to be able to conduct an evaluation. Finally our efforts will probably be centered on figuring out what’s greatest for all events to be able to in the end provide a world-class expertise,” Cramer stated.
That “model” is Tivoli Brewing, which opened its first location within the Tivoli Scholar Union constructing on Denver’s Auraria Increased Training Middle campus in 2015. In a dialog with The Denver Submit, brewery CEO Ari Opsahl was up-front about its future at DIA.
“All people sees the worth in having a taphouse indirectly, form or type. However brewing out on the airport isn’t essentially the most logistics-friendly atmosphere on the planet,” he stated. Wouldn’t it be cool to make beer on the airport once more? Completely. Does it make logistical or monetary sense? Under no circumstances.
Not solely is it troublesome to take supply of uncooked supplies and do away with the spent barley that’s used to make beer, however the facility doesn’t benefit having a full-time brewer available as a result of it’s so small.
“We need to revamp the look the texture on the market. It’s all people’s intention to do thrilling issues. However we’re attempting to work out what that will appear like, and we don’t know but,” Opsahl stated.
DIA itself had little to say in regards to the brewery, deferring to SSP America. “We stay open to exploring alternatives that improve the general expertise at our airport, together with an operational brewery,” spokeswoman Ashley Forest wrote in an e-mail. “We’re enthusiastic about what the longer term could maintain for the brand new house owners of” the Tivoli Brewing taproom house.
Its previous, nevertheless, is a unique story.
In 2016, DIA awarded a 10-year contract to MCE, a Michigan-based concessionaire that had meals and beverage operations at seven main U.S. airports. MCE would construct the 7,200-square-foot brewpub inside the brand new Westin lodge hooked up to the airport, together with two eating places and a espresso store elsewhere within the airport. These two eating places could be retailers of Smashburger, the hamburger chain based in Denver by Tom Ryan, who additionally created Tom’s City and Tom’s Watch Bar (now at McGregor Sq. in downtown Denver).
The restaurant and bar could be branded as Tom’s City Kitchen and Brewery however the brewing gear could be run by Tivoli, which obtained concerned as a result of the Tom’s/Smashburger father or mother agency (on the time) was working meals operations for Tivoli’s different location.
The contract award got here as a shock to the opposite bidders — together with longtime native breweries like Oskar Blues, Nice Divide and Wynkoop Brewing — a few of whom felt that Tivoli didn’t meet the necessities laid out by DIA. Wynkoop, particularly, raised questions in regards to the bidding course of, a perceived lack of transparency and the {qualifications} of the successful bidder.
These questions finally morphed into bid-rigging lawsuits filed by Wynkoop towards Midfield, a few of its former executives and DIA officers. After six years of authorized machinations, the case was settled simply final October. Particulars of the settlement weren’t publicly disclosed.
Within the meantime, Tivoli founder Corey Marshall started working in 2016 attempting to determine methods to construct a brewery on the fifth flooring of an airport lodge, and it wasn’t straightforward. However Marshall had been by way of robust build-outs earlier than. A longtime government at Coors and a Denver historical past buff, Marshall had been shopping for or claiming the logos to a number of defunct however historic breweries and beers in Denver with the aim of beginning his personal craft brewery and reviving a few of the previous.
A kind of was the unique Tivoli brewery, which had roots in what’s now the Auraria campus courting again to 1859, a 12 months after Denver’s founding. Tivoli had been considered one of only a handful of breweries to outlive prohibition and finally grew to become one of many largest beer makers west of the Mississippi, working out of the castle-like constructing that’s now Auraria’s scholar union. It will definitely went out of enterprise, nevertheless, in 1969, a results of each labor union motion and the South Platte River flood of 1965, which devastated many components of Denver.
Not solely did Marshall purchase the logos, although, he additionally researched the historical past and located folks and recollections from the unique brewery to assist him remake variations of a few of the beers. In 2014, he signed a cope with Auraria to place a brand new Tivoli taproom again into the unique Tivoli constructing. After a troublesome renovation course of within the historic construction, it opened in 2015.
However constructing a brewery at an airport was equally as difficult. Not solely do brewing amenities require uncooked supplies, in addition they want important water and drainage. For the reason that brewery was positioned on the fifth flooring of the lodge, it additionally needed to overcome the presence of lodge company and restricted entry.
By the point Tivoli brewed its first beer there, known as Jet IPA, on Nov. 5, 2018, greater than two years had passed by, and Marshall had been changed as CEO by a brand new possession group.
Then, in March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic started, forcing the closure of eating places, bars and breweries nationwide. The DIA taproom — now known as merely Tivoli Faucet Home — finally reopened when social distancing necessities had been lifted. However the brewery remained idle.
Opsahl, who grew to become CEO in 2021 — the brewery’s fourth chief government in two years — had his arms full with different issues. Tivoli had suffered mightily through the pandemic, shedding at the very least half its workers. Opsahl set about attempting to save lots of the corporate with a brand new technique and a deal with a brand new model, Outlaw gentle lager, which isn’t based mostly on considered one of Denver’s historic breweries.
Late final 12 months, Opsahl additionally discontinued brewery operations on the Auraria campus and shifted beer manufacturing to a facility that Tivoli leased within the city of La Junta. The corporate nonetheless operates its Auraria taproom, serving meals and beer, however Opsahl stated he hopes to sit down down with campus officers this summer season to speak about “discovering a mutually amicable path ahead.”
In different phrases, he desires to renegotiate the lease for the taproom portion of the on-campus operation, which expires on Dec. 31, 2024.
“The taphouse is a cornerstone for the campus,” Opsahl stated, mentioning that the brewery and the constructing share a reputation. “We adore it, however working there’s a problem, as it’s fairly useless all summer season (when courses aren’t in session). We are able to’t even break even.
“We need to be there,” he added. “However need to discover a approach to make it work for each events.”
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