Tim Harty, The Business Times

The Grand Valley craft-brewing scene has avoided brewery closures, but it has seen a few ownership changes in recent months.

The most recent occurred in late February when a group led by Handlebar Tap House co-owner Adam Kinsey bought Kannah Creek Brewing Company’s Edgewater Brewery, 905 Struthers Ave. in Grand Junction.

In a Feb. 23 post on its Facebook page, Edgewood Brewery announced that after 12 years it closed its doors for the last time. The new owners have begun renovations, and they will change the name to WestCo Brewing Co.

In October, Todd Williamson and Tyler Frye bought Gemini Beer Company, 310 N. Seventh St., and kept the name and stayed open during the transition.

In September, Russell Klase III bought Suds Brothers Brewery, 127 E. Aspen Ave. in Fruita, closed it for renovation, then reopened Dec. 2 as Reckless Brewing Company. The name keeps the Reckless theme that Klase started with his De Beque saloon and restaurant, The Reckless Roadhouse.

GEMINI OWNERS FREE TO CREATE

At Gemini Beer Company, much remains the same, even some of the former owners’ beers. But there will be changes in the form of new beers, because as veteran brewers, Williamson and Frye want to put their creative stamp on things. And as owners, they have unchecked creative license.

“That’s always the goal when you’re a brewer,” Williamson said. “You don’t have full creative control when you’re a brewer working for someone else’s brewery, because they have their own ideas of what they want, and you’re being paid to produce their product. And now and then you get a little leeway to do some fun things.

Photo courtesy of Gemini Beer Co.

“But now that we own a place, sure, we definitely have more ability to do what we wanna do and experiment with some recipes and make them our own. And we kind of split that between us: You do this beer; I’ll do that beer; and I trust you on that one; you trust me on this.

Gemini Beer Company’s Todd Williamson added, “I might have a little input like, ‘Hey, this is probably what I would do, you know, but do it how you will on your specific recipe.’”

Williamson and Frye also plan to take advantage of warm weather and the big yard in front of the building, which once upon a time housed R-5 High School.

“We’re gonna utilize the lawn as much as we can this spring and summer,” Williamson said. “I mean, that’s a huge feature for us that, at least in the downtown area, nobody else really has. 

“They’re gonna have a big one over there by the Edgewater location. They’re gonna have that same feature. But really between them and us, I don’t know that there’s anybody else with the big lawn to utilize, and that does help us stand out here. We’re very fortunate for that.”

RECKLESS HITS BREWING JACKPOT

Klase made physical changes with an interior renovation, but he kept one thing the same for a while when he opened back up as Reckless Brewing. He had the beer that Suds Brothers left behind.

“When we first opened, part of the acquisition was they left us with their inventory, so we ran that out, and it gave us beer to run on tap while we were still in our brewing process and getting licensed,” Klase said. “So, while we were going through that, we were fortunate enough to still have product to sell across our tap systems.

“But now we’re 100 percent Reckless Brewing. Everything that we brew, make and offer is all of our own recipes.”

A major part of the appeal of the Suds Brothers property to Klase was its location and what was inside for brewing craft beers.

“This is a great location, obviously prime real estate, downtown Fruita,” Klase said. “The brewing system here is absolutely immaculate.

“The property we had purchased up in De Beque, I have 2,000 square feet of my building (there) that we’re not using. We were going to originally put a brewing system up there, because this has been me and my dad’s dream was to always own a restaurant and brewery concept.

“So, we have this space up at our other restaurant that was the plan initially, and then when we found out that Suds Brothers was interested in selling, I had already been here and I know their facility. Our brewing system here is designed exactly for this space. It is very streamlined, very efficient. So, when we found out that they were interested in selling, we thought it was a very good opportunity that we wouldn’t want to pass up on, miss out on.”