When Denver Worldwide Airport introduced in 2015 that it was in search of a neighborhood firm to construct and function a brewery contained in the hooked up Westin lodge, it was large information. Not solely would an onsite brewery spotlight Colorado’s exploding craft beer scene, however it could additionally give DIA some cachet as one of many first and solely airports to have a brewery bodily situated on its property.
“It’s an opportunity to be distinctive and do one thing that another person hasn’t achieved,” DIA’s then-senior vp for concessions Neil Maxfield informed Westword on the time, including that the successful brewery can be required to make a signature IPA that will be served solely on the airport.
However that was one of many final instances airport officers had something frothy to say concerning the brewery, which has confirmed to be something however a celebration. Whereas the restaurant portion of the taproom stays open, simply off the plaza on the south facet of the Jeppesen Terminal, the beer-making gear — together with tanks and a small, 3.5-barrel brewing system — has been mothballed for the reason that pandemic started in March 2020. And it could keep that means for the foreseeable future.
Final month, DIA’s brewery started a brand new chapter when the concessionaire that ran it, Midfield Concession Enterprises (MCE), offered its contract to a different concessionaire, SSP America, in line with SSP vp of brand name technique, Lana Cramer. SSP’s mother or father firm operates almost 3,000 eating places and shops at 600 journey places world wide.
“As the brand new house owners proper now, we’re assembly with the model and making an attempt to get our arms across the operation with the intention to conduct an evaluation. In the end our efforts shall be targeted on figuring out what’s greatest for all events with the intention to in the end provide a world-class expertise,” Cramer mentioned.
That “model” is Tivoli Brewing, which opened its first location within the Tivoli Pupil Union constructing on Denver’s Auraria Increased Schooling Heart campus in 2015. In a dialog with The Denver Submit, brewery CEO Ari Opsahl was up-front about its future at DIA.
“Everyone sees the worth in having a taphouse not directly, form or type. However brewing out on the airport isn’t probably the most logistics-friendly surroundings on the planet,” he mentioned. Wouldn’t it be cool to make beer on the airport once more? Completely. Does it make logistical or monetary sense? Under no circumstances.
Not solely is it tough to take supply of uncooked supplies and eliminate the spent barley that’s used to make beer, however the facility doesn’t advantage having a full-time brewer readily available as a result of it’s so small.
“We wish to revamp the look the texture on the market. It’s all people’s intention to do thrilling issues. However we’re making an attempt to work out what that will appear to be, and we don’t know but,” Opsahl mentioned.
DIA itself had little to say concerning the brewery, deferring to SSP America. “We stay open to exploring alternatives that improve the general expertise at our airport, together with an operational brewery,” spokeswoman Ashley Forest wrote in an e-mail. “We’re enthusiastic about what the longer term could maintain for the brand new house owners of” the Tivoli Brewing taproom house.
Its previous, nonetheless, is a distinct story.
In 2016, DIA awarded a 10-year contract to MCE, a Michigan-based concessionaire that had meals and beverage operations at seven main U.S. airports. MCE would construct the 7,200-square-foot brewpub inside the brand new Westin lodge hooked up to the airport, together with two eating places and a espresso store elsewhere within the airport. These two eating places can be shops of Smashburger, the hamburger chain based in Denver by Tom Ryan, who additionally created Tom’s City and Tom’s Watch Bar (now at McGregor Sq. in downtown Denver).
The restaurant and bar can be branded as Tom’s City Kitchen and Brewery however the brewing gear can be run by Tivoli, which obtained concerned as a result of the Tom’s/Smashburger mother or father agency (on the time) was working meals operations for Tivoli’s different location.
The contract award got here as a shock to the opposite bidders — together with longtime native breweries like Oskar Blues, Nice Divide and Wynkoop Brewing — a few of whom felt that Tivoli didn’t meet the necessities laid out by DIA. Wynkoop, specifically, raised questions concerning the bidding course of, a perceived lack of transparency and the {qualifications} of the successful bidder.
These questions ultimately morphed into bid-rigging lawsuits filed by Wynkoop in opposition to Midfield, a few of its former executives and DIA officers. After six years of authorized machinations, the case was settled simply final October. Particulars of the settlement weren’t publicly disclosed.
Within the meantime, Tivoli founder Corey Marshall started working in 2016 making an attempt to determine tips on how to construct a brewery on the fifth flooring of an airport lodge, and it wasn’t straightforward. However Marshall had been by way of robust build-outs earlier than. A longtime government at Coors and a Denver historical past buff, Marshall had been shopping for or claiming the logos to a number of defunct however historic breweries and beers in Denver with the objective of beginning his personal craft brewery and reviving a few of the previous.
A kind of was the unique Tivoli brewery, which had roots in what’s now the Auraria campus courting again to 1859, a yr after Denver’s founding. Tivoli had been considered one of only a handful of breweries to outlive prohibition and ultimately turned one of many largest beer makers west of the Mississippi, working out of the castle-like constructing that’s now Auraria’s pupil union. It will definitely went out of enterprise, nonetheless, in 1969, a results of each labor union motion and the South Platte River flood of 1965, which devastated many components of Denver.
Not solely did Marshall purchase the logos, although, he additionally researched the historical past and located folks and reminiscences from the unique brewery to assist him remake variations of a few of the beers. In 2014, he signed a cope with Auraria to place a brand new Tivoli taproom again into the unique Tivoli constructing. After a tough renovation course of within the historic construction, it opened in 2015.
However constructing a brewery at an airport was equally as tough. Not solely do brewing services require uncooked supplies, in addition they want important water and drainage. For the reason that brewery was situated on the fifth flooring of the lodge, it additionally needed to overcome the presence of lodge company and restricted entry.
By the point Tivoli brewed its first beer there, referred to as Jet IPA, on Nov. 5, 2018, greater than two years had passed by, and Marshall had been changed as CEO by a brand new possession group.
Then, in March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic started, forcing the closure of eating places, bars and breweries nationwide. The DIA taproom — now referred to as merely Tivoli Faucet Home — ultimately reopened when social distancing necessities have been lifted. However the brewery remained idle.
Opsahl, who turned CEO in 2021 — the brewery’s fourth chief government in two years — had his arms full with different issues. Tivoli had suffered mightily in the course of the pandemic, shedding not less than half its employees. Opsahl set about making an attempt to avoid wasting the corporate with a brand new technique and a concentrate on a brand new model, Outlaw mild lager, which isn’t based mostly on considered one of Denver’s historic breweries.
Late final yr, Opsahl additionally discontinued brewery operations on the Auraria campus and shifted beer manufacturing to a facility that Tivoli leased within the city of La Junta. The corporate nonetheless operates its Auraria taproom, serving meals and beer, however Opsahl mentioned he hopes to take a seat down with campus officers this summer time to speak about “discovering a mutually amicable path ahead.”
In different phrases, he desires to renegotiate the lease for the taproom portion of the on-campus operation, which expires on Dec. 31, 2024.
“The taphouse is a cornerstone for the campus,” Opsahl mentioned, stating that the brewery and the constructing share a reputation. “We like it, however working there’s a problem, as it’s fairly useless all summer time (when courses aren’t in session). We are able to’t even break even.
“We wish to be there,” he added. “However must discover a technique to make it work for each events.”
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