The 1516 Wazee unit has been empty since Deep Roots Winery & Bistro moved to RiNo in 2020. (Maia Luem/BusinessDen)
Brothers Jeremiah and Jacob Berndt want to bring a little lunacy to LoDo.
So the Colorado natives are opening Bedlam, a cocktail bar named after the first insane asylum that opened in England.
Jacob said, like the name insinuates, the cocktail bar will feel wild, cozy and eccentric with general vibes of an old apothecary.
“And the bar being people’s medicine,” Jeremiah jokingly added.
Bedlam will open in the roughly 2,200-square-foot space at 1516 Wazee St. next year. In addition to classic craft and barrel-aged cocktails, it will serve European comfort food such as cherry chicken pot pie.
Before Bedlam, Jacob worked at cocktail bars in Seattle. He moved back to Denver during the pandemic and built the bar program for LoHi’s Wildflower.
“When I got out here, I felt like there were only two sorts of socioeconomic categories of drinking establishment: the really try-hard little pretentious cocktail spot or the classic Denver dive bar,” Jacob said.
He wanted to start his own concept that would be something in between the two, and brought on Jeremiah for help. All six of the Berndt kids have worked in the service industry at one point or another.
“It is sort of born out of our family history … it’s been a common family dream to have our own establishment,” Jeremiah said.
Jeremiah said he’s co-owner and investor in Bedlam but staying on at his current role at Gates Enterprises.
The duo started looking for spaces and developing the concept a little over a year ago before landing on the spot at 15th and Wazee.
“We were … initially avoiding all downtown properties because we imagined ourselves more as a neighborhood bar,” said Jeremiah, 35. “We finally ended up looking at this place and it was one of those out-of-left-field things.
“We just kind of had to keep asking, ‘Why were we avoiding LoDo again?’ I think that neighborhood started to feel a little more alive to us and we wanted to contribute to that,” said Jacob, 33.
The Berndts were represented by Levi Noe at NAI Shames Makovsky in the deal.
The space has been empty since January 2020, when Deep Roots Winery & Bistro moved to RiNo. Jacob said it needs sprucing up as well as minor repairs. The brothers anticipate investing about $60,000 in the buildout.
In the end, they said, it will have a vintage, homey feel, with old oil paintings on the walls and various tchotckes on display.
“We’re trying to create a cozy place using our own aesthetics, some silly fun stuff that feels a little vintage,” Jacob said.
The 1516 Wazee unit has been empty since Deep Roots Winery & Bistro moved to RiNo in 2020. (Maia Luem/BusinessDen)
Brothers Jeremiah and Jacob Berndt want to bring a little lunacy to LoDo.
So the Colorado natives are opening Bedlam, a cocktail bar named after the first insane asylum that opened in England.
Jacob said, like the name insinuates, the cocktail bar will feel wild, cozy and eccentric with general vibes of an old apothecary.
“And the bar being people’s medicine,” Jeremiah jokingly added.
Bedlam will open in the roughly 2,200-square-foot space at 1516 Wazee St. next year. In addition to classic craft and barrel-aged cocktails, it will serve European comfort food such as cherry chicken pot pie.
Before Bedlam, Jacob worked at cocktail bars in Seattle. He moved back to Denver during the pandemic and built the bar program for LoHi’s Wildflower.
“When I got out here, I felt like there were only two sorts of socioeconomic categories of drinking establishment: the really try-hard little pretentious cocktail spot or the classic Denver dive bar,” Jacob said.
He wanted to start his own concept that would be something in between the two, and brought on Jeremiah for help. All six of the Berndt kids have worked in the service industry at one point or another.
“It is sort of born out of our family history … it’s been a common family dream to have our own establishment,” Jeremiah said.
Jeremiah said he’s co-owner and investor in Bedlam but staying on at his current role at Gates Enterprises.
The duo started looking for spaces and developing the concept a little over a year ago before landing on the spot at 15th and Wazee.
“We were … initially avoiding all downtown properties because we imagined ourselves more as a neighborhood bar,” said Jeremiah, 35. “We finally ended up looking at this place and it was one of those out-of-left-field things.
“We just kind of had to keep asking, ‘Why were we avoiding LoDo again?’ I think that neighborhood started to feel a little more alive to us and we wanted to contribute to that,” said Jacob, 33.
The Berndts were represented by Levi Noe at NAI Shames Makovsky in the deal.
The space has been empty since January 2020, when Deep Roots Winery & Bistro moved to RiNo. Jacob said it needs sprucing up as well as minor repairs. The brothers anticipate investing about $60,000 in the buildout.
In the end, they said, it will have a vintage, homey feel, with old oil paintings on the walls and various tchotckes on display.
“We’re trying to create a cozy place using our own aesthetics, some silly fun stuff that feels a little vintage,” Jacob said.
