Visited on: Saturday 9th June 2018
Bob Thompson
The Westfax Brewery opened its doors in March 2016. It is the inspiration of Anthony Martuscello, a New York native who arrived in Colorado in 2010. He had previously been involved in the corporate world as an Operations Manager.
He looked high and low along West Colfax Avenue for a location to start a brewery and tap room. He eventually settled on this site in the Lamar Station Plaza. It is well known for Casa Bonita restaurant which has a reputation for being over the top with garish decorations and poor food.
The origin of brewery’s name is easy to understand when you look at its address. Coxfax Avenue was once the main road from the city to the Rocky Mountains, the “Golden Road”. It was also the most infamous and still hasn’t quite shaken off that image, being quite seedy and run down in parts. Now, it is undergoing a renaissance and the area is known as the West Colfax Corridor and it is promoted as a home for the arts.
It has a seven barrel (bbls) capacity brewery which was constructed by Bennett Forgeworks of Ridgway, CO. The Head brewer from the beginning was Alex Standbury who has over fifteen years experience. His location before Westfax was at the Tommyknocker Brewery in Idaho Springs. Please see a separate article in BeerVisits regarding this brewery.
I was with Linda on this visit and, having found the Lamar Station Plaza parking lot, we looked around for the brewery; eventually locating it on the western side of the complex.
Inside is a large room with the bar counter on the far side. On the left the wall is covered with a large stylised painting of mountain tops. On the right side wall opposite are various framed artworks and a shelf with high chairs in front. There are several high wooden tables with appropriate chairs. The rest of the room has standard height tables and chairs. There are also some upturned barrels serving as tables. In the left corner of the room is a wooden bookcase containing many indoor games in boxes.
At the left end of the counter there is a big wooden cabinet containing a large number of branded glasses waiting to be used. It is reminiscent of the cupboards containing the ceramic mugs of the locals which are often seen in Bavarian pubs.
Westfax brew a lot of different beers and there are normally twelve on offer at any one time. This was the selection when we visited; Colfax Cream Ale (5.4%); Pinky’s Out (4.8%) a Belgian ale in collaboration with Broken Compass; Cupcakes & Rainbows (6.5%), a Saison.
The list continued with: Cilantro Ale (5.7%), a blonde ale flavoured with lime; Bootylicious (4.8%) a fruit beer; Tripod Trippel (10.4%), a Belgian Abbey Trippel Ale; Tears of our Enemies (7.1%), a Scottish Ale; Inside Joke (5.2%), an American Pale Ale; 40 West (6.6%), an IPA; Urban Lumberjack (6.5%), an IPA; Peaches be Crazy (5.2%), a sour ale and Dark Intent (5.7%), a porter.
We tried four of these and here are our thoughts on them: Inside Joke Pale Ale was hazy in the glass. The body taste was a bit lemony and the after taste had a stronger citrus taste.
Dark Intent Porter had chocolate notes and was generally the right taste for a porter, yet a little thin in body. Urban Lumberjack IPA tasted like a typical American IPA. It was very cloudy, yet tasted fine. 40 West IPA was the best of the lot, being a well-balanced IPA
Westfax is not in a fashionable area and is a little isolated. Nevertheless it is worth a visit as its beers are rather good. So, if you are anywhere near the northern part of Lakewood, pay it a visit.
Important Information:
WestFax Brewing Company, 6733 West Colfax, Denver, Colorado 80214. Tel: 303 233 3742
Web: westfaxbrewingcompany.com
Hours: Monday -Thursday 15.00-22.00; Friday 14.00-23.00; Saturday 12.00-23.00; Sunday 12.00-21.00
The pub is close to the West Colfax Avenue/Pierce Street bus stops. This is served by bus route 16 which runs from West to East starting in Golden and terminating at the Civic Center Bus Station in Denver.
From either the east or west-bound stops walk towards the Lamar Station Plaza.
There is a large parking lot in front of the complex. The brew-pub is on the left side.
Bus route 16 interchanges with RTD Rail lines D, F & H at Auraria station and line W at Decatur-Federal station. It runs every 15 minutes until late evening and every 30 minutes thereafter, every day of the week.
