E-Malt.com News article: USA, CO: Liquid Mechanics Brewing plans to open in Lafayette in 2015

If all goes as planned, Liquid Mechanics Brewing Co. will become Lafayette's fourth new craft brewery in a little more than a year when it opens in late summer, Boulder County Business Report reported on March 25.

The brewery's founders have quietly been building out their 3,200-square-foot space in the Village at Lafayette shopping center. But they'd been waiting to formally announce their plans until they finalized financing and notified their current employers they'd be leaving.

When Liquid Mechanics opens, it will join Front Range Brewing and Odd13 Brewing, which both opened last summer. The Post Brewing Co., meanwhile, opened in January to round out Lafayette's bursting beer scene.

"We really love Lafayette," co-founder Davin Helden said on March 24. "We're excited to be the new face on the block."

Helden is founding the brewery with Seth Townsend and Eric Briggs. Townsend, a longtime home brewer, will serve as brewmaster.

The trio first started hatching their brewery plans about six years ago while all worked together at biopharmaceutical company Amgen in Longmont and Boulder. All three will begin devoting their full attention to the brewery May 1.

"We all kind of grew up in manufacturing at Amgen," Helden said.

Helden declined to disclose startup costs. He said the ownership group, which also includes a pair of silent partners, was funded with its own cash as well as a small business administration loan.

Liquid Mechanics will begin with a 10-barrel brewhouse. About half of the brewery's space will be dedicated to its taproom. Helden said the brewery will brew a variety of styles, from German to American to Belgian. Many of the beers will be "sessionable," or easier drinking at around 5 percent alcohol by volume or less.

Helden said the crew is confident there is room for another brewery in a Lafayette scene that has suddenly become crowded. He noted the high-traffic location of Liquid Mechanics as one of his reasons for optimism.


26 March, 2014