Visited on: Sunday 10th June 2018
Bob Thompson
The district of Regis could well be the smallest in Denver. It is in the far north-western corner of the city. East to west it is wider than it is north to south, which amounts to just four blocks.
It gives its name to the Regis University, whose campus touches the opposite side of West 50th Avenue to the Goldspot Brewery. The brewery is named after the distinctive feature on the flag of Colorado.
It opened on Saturday 21st February 2015 by Matt Hughes and Alex Sward. Hughes comes from a background in the insurance business where he sold risk management packages for the brewing industry. In the past Hughes worked as a brewer for the Wynkoop Brewery and so became the Head Brewer on the seven barrel (bbls) capacity plant that they had installed at Goldspot.
Kelissa Hieber began work for the company in 2016 as a server. She moved up the ladder rapidly and was soon running the operations side of the business. She also took a financial stake in the company and later became the Head Brewer. The problem for the two founders was that they both had full time jobs as well as the brewery. They decided to stop away. By luck Ryan and Winnie DuBois were looking at acquiring a small brewery and joined Kelissa at Goldspot. This happened in July 2018 so was just after our visit.
On a clear summer day it was that mellow time when the afternoon imperceptibly drifts into evening without anybody noticing. The pub is on a street corner and once inside we were able to see that the bar counter was L-shaped. The rest of the accommodation in the smallish room is high wooden tables and chairs. The brewery is at the back of the building and alongside is a corridor leading to the toilet facilities which is used for storing wooded barrels using in barrel-aged beer making. I was with Linda and we took a seat by a large window and surveyed the draught beer list for possibilities.
We had a choice of: Cutter (6.7%), an IPA; Sunset in July (5.2%), an amber ale; Makin’ Noise Pussy Riot (5.2%), a coffee stout; Berkeleyberry (4.0%), a blackberry saison; Sudachi (5.0%), a lime summer ale; Marry the Night (5.2%), an IPA; Malbec Series: Plum Saison (5.2%), aged for four months in Malbec barrels; Belgian Table Beer (5.2%), a Belgian ale and Statler & Waldorf Belgian Dubbel (10.1%), jointly with Woods Boss Brewery.
We tried four of these and this were our views on them: Sudachi lime Summer Ale we thought was not as bad as it sounds but would be better without the lime, thus defeating the object! Sunset in July Amber Ale was well liked, being very much like a normal bitter ale. Marry the Night was a smooth IPA, well balanced with no excessive hop flavours. Cutter IPA was a classic American IPS with double IPA tastes.
Goldspot is a nice neighbourhood bar with above average beers, well worth visiting.
Important Information:
Goldspot Brewing Company, 4970 Lowell Boulevard. Denver 80221. Tel: 303 350 0287
Web: goldspotbrewing.com
Hours: Monday 15.00-20.00; Tuesday-Thursday 15.00-22.00; Friday 15.00-23.00;
Saturday 12.00-22.00; Sunday 12.00-20.00
The nearest bus stops are at West 50th & Lowell Boulevard served by bus 52.
The stops are either side of the 50th and Lowell intersection where Goldspot is situated.
The 52 runs from Almeda RTD Rapid Transit station via the city centre, passing Union station on 20th Street. It continues to Arvada Olde Town, running every thirty minutes during the day, weekdays and Saturdays. It is hourly in the evenings and on Sundays.
