Lumpy Ridge Brewing going strong seven years after paving way for breweries in Estes Park

After the Estes Park Town Board changed the municipal code in 2013 to allow for breweries, wineries, and distilleries to open in town without requiring that they be attached to a food-serving establishment, Lumpy Ridge Brewing Co. was the first to jump on the opportunity and Owner Nick Smith opened the doors in July 2015.

Smith and his early partner Wade Johnston played a major role in getting the change in the code language that not only allowed his business to open, but paved the way for the nearly half dozen that have followed.

“Getting underway was easy; I just went to then town administrator Frank Lancaster and asked why we don’t have more craft beverage in Estes Park assuming it was code prohibitive we looked it up and sure enough … old code that no one had simply asked about,” said Smith. “So, we started down the road of updating it.”

That road included educating the Estes Park Town Board and Planning Commission on exactly what a microbrewery is.

“I would say we had support and an open-minded Planning Commission and Town Board, however, few of them had any experience personal or professional with the craft beverage business,” Smith said. “Discussions went on and eventually it was determined the two perspective boards should do a little field trip to Fort Collins and see what this was all about. They had a lot of questions about smells, noise, atmospheres, footprints and much more.”

By that time, the push to bring breweries to Estes Park had gained support from the community and other organizations.

“So, we all loaded up on a bus and headed to Fort Collins visiting several facilities from Odell Brewing on the large side, to Equinox Brewing on the smaller size, and a few in between including a distillery,” Smith said. “It went so well I couldn’t have scripted the trip myself. From then on the process accelerated and we had a unanimous board vote in favor of changing the code on July 22, 2014.”

The next step for Smith was a building a space to house the second ever brewery in Estes Park.

“Since I was the first permit, I feel like I was on their learning curve of things, which was actually kind of cool as they allowed me to school them a bit about the processes and infrastructure necessary to operate a brewery,” said Smith. “In that respect they were very receptive and active on our building site. Looking back, they were doing their job and ultimately they did fine by me and the people they serve.”

Over the last seven years, Lumpy Ridge Brewing Co. has grown to become established in our community and distributed throughout Colorado.

“We are still pretty small so we like to say we are little bit of everywhere,” Smith said. “Recently we added a new ‘boots on the ground’ partner, Josh Magid who operates the taproom.  We are fortunate to have a terrific local following and growing distribution footprint.”

The Lumpy Ridge Brewing Co. taproom is open daily at least until 8 p.m., and they host food trucks Thursdays through Sundays with a daily Happy Hour daily from 5-7 p.m.  All this summer Smith and his team will be hosting personal tastings and live music all summer long at Seven Keys Lodge where $75 gets you a cup for unlimited beer tasting and a ticket to watch quality country music artists.

Country outlaw band “Aint From Here” will be performing July 2, and “Gary Hall’s Most Sincerely Dead Band” will rock the lodge on July 4.

“I built this place to be different but not unapproachable and a member of the community, not just another business owned from afar and operated without consideration to Estes Park and the Valley,” Smith said. “I wanted to make something more industrial and thoughtful and break away from the Myrtle Beach of the Rockies that we have been known as. While that’s the town I started calling home 12 years ago, I have always had aspirations for the horizon of Estes Park.  Not to be any other mountain town, but our own mountain town that continues its family tradition mixed in with some more sophisticated offerings in food, beverage, and art.”

Stop by Lumpy Ridge Brewing Co. at 531 S. St. Vrain Avenue or visit LumpyRidgeBrewing.com.