USA, CO: Yampa Valley Brewing Co. lays out plans to serve the entire Yampa Valley

The goal of the Yampa Valley Brewing Co. has long been to serve the entire Yampa Valley from Craig to Steamboat Springs, and at a celebration last weekend in Hayden, the brewery laid out plans to make that happen, the Steamboat Pilot and Today reported on August 30.

“The goal has been to cater to everybody in the Yampa Valley,” co-owner Paul Brinkman said. “We understand that what people want in Craig is a little different than what people want in Hayden, and what people want in Steamboat is also a little different. Our goal is to not only brew beers that are tailored to what the community wants but also create an environment in each tasting room that is unique to the location.”

Yampa Valley Brewing Co. currently has tap houses in Craig and Hayden, with one planned to open in Steamboat in summer 2022. Yampa Valley Brewing Co. currently brews its craft beer in a rented space in Hayden and does specialty oak barrel brewing in Craig, as well.

As part of Yampa Valley Brewing Co.’s latest expansion, Brinkman said the company will build a new brew house, located just behind the Hayden tap house, at 200 Walnut St., by the end of the year or early in 2022. The company also plans to start work renovating a building that will become a new tap house and tasting room in Steamboat.

“We’ve made a decision on moving forward with our Steamboat tap house, and that’ll be at 1125 Lincoln Ave.,” Brinkman said. “The whole outside of the buildings is in pretty significant disrepair, so we’re going to redo the whole outside, redo the whole front patio and put the tasting room on the main level.”

Brinkman said that all three of the tap houses will reflect the communities where they are located.

“Craig’s unique in how we approached both the design and the tap house; Hayden’s very different being that it’s an element within the granary, which has been significant, and that will be different than something that will end up being in Steamboat,” he said.

Brinkman said that work on the new Steamboat location will begin this fall, and his plans are to make it different than his other two tap houses.

“The traditional tap tasting room has been more industrial,” Brinkman said. “In Steamboat, we prefer to go away from that and perhaps do something that is a little more mountain lodge-y … something a little more comfortable and a place where people come and maybe have business meetings.”

In order to keep all three tap houses supplied with craft beer produced by Yampa Valley Brewing Co., Brinkman said the brewing side of the business also needed to be expanded.

On August 28, the brewery took the first step with a groundbreaking for a new brew house behind its tap house in Hayden. The business had been brewing its beer nearby in a space that it rented.

Brinkman said the new brew house will be 1,500 square feet and will increase production by more than three times their current levels.

31 August, 2021