E-Malt.com News article: USA, CO: Trinity Brewing to build second brewery in Denver in 2016

Colorado Springs-based Trinity Brewing, which has won awards and admiration for its artisanal ales and deep roster of saisons, is laying plans for a second location in Denver that also would serve as a hub for out-of-state distribution, Denver Post reported on March 7.

Founder and head brewer Jason Yester confirmed Trinity is targeting 2016 for its ambitious Denver project, which he said would likely involve a 30-barrel brewing system in a roughly 8,000 square-foot space in a warehouse district.

Trinity operates under a brewpub license. Yester’s beers feature at craft beer-friendly restaurants. Most new brewery start-ups in Denver have adopted the kitchen-free tap room model, and a brewpub of Trinity’s caliber would be welcome addition to the scene.

“We almost doubled our volume last year by opening up sales in Denver, and most of our sales out of town were in Denver specifically,” Yester said. “We went from 790 to 1,390 (barrels). It just feels like Denver is a really good fit.”

Yester said Trinity’s brewpub in Colorado Springs, which runs on a 12-barrel system, would continue to operate. If all goes as planned, Trinity will join a growing number of Colorado craft breweries branching out to additional locations, including Dry Dock Brewing, Caution Brewing, Renegade Brewing and Denver Beer Co., with more on the way.

The plan is to use the Denver Trinity location for distribution of bottles in seven or eight cities out of state initially, Yester said. But Trinity is not waiting until then to begin distributing to its first out-of-state market. Yester, whose family lives in Oregon, said the brewery is scheduled to begin shipping its first bottles to Portland starting in mid-April.

Another significant change coming to Trinity: the brewery is about to start packaging in 375 milliliter (12.7 ounce) bottles, following the lead of other boutique breweries such as Crooked Stave and Three Barrel Brewing in seeing the value in smaller packages.

He said the Colorado Springs brewery will continue to produce 750-milliliter bottles, as well. He said it hasn’t been decided what sizes will be packaged and distributed out of Denver, but it most likely will be the smaller ones.

The beers headed for the smaller bottles include:

- Electrick Cukumbah (6.4 percent ABV), a 2013 Great American Beer Festival gold medal-winning saison spiced with fresh cucumbers.
- 7 Day Golden Sour (5 percent), a quick-turnaround sour ale brewed with Brettanomyces that’s been making the rounds of Denver tap handles.
- Le Capitaine, (12.7 precent), a golden imperial saison.
- You Never Even Call Me By My Name (12.2 percent), a black imperial saison.

Yester said he plans to move to Denver in two years and then choose a location for the brewery, which would then take six to eight months to open. He said the River North neighborhood – bursting with new breweries – is one potential landing spot.


12 March, 2014