Jacob Kemple, left, and Alyssa Hoberer are opening Full Frame Beer. (Max Scheinblum/BusinessDen)
Full Frame Beer has finally come into focus.
After a year in development, the upstart brewery is preparing for a February opening at 1139 20th St., formerly home to Jagged Mountain Craft Brewery.
Jacob Kemple, lead brewer at Our Mutual Friend Brewing, and Alyssa Hoberer, who was head brewer at Jagged Mountain until it closed in October, are launching the concept.
They said Full Frame will have a more expansive drink menu than most breweries, with wines, ciders, seltzers, cocktails and, of course, beer. The pair, both 34, also plan to serve non-alcoholic beverages.
The reason for the varied menu is a downtick in the Colorado beer market, which had 6 a percent revenue drop in 2023.
“We really wanted to diversify ourselves,” Hoberer said. “We’re passionate about making beer, but we also want to be successful too.”
The pair aim to produce 800 to 1,200 barrels of beer a year. Each barrel equals two kegs. They will can their beer, but that will initially be done off-site. They will mostly brew IPAs and lagers, which they said are their specialties.
The duo also plan to keep a similar cafe concept to Slackline Coffee, which moved into the space in late 2023 but closed along with Jagged Mountain. They aim to serve smaller bites, such as the breakfast burritos offered at Slackline, on day one.
They also hope to initially serve pizza from the brewery, with eyes on a larger menu in the future. Licensing for a full kitchen will have to wait until early summer, and Kemple said they will hire a chef and finalize a menu then.
“We believe we can be a brewery that’s on that list of where you want to go and be next,” Hoberer said.
Full Frame will fill the former Jagged Mountain Crafting Brewery space. (Max Scheinblum/BusinessDen)
Full Frame is raising money through crowdfunding site WeFunder and hopes to net $500,000. The two already raised $70,000 from a late spring campaign, which started before a deal fell through to take over the former Alpine Dog Brewing space in City Park West.
The full $500,000 will get them a full kitchen, higher-end signage, and new tables and chairs.
Kemple said they will give investors up to 40 percent of the business. The remaining 60 percent, or however much equity is left at the end of the raise, will be split evenly between the two owners.
“We’re experienced and we’re known in the beer industry,” he said. “But I think to get the money we really need, we know we have to give away some of the company.”
Now that they have a lease in place, that $70,000 plus around $15,000 of Kemple and Hoberer’s own money is enough to get the doors open, they said. They got the “deal of a lifetime” on all of Jagged Mountain’s assets, mainly because there were no transport or install costs for the brewing equipment. They will pay the former Jagged Mountain owners back over the next three years.
They also said their landlord is making them pay only property taxes and insurance until the brewery opens, helping them save in the meantime. Their lease runs for three years.
The interior of the space, after not being updated for 10 years, will also get a face-lift.
They aim to fill the space with vintage cameras, local art and a photo booth to highlight their passions for pictures. Kemple is a self-described “camera nerd,” and Horberer runs a well-followed Instagram account Southernbeergirl.
Signage will naturally be updated too, and Hoberer noted that an eye-popping neon idea is the goal to market the space better than previous tenants.
“Nobody knew that we were here half the time,” she said. “I would talk to people that lived two blocks down the road and had no idea about us.”
Kemple also thinks the switch from the mountain theme, which will enable them to get rid of things such as birch-tree-painted pillars around the bar, will boost business.
“It’s just not where people are drinking or hanging out, unless you’re on a mountain and that’s your only option,” he said. “But, yeah, in the city, it doesn’t really fit.”
Downtown’s slow pandemic recovery and Colorado’s declining beer revenues also don’t worry them. Kemple has lived downtown for several years and believes this is just part of the natural up-and-down of the area.
“When I started here pre-COVID, I was working my ass off, and this place would be jam-packed every single night,” Hoberer said. “It was bumping. So I believe that it can get back to that.”
Hoberer moved to Colorado in 2015 after years as a vet tech in Texas. She studied craft brewing at Regis University, and started brewing full-time professionally in 2017. She worked at Mu Brewing and Lone Tree Brewing before moving to Jagged Mountain in 2018.
Kemple began brewing around the same time as Hoberer, and he worked in bars before that. He started at Alpine Dog before becoming lead brewer at Our Mutual Friend in 2019. He expects to continue in that post until late spring to have extra dough for Full Frame.
The pair met five years ago and soon after started discussing opening up their own space. The timing wasn’t right then, but now, with almost two decades of combined experience, they are ready to move up and be their own bosses.
“We both have a say in our jobs, but in the end, it doesn’t (give) anything back to you,” Kemple said.
Jacob Kemple, left, and Alyssa Hoberer are opening Full Frame Beer. (Max Scheinblum/BusinessDen)
Full Frame Beer has finally come into focus.
After a year in development, the upstart brewery is preparing for a February opening at 1139 20th St., formerly home to Jagged Mountain Craft Brewery.
Jacob Kemple, lead brewer at Our Mutual Friend Brewing, and Alyssa Hoberer, who was head brewer at Jagged Mountain until it closed in October, are launching the concept.
They said Full Frame will have a more expansive drink menu than most breweries, with wines, ciders, seltzers, cocktails and, of course, beer. The pair, both 34, also plan to serve non-alcoholic beverages.
The reason for the varied menu is a downtick in the Colorado beer market, which had 6 a percent revenue drop in 2023.
“We really wanted to diversify ourselves,” Hoberer said. “We’re passionate about making beer, but we also want to be successful too.”
The pair aim to produce 800 to 1,200 barrels of beer a year. Each barrel equals two kegs. They will can their beer, but that will initially be done off-site. They will mostly brew IPAs and lagers, which they said are their specialties.
The duo also plan to keep a similar cafe concept to Slackline Coffee, which moved into the space in late 2023 but closed along with Jagged Mountain. They aim to serve smaller bites, such as the breakfast burritos offered at Slackline, on day one.
They also hope to initially serve pizza from the brewery, with eyes on a larger menu in the future. Licensing for a full kitchen will have to wait until early summer, and Kemple said they will hire a chef and finalize a menu then.
“We believe we can be a brewery that’s on that list of where you want to go and be next,” Hoberer said.
Full Frame will fill the former Jagged Mountain Crafting Brewery space. (Max Scheinblum/BusinessDen)
Full Frame is raising money through crowdfunding site WeFunder and hopes to net $500,000. The two already raised $70,000 from a late spring campaign, which started before a deal fell through to take over the former Alpine Dog Brewing space in City Park West.
The full $500,000 will get them a full kitchen, higher-end signage, and new tables and chairs.
Kemple said they will give investors up to 40 percent of the business. The remaining 60 percent, or however much equity is left at the end of the raise, will be split evenly between the two owners.
“We’re experienced and we’re known in the beer industry,” he said. “But I think to get the money we really need, we know we have to give away some of the company.”
Now that they have a lease in place, that $70,000 plus around $15,000 of Kemple and Hoberer’s own money is enough to get the doors open, they said. They got the “deal of a lifetime” on all of Jagged Mountain’s assets, mainly because there were no transport or install costs for the brewing equipment. They will pay the former Jagged Mountain owners back over the next three years.
They also said their landlord is making them pay only property taxes and insurance until the brewery opens, helping them save in the meantime. Their lease runs for three years.
The interior of the space, after not being updated for 10 years, will also get a face-lift.
They aim to fill the space with vintage cameras, local art and a photo booth to highlight their passions for pictures. Kemple is a self-described “camera nerd,” and Horberer runs a well-followed Instagram account Southernbeergirl.
Signage will naturally be updated too, and Hoberer noted that an eye-popping neon idea is the goal to market the space better than previous tenants.
“Nobody knew that we were here half the time,” she said. “I would talk to people that lived two blocks down the road and had no idea about us.”
Kemple also thinks the switch from the mountain theme, which will enable them to get rid of things such as birch-tree-painted pillars around the bar, will boost business.
“It’s just not where people are drinking or hanging out, unless you’re on a mountain and that’s your only option,” he said. “But, yeah, in the city, it doesn’t really fit.”
Downtown’s slow pandemic recovery and Colorado’s declining beer revenues also don’t worry them. Kemple has lived downtown for several years and believes this is just part of the natural up-and-down of the area.
“When I started here pre-COVID, I was working my ass off, and this place would be jam-packed every single night,” Hoberer said. “It was bumping. So I believe that it can get back to that.”
Hoberer moved to Colorado in 2015 after years as a vet tech in Texas. She studied craft brewing at Regis University, and started brewing full-time professionally in 2017. She worked at Mu Brewing and Lone Tree Brewing before moving to Jagged Mountain in 2018.
Kemple began brewing around the same time as Hoberer, and he worked in bars before that. He started at Alpine Dog before becoming lead brewer at Our Mutual Friend in 2019. He expects to continue in that post until late spring to have extra dough for Full Frame.
The pair met five years ago and soon after started discussing opening up their own space. The timing wasn’t right then, but now, with almost two decades of combined experience, they are ready to move up and be their own bosses.
“We both have a say in our jobs, but in the end, it doesn’t (give) anything back to you,” Kemple said.
