USA, CO: WeldWerks Brewing scraps plans for second taproom in Colorado Springs

Despite a steady period of explosive growth for one Colorado’s most successful rising breweries, WeldWerks Brewing announced a significant setback on March 22 after making the difficult decision to permanently end construction on what was planned to be their second taproom location in Colorado Springs, PorchDrinking.com reported.

The project was initially announced in April 2019 with plans to begin construction by July of that year taking over a 1,300 sq ft former diner located in Colorado Spring’s Old Colorado City neighborhood, just west of downtown at 3043 W. Pikes Peak Ave. WeldWerks’ second outpost never intended to include a brewhouse, but rather serve as an extension of the brewery’s taproom operations.

However, the project was hindered from out of the gate with what the brewery described as some bad design and project decisions, as well as a string of permitting and weather-related delays that continued to push the project in its first year. With the onset of the pandemic in 2020, the project was further delayed by supply chain constraints and labor shortages.

Even as recently as August 2021 the Greeley-based brewery felt optimistic about plans to move forward with their Colorado Springs location in a joint statement announcing their now opened restaurant concept, The Annex, located within their Greeley taproom, and had already begun laying the foundation for that Colorado Springs project. However, it seemed that the addition of The Annex restaurant, as well as their ongoing brewhouse and production expansion aimed to help increase production capacity which had doubled since the onset of the project, also contributed to WeldWerks’ need to divert resources and attention away from Colorado Springs.

After a three-year slog, WeldWerks announced on March 22 that they would be ceasing construction permanently on the project in a statement via their Facebook page. They did go on to note that they hope to reengage a secondary location in the future and that no employees will lose positions because of this shift.

23 March, 2022