In mid-November, Boulder-based Sanitas Brewing Co. announced it would close by the end of the year. By Dec. 20, the brewery had poured its final beers, becoming one of the latest casualties of a difficult period for the craft beer industry.
The Lafayette taproom closed Dec. 18, followed by the Englewood location on Dec. 19 and the flagship Boulder taproom on Dec. 20.
Sanitas isn’t the only Colorado brewery ceasing operations this winter. Trinity Brewing Co., in Colorado Springs, poured its final beers Dec. 21, and Denver’s Call to Arms Brewing Co. is set to shutter on Dec. 23.
“I think I’ve counted 10 to 15 breweries nationwide that are closing between [December] 20th and the 23rd,” said Sanitas CEO and co-founder Michael Memsic, who expects more announcements to come. Memsic sees this latest wave of closures as the craft beer industry adjusting to a more stable phase.
“As brewers, we’ve been a part of an emerging industry, and now we’re in a mature industry,” Memsic stated. “Once you’re in a mature industry, there are going to be winners and losers on a steady basis.”
For the past two decades, the craft beer industry nationwide experienced explosive growth, a pace Memsic said was not sustainable. “As an industry, we opened way too many breweries in a really short period of time,” he said.
The Denver metro area has been a longtime hotspot for craft beer. The Great American Beer Festival, held in Denver every autumn, is hosted by the Boulder-based Brewers Association, which advocates for independent brewers.
Colorado drinkers benefited from years of intense competition and creativity, but as the scene constricts, many local breweries are unable to keep going. Speaking regionally, Memsic said, “We have been hit the hardest on the back end” of the industry’s contraction.
Asked what’s driving these shifts, Memsic joked, “I blame Gen Z.” He’s not serious, though changing attitudes toward alcohol are one factor among many. “It’s like a stew of issues,” he said. “There are so many ingredients, and some of those ingredients stand out more than others.”
Rising property values have made it harder for breweries to afford the space required to brew beer. “It’s a hard industry to make money in,” Memsic added, “and it became obvious to us that we didn’t have the access to capital for another round, if you will.”
Over its 12-year tenure, Sanitas demonstrated an ability to pivot as the industry evolved. Initially, Memsic and his co-founder and chief brewing officer Chris Coyne envisioned Sanitas as a regional brewery, similar to Oskar Blues, Odell Brewing Co. and Avery Brewing Co.
Their first major adjustment came around 2018. “That’s when we realized that we weren’t hitting the regional side of things,” said Memsic. “Distribution was not our strength; our strength was the taproom.” After that, the owners prioritized building out taprooms as robust community spaces.
The pandemic interrupted their initial expansion plans, but Sanitas went on to open additional taprooms in Englewood in 2023 and Lafayette in 2024. Each space became a beloved hangout spot in its own right and helped incubate and launch other businesses, including C. Burger in Englewood and Portal Thermaculture in Boulder.
However, even what it takes to be a successful taproom has changed over time. “People seeking that experience aren’t just going to go to a warehouse for two or three pints and think that it’s cool like we once did,” Memsic said. In his view, today a successful taproom has to be “restaurant adjacent,” offering food, hospitality and an experience. “A lot of these taprooms are not built for that.”
Despite the challenges facing the beer industry, Memsic believes the role of the pub will never fully recede from society. Gathering, drinking and telling stories are ancient human practices, he said, and social spaces still matter. “There are health benefits to socializing and community,” he said.
Ultimately, the community aspects of Sanitas Brewing will live on. “I’m optimistic that this space will be reborn,” he added. When asked what he’ll carry forward, Memsic said, “We did something that mattered to Boulder.”
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