The Lafayette brewery posted $10 million in sales last year, up from a $7 million in 2023. (Courtesy Westbound & Down)
Cash is piling up at Westbound & Down.
The Lafayette-based brewery is on track to complete a $1.25 million crowdfunded raise in early June, months earlier than CEO Jake Gardner’s original Sept. 30 deadline.
“We’re growing out of an abundance of fandom and people showing up to eat our food and drink our beer,” he said. “If there are people demanding more beer and food options, what better way to raise money than through those people?”
Gardner said the brewery, which has locations in Lafayette, Idaho Springs, Basalt and the Dairy Block in LoDo, will use the money to quadruple in size. He hopes last year’s 5,000-barrel capacity at the Lafayette headquarters can sit around 20,000 by 2028.
That’s because the most decorated brewery in this year’s Colorado Brewers Cup, Westbound, which Gardner founded in 2015, has more demand than it can meet.
“We’re trying to be the best and build the best and hope the demand comes, and so far it has,” Gardner said. “The only downside is you’re lagging on the ability to meet demand, but these investments are then on fulfilling orders rather than hiring sales and marketing teams to sell more beer.”
Jake Gardner (Courtesy Westbound & Down)
High growth isn’t anything new for the brewery. According to an investor deck, the company is on track to see wholesale 24-pack sales jump from 45,000 cases last year to 75,000 in 2025. Revenue is rising too, going from $7 million in 2023 to $10 million in 2024, according to investor filings.
Westbound also bought Aspen Brewing Co., which has a taproom in the mountain town, and Capitol Creek Brewing, which was folded into the brand, for $1.8 million in December 2023, according to SEC filings.
Today, Westbound sells in around 700 Colorado retailers, including liquor stores, Whole Foods and bars. But Gardner said it routinely turns away potential customers.
Just getting to around 10,000 annual barrels within a year or two will help solve that problem.
“It means we’ll be in all four corners of the state, and if you wanna pour Westbound, we’ll say yes,” he said.
More inventory will also allow the company to expand into six states, including New York, California, Arizona and Oregon, in 2026 and 2027.
“We’re looking at places with festivals and events,” he said. “Some are strategic because they are nearby, but others are strategic because they have great beer culture.”
Beyond wholesale, Gardner also wants to expand the footprint of Westbound’s own brewpubs, which are overseen by Matt Husted. He is the former director of hospitality for Id Est, the local Michelin Star-winning group that runs several Front Range establishments like The Wolf’s Traitor.
Specifically, Gardner said they are eyeing a new brewpub spot in Denver for 2026. Nothing has been picked yet, and Gardner said he’s flexible on location, while noting he sees northwestern Denver as a “hotbed.”
He hopes to have a spot locked down this year and a 2026 opening.
“We set out to be a post-adventure, aprés brewery,” he said. “And people in Denver who picked the northwestern part are strategically positioned for that lifestyle.”
Westbound once planned to install a location at 956 Santa Fe Drive in Denver, but sold that building in 2022 without ever opening. Gardner also wanted to build out a brewery with land owned in Lafayette around the same time, but the pandemic threw a wrench in that idea too.
He said the company’s strategy shifted towards making more beer and opening restaurants rather than building out a fleet of smaller taprooms.
“We’re not avoiding (owning) real estate, it just has to be the best use of capital,” he said of potential future locations. “Owning and controlling property is a great way to generate value for shareholders and us, but we think expanding restaurants and making more beer will generate value at a higher clip.”
Inside Westbound & Down’s Lafayette location at 2755 Dagny Way. (Courtesy Westbound & Down)
Gardner hopes those expansions will propel Westbound to around $3 million in annual profits by 2028.
Though documents show Westbound lost $1.5 million last year and $500,000 in 2023, Gardner said those are aberrations.
“We’ve had profitable years in the past, but doubling the size of our company and reinvesting money in it have not been those,” he said of the last two years, which saw employee count rise to 110. “We have multiple restaurant locations that run profitably, and our other taprooms are breakeven to profitable.”
Westbound’s 446 investors to date are using a site called Dealmaker to buy a stake in the brewery. Each must make a minimum investment of $750, with incentives like free cases of beer or in-store discounts for more money. Gardner said the typical investment is around $2,500 to $3,000.
According to SEC filings submitted as part of the crowdfunding campaign, the brewery is selling around 5% of its stock at a $24 million pre-money valuation.
Gardner said Full Frame, which took over Jagged Mountain’s Ballpark space this year, and Holidaily, the gluten-free, Golden-based brewer that closed a $1 million raise in January, were inspirations in funding non-traditionally.
“The coolest part about this and a main driver in why we did this is you get to hear people’s stories,” he said. “When you sell beer off shelves at liquor stores, you don’t necessarily hear those.”
Because of the way Westbound is classified as a business, Gardner said he will put 100% of the profits back into it for the next five years. After that, so long as his plan works, investors can sell for tax-free gains, he said.
Other exits could come from investors buying up the secondary stock in future rounds or, further down the road, dividends.
“People invest in growth for growth’s sake, and we invested in quality for quality’s sake,” he said. “Now we’re meeting the demand that already exists.”
