14er Brewing operates at 3120 Blake St. in Denver. (Matt Geiger/BusinessDen)
14er Brewing’s trek is over.
The 7,000-square-foot brewery and taproom in RiNo will close this Saturday, Nov. 23, after an eight-year run.
“It’s a challenging time for us, and it’s very sad to leave RiNo,” said co-founder Andrew Kaczmarek.
The brewery has been at 3120 Blake St. for the past 6.5 years. Between a proposed rent increase, declining margins and the rising cost of everything, Kaczmarek and co-founder Nate Francescato decided not to re-up their lease, which expires at the end of the month.
Kaczmarek said he hopes to find another location for his brewery, so he can bring back concoctions such as the Piña Colada Milk Shake IPA and Denver Mitchelada, a blend of beer, lime juice and various spices.
“My heart and soul is in craft brewing for sure,” Kaczmarek said. “Exactly what I have on the horizon isn’t mapped out, but hopefully this is not the end of 14er Brewing.”
Founders Nato Francescato, left, and Andrew Kaczmarek in 2018. (BusinessDen file)
The pair, who attended Wheat Ridge High School together, launched 14er in 2016, and were originally contract brewed by Denver’s Crazy Mountain Brewing. They won numerous awards before opening a taproom on the corner of 28th and Walnut in RiNo in July 2017.
In 2018, they moved both to the current Blake Street space, which was formerly Beryl’s Brewing, so they could “dramatically increase” their operation by brewing and canning in house.
They also planned a second location in Sunnyside in 2018 before having issues getting a liquor license because of proximity to a halfway house.
Business peaked in the years before the Covid-19 pandemic. But in the past four years, 14er has had a 15 percent drop in sales.
“The post-COVID situation was just not the same here,” Kaczmarek said. “With a lot of vacant office space, we just don’t see that early-afternoon happy hour traffic and just that natural foot traffic in general.”
These reasons, combined with rising staffing costs, caused 14er to cut back on distribution about a year and a half ago, Kaczmarek said.
“We had hoped to stay in our space a little bit longer and kind of put together a longer-term lease,” he said. “But unfortunately that didn’t come together at a sustainable price point.”
Trent Carlyle, 14er’s landlord, told BusinessDen he’d welcome another brewery to the space since it’s set up for that, but that he’s not married to the idea. His building has three units — the brewery, a 9,000 square-foot warehouse and a 1,500 square-foot office space — and they are all available.
“We’re looking at potentially leasing out the entire space as a package,” said Carlyle, who has owned the building for roughly 10 years.
Kaczmarek noted other RiNo breweries have closed in recent years, including 10 Barrel and Epic Brewing in 2022. He said he has seen breweries move to the Denver suburbs where they can be less reliant on foot traffic and stand out in more undeveloped beer scenes.
“RiNo in general, this year, just seems like the summer didn’t pop off as we’ve seen in prior years,” he said.
14er Brewing operates at 3120 Blake St. in Denver. (Matt Geiger/BusinessDen)
14er Brewing’s trek is over.
The 7,000-square-foot brewery and taproom in RiNo will close this Saturday, Nov. 23, after an eight-year run.
“It’s a challenging time for us, and it’s very sad to leave RiNo,” said co-founder Andrew Kaczmarek.
The brewery has been at 3120 Blake St. for the past 6.5 years. Between a proposed rent increase, declining margins and the rising cost of everything, Kaczmarek and co-founder Nate Francescato decided not to re-up their lease, which expires at the end of the month.
Kaczmarek said he hopes to find another location for his brewery, so he can bring back concoctions such as the Piña Colada Milk Shake IPA and Denver Mitchelada, a blend of beer, lime juice and various spices.
“My heart and soul is in craft brewing for sure,” Kaczmarek said. “Exactly what I have on the horizon isn’t mapped out, but hopefully this is not the end of 14er Brewing.”
Founders Nato Francescato, left, and Andrew Kaczmarek in 2018. (BusinessDen file)
The pair, who attended Wheat Ridge High School together, launched 14er in 2016, and were originally contract brewed by Denver’s Crazy Mountain Brewing. They won numerous awards before opening a taproom on the corner of 28th and Walnut in RiNo in July 2017.
In 2018, they moved both to the current Blake Street space, which was formerly Beryl’s Brewing, so they could “dramatically increase” their operation by brewing and canning in house.
They also planned a second location in Sunnyside in 2018 before having issues getting a liquor license because of proximity to a halfway house.
Business peaked in the years before the Covid-19 pandemic. But in the past four years, 14er has had a 15 percent drop in sales.
“The post-COVID situation was just not the same here,” Kaczmarek said. “With a lot of vacant office space, we just don’t see that early-afternoon happy hour traffic and just that natural foot traffic in general.”
These reasons, combined with rising staffing costs, caused 14er to cut back on distribution about a year and a half ago, Kaczmarek said.
“We had hoped to stay in our space a little bit longer and kind of put together a longer-term lease,” he said. “But unfortunately that didn’t come together at a sustainable price point.”
Trent Carlyle, 14er’s landlord, told BusinessDen he’d welcome another brewery to the space since it’s set up for that, but that he’s not married to the idea. His building has three units — the brewery, a 9,000 square-foot warehouse and a 1,500 square-foot office space — and they are all available.
“We’re looking at potentially leasing out the entire space as a package,” said Carlyle, who has owned the building for roughly 10 years.
Kaczmarek noted other RiNo breweries have closed in recent years, including 10 Barrel and Epic Brewing in 2022. He said he has seen breweries move to the Denver suburbs where they can be less reliant on foot traffic and stand out in more undeveloped beer scenes.
“RiNo in general, this year, just seems like the summer didn’t pop off as we’ve seen in prior years,” he said.
