There’s no sugarcoating it: 2025 was a pretty tumultuous year for Colorado’s beer industry.
More than 40 breweries closed statewide this year, according to the Colorado Brewers Guild. That number is somewhat deceiving, however, since it accounts for some businesses that closed multiple locations as well as others that remain open, but discontinued brewing beer. Muddying the data further are brands that closed their brick-and-mortar taprooms but still have beer available at bars and retail stores.
In fact, many of the year’s most notable closures are companies that haven’t disappeared entirely, but transformed in ways that left the local beer community with a sense of mourning.
On the Front Range, that list of casualties includes Great Divide Brewing Co., which closed its two stalwart locations in the Mile High City; Denver’s TRVE Brewing Co., which is now a hot chicken restaurant; and Dry Dock Brewing Co. in Aurora, which will change hands in January after 20 years.
In all three cases, you can still find the companies’ beer for sale and yet somehow, it still feels like something was lost.
Shawnee Adelson, executive director of the Colorado Brewers Guild, doesn’t expect the industry to trend away from brick-and-mortar spaces, but acknowledged the cost of running a brewery has increased substantially since the dawn of the modern craft beer boom in the 2010s. That’s why she expects that busingolesses will continue to evolve, whether through partnerships or by expanding their offerings to include wine, non-alcoholic drinks and food.
In short, Adelson attributed much of the activity this year to the maturation of the beer market – and turnover is to be expected as part of that.
In the future, she explained, “it’s going to look a lot more like the restaurant industry… Everybody’s thinking the sky is falling, and I would say the sky just looks different right now. You know, we were in a heyday, and I think that it’s slowing and maturing. We should keep in mind we still have more breweries than we did 10 years ago.”
Despite the closings and consolidations, local experts insist it’s not all doom and gloom. Blogger Stephen Adams, known as the Colorado Beer Geek, counts two dozen new breweries that opened in 2025. Plus, the industry is still growing on the Western Slope. In Grand Junction, for example, there are now eight breweries, about double the number five years ago, Adelson said.
One potential silver lining on the economic side: Beer makers that shutter often leave behind already-built facilities for someone to potentially jump behind the brew kettle, Adelson added.
“Trenching floor drains is costly, and if the floor drains are already there, that makes it a lot easier. Glycol systems are expensive to install — and unique to breweries. So there are a lot of things that are unique that if it’s already in place it does help a lot,” she said.
Still, this year’s changes are likely to reshape the local craft beer scene in a big way, as many of the recent closures include longtime breweries that spent a decade-plus serving drinkers and helping fuel the nationwide movement for better beer.
Here are some of the industry shakeups that defined 2025.
Great Divide Brewing Co. sells
Opened in 1994, Great Divide is one of the state’s pioneering craft breweries that recently underwent massive change. In April, craft conglomerate Wilding Brands acquired the brewery. Then this summer, founder Brian Dunn closed its two locations in Denver, notable because of how many people in the beer industry got their start there. Wilding eventually rebranded a taproom in the River North Art District with the Great Divide name, so Denverites can still belly up without traveling to the suburbs. Great Divide-branded beers are now brewed at Wilding’s Denver production facility.
Blue Moon shutters local brewpub
Given Molson Coors’ exit from the craft beer space in 2024, it is perhaps unsurprising that the beverage giant would forgo having a consumer-facing taproom that makes smaller batches of beer. In March, the company closed the Blue Moon Brewing Co. taproom in RiNo after nine years. The beer itself, which is brewed at Coors facilities around the country lives on, however — as does the Sandlot brewery inside of Coors Field, which is where Blue Moon was first produced.
TRVE Brewing Co. closes… or does it?
Heavy metal fans were left with heavy hearts when Denver’s TRVE Brewing Co. announced its closure in July after 13 years, taking a chuck out of Denver’s beer culture The news came after the brewery had already shut down in-house beer production in 2024 and began contract brewing its beloved sour beers and lagers at New Image Brewing in Wheat Ridge. Its space on Broadway is now being run by Music City Hot Chicken, which opened a food counter inside the brewery in 2021. But TRVE isn’t entirely dead: New Image continues to brew some of its beers for distribution to Music City Hot Chicken and some other accounts.
Dry Dock Brewing Co. leaving Aurora
Dry Dock Brewing Co. is another one of Colorado’s legacy brewers to experience significant changes this year. In April, it merged with Left Hand Brewing Co. in hopes of growing the brand while sharing the cost of production. Part of that plan involves closing its taproom in Aurora, which has been open for 20 years. The spot, which is attached to a home brewing store, was another rite of passage of many in the local brewing community. It’s expected to close Jan. 10 after a goodbye party on Jan. 3. A new brewery is slated to take its place.
Call to Arms Brewing Co. says farewell
Denver favorite Call to Arms Brewing Co. closed on Dec. 23 after a decade in business. Part of what makes this one so heartbreaking is that the owner said the brewery simply couldn’t survive in a post-COVID economy, despite a loyal following and great beer.
Sanitas Brewing Co. pours its final pints
After 12 years and multiple expansions, Sanitas Brewing Co. poured its final pints in December. Its announcement in November cited “rising costs and lower sales of craft beer” as reasons for closing the brewery’s three locations Boulder, Englewood and Lafayette.
Small breweries call it quits
Of course, it wasn’t just the biggest or oldest breweries that folded this year. Many small operations that were hubs of their neighborhoods also shuttered with significant impact. Pour one out for places like Banded Oak Brewing Co., Burns Family Artisan Ales and Raices Brewing Co. in Denver, Over Yonder Brewing Co. in Golden, Halfpenny Brewing Co. in Centennial, and Incantation Brewing, which had two locations in Aurora and Denver.
Goldspot Brewing announced that it will leave its longtime home near Denver’s Regis University on Feb. 1 because its building is being sold. The owner is hoping to find a new location.
And Trinity Brewing, a pioneer of the sour beer scene and a longtime fixture in Colorado Springs, also ended its 17-year run in 2025; it will be replaced by an existing brewery.