Just minutes after opening its doors Friday afternoon, Cerebral Brewing’s new weekend-only taproom was already full. Customers ordered hazy IPAs and other beers from a makeshift bar and sat at brand new tables just a few feet from Cerebral’s brewing equipment.
It was a good sign for brewery founder and co-owner Sean Buchan, who decided two years ago to take a risk on a part of the metro area that he really, truly loves: Aurora.
Located next to the historic Fox Theatre, and in the heart of the Aurora Cultural Arts District, the corner of East Colfax Avenue and Florence Street is the opposite of trendy. But Buchan, who was born in Aurora and got his degree in physical therapy at the nearby University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, said it is “a really great area,” and pointed to some of his restaurant neighbors, like Mango House, Baba & Pop’s Pierogi, Banh & Butter Bakery Cafe.
The “Aurora Arts Popup Taproom,” as Cerebral calls it, will be open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays for the foreseeable future, but it is really just serving as a placeholder as the brewery builds out a much larger space in the same building, an 18,000-square-foot former retail warehouse at 9990 E. Colfax Ave. that also serves as Cerebral’s new production space.
“We want to get to know the community around here and welcome them in before we launch a bigger taproom,” Buchan said, adding that the Aurora taproom is designed to be “a chill spot to come and enjoy a beer” … and maybe not have the parking issue as Cerebral’s other location, four miles west at 1477 Monroe St., does in the busy Congress Park neighborhood.
The existing popup can seat 48 people and has eight taps, along with a cellar list of bottles. It also sells cans of its beers to go, along with merchandise.
The final product will be a two-story taproom, however, with 270 seats. It will be L-shaped on the first floor, wrapping around the corner of Colfax and Florence, with a cozy mezzanine on the second level that can double as an event space. It could be open by spring 2024.
Founded in 2015, Cerebral developed into one of Denver’s most popular breweries as its hazy IPAs and barrel-aged stouts attracted attention nationwide. During the pandemic, as demand for canned beer increased, Buchan and co-owner Dan McGuire decided to find a new production brewhouse, which turned out to be the one in Aurora.
Then they bought a new fifteen-barrel brewhouse, and moved the majority of their 250 oak barrels and fermentation tanks, along with a canning line and other equipment.
Cerebral brewed about 3,300 barrels of beer in 2022, which is equivalent to 6,600 kegs. This year, Buchan said the brewery will probably increase that number to 4,500 barrels.
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