Some people pair wine with romance. But in a state with so much love for craft beer, relationships sometimes brew over ales in a taproom instead.
“When we started dating, we got really into the beer scene,” said Calvin Beasley, who owns Beryl’s Beer Co. with his wife, Beth Murray. “That’s kind of what we would do on our dates, really, is go to breweries. Any new brewery we could find, we’d go to.”
Eventually, that new brewery they’d go to was their own. Beasley and Murray got engaged just before they signed the lease on the River North property for Beryl’s. They got married there — they set up the dancing area in the big back room where the barrels sit and age. A sign on the taproom door in the weeks ahead of the wedding alerted patrons that they’d be closed for a day to get married.
Beer and marriage have paired well for other couples, too. In fact, so many Colorado breweries are owned and operated by couples that we won’t list all of them here. But we did ask four couples to share stories ahead of Valentine’s Day about just how beer and love come together at their breweries.
Taproom dates
Murray and Beasley are the only couple that has gotten married at Beryl’s. But they’ve hosted a reception, and they’ve seen plenty of dates, she said. One couple had their first date at Beryl’s and later got engaged there. “We had customers buying them rounds and rounds of beer,” she said.
Not every story about budding romance in the taproom has a happy ending. Ryan Scott, who owns Odd13 Brewing in Lafayette with his wife, Kristin, said he saw a dating disaster in the Odd13 taproom shortly after they opened.
“I remember a guy buying a tank top for the girl he was dating, and he returned it the next day because she broke up with him,” he said.
But on a happier Valentine’s note, Kristin said, they do brew a love-themed beer in February. This year, Love Machine is a sour with cherries and chocolate, she said. It’s available in the taproom this weekend.
Ryan and Christa Kilpactrick, the couple that owns Fiction Beer Company, on East Colfax, said they’ve seen dates in their taproom as well.
“I’ve overheard conversations — ‘this is my first time using Tinder!’ ” Ryan said.
“Isn’t that the hookup app?” Christa asked.
“I don’t know, that’s past my time.”
The Kilpatricks met back when they were students at Colorado State University and went on their fair share of brewery dates in Fort Collins. “We used to be able to walk into New Belgium and no one was there,” Ryan said.
“And we would go to Odell’s before they charged for tasters,” said Christa.
After they married and eventually bought a house in Denver, Ryan began homebrewing obsessively, taking over the laundry room and making two batches at a time all the time. Christa was the one who suggested that they open a brewery.
They built Fiction to be family-friendly. In the early days after they opened in 2014, Ryan said, “I remember us getting comments about, ‘Why do you have high chairs? This is a brew pub.’ ” He shook his head. Their baby daughter was happily chilling in a high chair between them at one of the tables in the taproom as he told the story.
Horse and Dragon Brewing in Fort Collins is a family business, too, but the owners’ kids are old enough to work behind the bar in the taproom.
Tim and Carol Cochran, the owners of Horse and Dragon, have been craft beer fans for decades. They honeymooned in Napa Valley after they married, more than 25 years ago. But the Cochrans didn’t go to a single winery.
During a wine tasting at their hotel, said Carol, “We looked at each other like, do we want to keep doing this?”
“They were like, ‘something will stick!’ ” Tim said.
“We asked the concierge, ‘is there a brewery nearby?’ ” Carol said.
Running a brewery together is just like running any small business together, said Tim. “It works a lot more smoothly if you’re 24-7 together, I think.”
Each knows how the other approaches things, which is helpful, Carol said. For example, Tim said, he knows Carol is involved in a lot of things, but it works because she’s high-energy.
“When you watch the Broncos and you talk about Von Miller having a motor, and he just goes and goes,” Tim said. “Carol’s just like that, the motor just keeps going. Carol’s definitely like that.”
“You’re just saying that because it’s Valentine’s Day!” she said.
The Scotts, of Odd13 — who met on the ski team at Ohio’s Bowling Green State University and moved to Colorado for the skiing — said running the business together lets them play to their respective strengths. Kristin also said they don’t mind taking their work home with them.
“I think we look at it as a lifestyle we’ve chosen,” Kristin said. “Some people are like, ‘how do you know when to stop talking about work?’ We talk about work a lot at home, but we don’t have a problem with it, we view it as a lifesytle, we love it.”
Fiction’s owners said that for them, it’s best to run the brewery together.
“I think we’re brutally honest with each other , whereas if you’re a friend —” Christa said.
“Or partners,” said Ryan.
“—you might not be totally honest about concepts,” said Christa.
They’re also good at working through challenges.
“Living together for 14 years helps, because we’ve gone through all of the stages of conflict,” Ryan said with a laugh.
“I think that when you’ve got two people doing what really makes them happy, which for us is beer and having our own business, then it makes for a good marriage and it makes for a good business,” Christa said.
Jenn Fields: 303-954-1599, jfields@denverpost.com or @jennfields
If you go
Fiction Beer Company will host a cupcake and beer pairing with Cake Crumbs on Valentine’s Day. 1-9 p.m. in Fiction’s taproom, 7101 E. Colfax Ave. fictionbeer.com
Odd13 has beer and pairings with Nova Chocolate from 1-11 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. $12 for four tasters and four chocolates. 301 E. Simpson St., Lafayette. odd13brewing.com
Beryl’s Beer is hosting a Valentine’s Day Party that includes a beer and chocolate pairing ahead of a comedy show, Jump!, on Saturday at 7 p.m. Tickets are $27-$32 at Eventbrite, information at Beryl’s Facebook page: facebook.com/berylsbeerco. 3120 Blake St. berylsbeerco.com
