{"id":796382,"date":"2019-06-02T21:36:00","date_gmt":"2019-06-03T03:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/news\/breckenridge-brewery-could-be-out-of-its-hometown-location\/"},"modified":"2019-06-03T07:35:00","modified_gmt":"2019-06-03T13:35:00","slug":"breckenridge-brewery-could-be-out-of-its-hometown-location","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/breckenridge-brewery-could-be-out-of-its-hometown-location\/","title":{"rendered":"Breckenridge Brewery could be out of its hometown location"},"content":{"rendered":"
Jimmy Walker, head brewer at the Breckenridge Brewery, pours a glass of Buddha’s Hand, the first beer in the brewery’s Mountain Series, in file photo. With the brewery\u2019s lease not being renewed, Walker is terrified they\u2019ll have to move out of the building that’s been home to the brewpub for almost 30 years at the end of June.<\/strong>
Krista Driscoll \/ kdriscoll@summitdaily.com<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Breckenridge Brewery<\/a> has existed on Main Street in Breckenridge for more than 29 years now, but the brewpub\u2019s future there has come into doubt with a major development regarding the lease.<\/p>\n

Despite being the longest running brewpub in Summit County and third oldest in Colorado, Breckenridge Brewery is facing the prospect of losing its Breckenridge home after the property owner \u201cabruptly and inexplicably\u201d backed out of an agreement to renew the brewery\u2019s lease, said head brewer Jimmy Walker.<\/p>\n

The people who work at the brewery \u2014 some a year or two shy of its original opening in February 1990 \u2014 would like to see the homegrown brewpub celebrate its 30th anniversary inside the same building where it first opened, but they\u2019re afraid that won\u2019t happen with the lease at 600 Main St. expiring at the end of June.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe feel like we built this place into what it is, and now that\u2019s under threat to be taken away,\u201d Walker said, emphasizing there was a deal in place with the property owner.<\/p>\n

An attorney with the brewpub\u2019s legal and corporate affairs team confirmed via email that they also believed there was an agreement with the property that would allow the brewpub to stay. However, that deal apparently fell through, as it now appears that the brewery has a month before it must vacate the building it\u2019s called home for almost three decades.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe current lease is up June 30,\u201d the attorney said, explaining that while the brewery thought it had an agreement with the owner, they recently had a change of mind.<\/p>\n

Property records<\/a> list the owner as the Breckenridge Brewery Real Estate company. The Colorado Secretary of State has a local attorney\u2019s office as the company\u2019s registered agent<\/a>, but messages left with the attorney\u2019s office on Friday were not returned.<\/p>\n

It all leaves the brewery wondering what to do with little notice, said Walker, who didn\u2019t want to discuss the lease or negotiations in detail out of fear he might say something that could jeopardize their chances of staying.<\/p>\n

He agreed that what might happen to all of the brewery\u2019s equipment and the more than 60 people who work there \u2014 people Walker and the brewery\u2019s general manager Sarah Hanley both call \u201cfamily\u201d \u2014 are two great questions that they don\u2019t have answers for right now.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just know the staff\u2019s totally worried to death,\u201d Walker said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd it\u2019s more than a job,\u201d Hanley added. \u201cThis is like our family. We\u2019re all in this together. \u2026 It\u2019s a lot to lose.\u201d<\/p>\n

It seems unlikely Breckenridge Brewery could secure another location in town and move in by June 30, especially if a new brewpub has to be built. However, it also doesn\u2019t sound like Breckenridge Brewery, which was bought by Anheuser-Busch<\/a> in 2015, could go without a presence in its namesake town.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnheuser-Busch is super committed to us staying in the community,\u201d Hanley said of preserving a local residence that\u2019s become the brewery\u2019s \u201cinnovation center\u201d with its main brewery now in Littleton.<\/p>\n

What that local presence might look like remains to be seen. While the thought or moving into a brand new building would be \u201ctempting,\u201d Walker said, it\u2019s not what they really want for Breckenridge Brewery.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe place is 29 years old and it\u2019s falling apart, and I wouldn\u2019t trade it for anything,\u201d he said, adding that it\u2019s where it all started and grew up with the business to help make Breckenridge Brewery what it is today.<\/p>\n

What it might take to stay \u2014 if that\u2019s even possible \u2014 wasn\u2019t immediately clear as Walker, Hanley and the attorney from the brewery\u2019s legal team all said they don\u2019t have an answer to that question, either.<\/p>\n

And the brewery\u2019s \u201camazing longevity\u201d isn\u2019t just with the Breckenridge building, they said. Walker, who loves talking about the brewery\u2019s many local philanthropic efforts, has worked there for 22 years \u2014 and he\u2019s only the fourth most senior employee.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a lot of longevity in these walls,\u201d said Hanley, who\u2019s worked there herself for more than 19 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe built this place together,\u201d Walker continued. \u201cPeople aren\u2019t just walking in and walking out to another job. We\u2019re totally invested in Breckenridge Brewery and all the people who work here are invested in the community. Our whole lives are here at the pub.\u201d<\/p>\n

via:: Summit Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jimmy Walker, head brewer at the Breckenridge Brewery, pours a glass of Buddha’s Hand, the first beer in the brewery’s Mountain Series, in file photo. With the brewery\u2019s lease not being renewed, Walker is terrified they\u2019ll have to move out of the building that’s been home to the brewpub for almost 30 years at the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-796382","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-16 04:30:05","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=796382"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796382\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":796389,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796382\/revisions\/796389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=796382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=796382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=796382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}