Tivoli Brewing ends 10-year run in historic Auraria student union
For the second time in 56 years, Denver's Tivoli Brewing is closing its doors in the stately, historic building it is named for.
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For the second time in 56 years, Denver’s Tivoli Brewing is closing its doors in the stately, historic building with which it shares a name and a past.
The modern version of the brewery, which has occupied a high-profile space in the Auraria campus’ student union for a decade, and the organization that runs the facilities shared by three onsite colleges weren’t able to come to a lease agreement after months of negotiations, according to Devra Ashby, Auraria’s marketing and communications director.
“Since 2015, [Tivoli] has been an integral part of the Auraria Campus, contributing to the campus community and collaborating on educational initiatives until 2021,” Ashby said in a statement. “While brewing operations on campus ceased in fall 2023, the Tivoli Tap House served as a gathering space for students, faculty, staff, and the broader Denver community. We appreciate Tivoli’s contributions over the years and extend our best wishes for their future endeavors.”
Auraria is currently “in discussions” with a potential replacement, she added.
Although the taproom is closed, the brewery will continue to operate a production facility in the southeastern Colorado town of La Junta, where it primarily makes a lager called Outlaw Light. The Tivoli name is also still attached to the taproom at Denver International Airport, but the company is no longer connected to the space, which is run by an airport concessionaire called SSP America.
The original Tivoli brewery was founded in 1900 in the same building as the new one, at 1900 Auraria Parkway. The company and its owners had brewing roots on that site dating back to 1859, however, a year after Denver’s founding. Tivoli was one of just a handful of Colorado breweries to survive prohibition and later became one of the largest beer makers in the West. It went out of business, though, in 1969, for several reasons, including a strike and a flood.
In 2012, Corey Marshall, a former Coors executive who had been a bouncer at a bar that was located in the student union building in the 1990s, began researching and collecting old Denver beer trademarks and brands from the 1800s and early 1900s. His goal — as the craft beer industry began to boom — was to update some of the beers and sell them to thirsty Denver residents.
In 2015, Marshall struck a deal with AHEC to reopen in the Tivoli building, adding modern brewing equipment, but keeping some of the historic kettles that remained as decoration. But by 2018, Marshall had left and been replaced by a new ownership group. During the COVID-19 pandemic, conditions got even worse as the campus was shut down.
In recent years, CEO Ari Opsahl has steered the company away from its historic beers and toward Outlaw Light, which has been selling well, according to the company.
Last year, Opsahl told The Denver Post that he hoped to find “a mutually amicable path forward.
“The taphouse is a cornerstone for the campus,” Opsahl said then, pointing out that the brewery and the building share a name. “We love it, but operating there is a challenge, as it is pretty dead all summer (when classes aren’t in session). We can’t even break even.
“We want to be there,” he added. “But have to find a way to make it work for both parties.”
