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(Courtesy Falling Rock Tap House)
If you’re a serious craft beer fan or you work in the biz, you’ve spent time drinking at the Falling Rock Tap House which for decades has attracted beer pilgrims from all around the world.
And now with businesses finally reopening again comes word that it’s going to close.
Founded in 1997 by Chris Black and his brothers Steve and Al, Falling Rock Tap House harnessed Denver’s emerging craft beer industry early and became a mainstay for locals and a destination for visitors in town for the Great American Beer Festival and professionals attending the Craft Brewers Conference.
And while the nearly year and a half of lockdowns brought on by COVID-19 was a factor, Black explained in in his blog announcement that other issues had also led to this decision…
I know this may come as a shock to those of you out there, but this last year has just been the icing on the cake of the last 5 years.
A year-long construction project that caused a 30% drop in sales, changes in the neighborhood that have impacted our business negatively (like crazy late-night crowds and decreased office usage), continued increasing competition from our suppliers, challenges in finding kitchen staff plus rapidly increasing costs all have added up to a financially unsustainable situation.
(Chris Black – Courtesy Falling Rock Tap House)
“Falling Rock took a number of significant hits during the pandemic, including decreased traffic from limited attendance during the 2020 baseball season, significant dips in lunch business with most offices moving to remote work, the cancellation of the 2020 Great American Beer Festival,” according to Porch Drinking, “as well as Russian River’s decision not to distribute the cult-favorite Pliny the Younger Triple IPA, which typically draws long lines just to sample a few ounces of rare beer.”
“COVID isn’t the reason. There is no one single reason. It has just been the adding up of a thousand little cuts,” Black told Westword. “This industry is hard…and, like most things, it’s complicated.”
Falling Rock had attempted a crowdfunding effort in December but was unable to meet the $30,000 goal they had hoped for and on Sunday June 27 the legendary tap house will be closing its doors for good.
“It’s been tough. This has been tough,” Black added. “But 24 years is a pretty great run.”
