Two mountain town breweries and a distillery will join forces for a new taproom taking over the former Govnr’s Park space next to the Carboy Winery taproom, just off East 7th Avenue.
When it opens on May 12, Après at Govnr’s Park will feature beers from Summit County’s Broken Compass Brewing and Steamboat’s Storm Peak Brewing, as well as spirits from Breckenridge Distillery and Carboy. Each will be prominently featured, have multiple beers or pours on tap, and offer customers “a direct connection to the brands behind them,” the owners said.
And while “apres,” in this case, could be used to describe the entire ski season, which is now all but over, mountain “apres culture” in Colorado is year-round, said Kevin Webber, CEO of Carboy Winery, which owns Apres and oversees and Angelo’s Taverna in Denver and Littleton.
The mantra of “you move to the mountains for the winter, but you stay for the summer,” is the vibe that Webber wants to create. In addition to ski and mountain decor, Après will have 12 big-screen TVs for Broncos, Nuggets and Avs games.
Once Après opens, Carboy’s existing concept, a Mexican restaurant called Pancho Poncho, will close. Some of its dishes, like the tacos, will stay on the menu, but the biggest focus will be on what he called a “value-driven” menu, including a $13 burger, rare in the city these days.
One of the goals is to give people who live in the neighborhood a place with a similar feel to Govnr’s Park, the legendary bar and restaurant that ruled the corner of 7th and Logan Street for four decades before closing in 2018 and becoming Logan Street Restaurant & Bar and later Pancho Poncho. “There is a nostalgia for the old Gov’s Park,” Webber said. “You can’t really bring back and duplicate something like that, but this was a good way to give it a nod.”
For Broken Compass, Storm Peak and Breckenridge Distillery, the space will offer them a chance to operate taprooms in the city and to further their name recognition.
“We were the first new brewery in Summit County in [man] when we opened,” said Broken Compass owner Jason Ford. “We want to remind people we are up here and that we are still around. A presence in Denver can remind everyone we are here.”
The beer market is also getting tighter, so the taproom will provide a space for Broken Compass and Storm Peak to expand their distribution and sell more beer.
Après at Govnr’s Park, 400 E. 7th Ave., will host a grand opening party on June 7.