[/media-credit]Hops and Pie is looking for the funds to expand in Northwest Denver.
Hops and Pie, the northwest Denver craft beer and artisan pizza place, is seeking to accelerate plans to open its own brewery and put its own product alongside the murderer’s row of beer always on tap there.
Brewing in-house has been part of the vision since day 1, said Drew Watson, who co-owns Hops and Pie with his wife, Leah. The establishment opened on Tennyson Street in the Berkeley neighborhood to raves from local beer snobs in 2010 and completed a much-needed expansion in January.
To speed things up, the Watsons are seeking start-up costs though a small business grant program overseen by Chase Bank and Living Social that will award up to 12 grants of $250,000 to 12 small businesses. Fans can help the cause by voting for the application here.
Drew Watson made clear that grant or no grant, the project is moving forward. He said the brewery is still eight to 12 months away, and it hasn’t been decided whether to start small with a 3- to 5-barrel system (and pour only in-house at first) or go bigger with 10- to 15-barrel system and distribute.
Watson said the current location can accommodate the smaller system but going bigger would require finding a different location. He said Hops and Pie is committed to remaining in northwest Denver.
The plan is for Hops and Pie Brewing Co. to brew a “full gamut” of beer styles and “really mix it up,” Watson said. He’s got a brewer – a physicist in his mid 20s who is a killer homebrewer. (Watson wouldn’t cough up the name).
The Watsons aren’t alone in moving from pouring other people’s beers to brewing their own. The owners of the Cheeky Monk on Colfax are planning to open on their own adjacent brewery, Three Saints, this fall.
And in case anyone is worried about losing what they love about Hops and Pie now, Drew Watson had these reassuring words: they will always feature guest handles, which constantly rotates harder-to-find national craft beer brands such as Russian River, The Bruery, Brewery Ommegang and Lost Abbey.
