Another brewpub for Nederland
Although sales of craft beer aren’t surging at the rate reached in the mid-1990s (50% at times) recent gains raise concerns about another “micro bubble.”
One difference this time around is that in the 90s much of the increase came when breweries and brewpubs opened - and despite the wisdom at the time many were destined to go out of business. This time around much of the growth comes from businesses that have been around 10 years or more.
But let’s not overlook the fact that a new brewpub or brewery pops up somewhere in American about once a week.
The Boulder Daily Camera (free registration) has a story about Wild Mountain Smokehouse and Brewery, a brewpub set to open this fall in downtown Nederland, Colo.
“I want this to be somewhere you can bring your kids on a Friday night,” owner Tom Boogaard said.
That will make it a bit different that the previous brewpub in Nederland, the Wolf Tongue Brewery. Wolf Tongue was a place for people looking for a brewpub that was more pub than restaurant. The pub was once an assay office, then a veterans’ Bud bar. It remained very much a “local,” selling 17 cases of Budweiser a week. (We profiled that pub for Brew Your Own Magazine in 1998.)
Wolf Tongue didn’t close because it wasn’t popular, but because the principals in the business moved on to other things. Other brewery owners in the region predict Nederland is ready for another brewery-restaurant.
Adam Avery, president of Avery Brewing, said the influx of breweries has increased the chances of opening a successful brewpub, and not vice-versa, like conventional wisdom might suggest.
“Microbrews are on a huge rise in popularity, and unlike in the past, he’s not going to have to educate customers about the products he’s selling,” he said. “This is actually a great time to start a brewpub.”
And about once a week somebody does.
