Denver’s newest brewpub will offer 18 taps — and real-world lessons

Bernardo Alatorre wants to make one thing clear at the outset: The first and only goal of the soon-to-open Degree Brewpub, at Metropolitan State University of Denver, is to provide the best hands-on education possible for students in the school’s Brewery Operations Program.

“This is not made for anything but that,” said Alatorre, who directs the program at the university, which is located inside the School of Hospitality building on the Auraria campus.

Even so, Degree Brewpub (a working name) is going to provide a unique experience not just for students, but also for people who love Colorado’s craft-beer culture.

Related: MSU Denver raising $1 million for new brewing lab

In late September, MSU Denver unveiled its new $2 million Charlie Papazian Brewing Education Lab inside the School of Hospitality building at 1190 Auraria Parkway. Named in honor of Papazian, who founded both the Great American Beer Festival and the craft-beer industry’s Boulder-based trade association, the facility is designed to help students prepare for a variety of different careers in the brewing industry. (There are more than 400 breweries in Colorado.)

Its centerpiece is a 3.5-barrel commercial brewing system that the school said “will enable students to design, brew and serve student-developed beers” in the adjoining Degree Metropolitan Food + Drink, which is open to the public Mondays through Saturdays.

Degree is still waiting on final license approval from the city of Denver, but once that is secured, MSU and Sage Hospitality, which helps run the existing restaurant side of the business (also operated by students), will transition it into a brewpub, with more taps and more seating.

Alatorre hopes that will take place this fall so that the students can begin making beer in time to serve it at an on-campus hospitality conference in February. In fact, that will be one of the first lessons the students learn, he said. “The beer better be good and it better be on time.”

Together with the restaurant, the facility will have a total of 18 taps, which will eventually include several beers brewed on-site, along with guest beers from other local breweries. Degree, which serves sandwiches, salads and flatbreads, caters mainly to students, downtown workers and sports fans who attend hockey and basketball games at nearby Ball Arena.

Brewery operations students at MSU Denver were previously able to work with Tivoli Brewing, which is located in the student union building at Auraria. But an ownership change, increased production demands and the COVID-19 pandemic put an end to that a couple of years ago. In addition, Tivoli has stopped using the on-campus brewery altogether in favor of a larger, off-site brewing operation. In the interim, students have been making beer with much smaller home-brewing equipment. So the new system will be a major upgrade, Alatorre said.

“Each batch will be about 100 gallons, so it is a lot to play with. We plan to brew four batches in a semester. That’s 28 kegs,” he said, adding that the students will start with classic styles like a pilsner and an IPA. “And then, if they want to do a fruited cream ale with pixie dust, sure.”

“In the end, though, this is a lab,” Alatorre stressed. So students will be doing selective experimentation and optimizing materials, with an eye toward sustainability. They also will be challenged with real-world problems that they would face as brewers or managers.

For example, what happens when a piece of equipment breaks or if someone can’t find the keys to the building? What if ingredients are missing or there are off flavors in a beer?

Part of the money raised at the brewpub will go toward the cost of the lab and some will go toward recruiting and retaining students. There are about 50 in the program right now.

Some of those students will go on to take jobs at breweries in Colorado — or already work there, like Leigh Nelson, who is lead brewer at Station 26 Brewing in Denver. So, Degree will give Denver residents a chance to follow their careers, even before they start.

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