Brewery
“This is grain, which any fool can eat, but for which the Lord intended a more divine means of consumption…Beer!”
The local brewery is a place to share beer and share life. It is a place for people to gather and a place for people to be alone with others. The local brewery operates at a pace that provides a bit of respite from hectic and hurried life. People go to a local brewery for a variety of motivations: to unwind, to watch a game, to celebrate, to mourn. What they all have in common is an appreciation of the craft of good beer.
There are more than 450 craft breweries in Colorado. With over 150 in the Denver Metro Area, most neighborhoods have a local craft brewery. Old 121 Brewhouse has been serving the central Lakewood area since 2019 after taking over the space formerly occupied by Caution: Brewing Company. I have been enjoying craft beer there since we moved into the neighborhood in 2015. For me, Old 121 is synonymous with Lakewood. It is a part of my sense of home. There is so much good beer around Colorado, even in Lakewood, but Old 121 is my place. A place that is part of what rootedness looks like for me in Lakewood.
I began brewing beer at Old 121 this year after leaving an engineering career of more than 15 years. It is a dream I have been patiently fermenting—fine tuning beer recipes through home brewing and completing a certificate program through Regis University in Applied Craft Brewing. My time at Regis showed me while the craft beer industry is competitive, at the core it is largely collegial. I have yet to meet a brewer that is not excited about sharing recipe tips, talking about how they solved a challenge in their brewhouse, or up for a collaborative brew. In fact, there is an annual beer festival every spring in Colorado dedicated to showcasing “collab brews.” “Rising tides raise all ships,” is truly and fully embraced by the craft beer industry in Colorado. It is something I find incredibly refreshing and lends itself to the craft beer industry celebrating a sense of place.
The craft brewery taproom is where a brewer has the opportunity to showcase their craftmanship. Brewing itself may only take a day, but the cleaning and sanitizing, cellaring and packaging make up a much longer process. And, there is always more cleaning and sanitizing to do in a brewery. Grain to glass ranges from four weeks to two months. Crafting a beer is a labor of love. It is work done with intention, attention, and purpose. Selling beer and creating a sustainable business are necessary for the operational model, but craft brewery owners are motivated by the dual goal of sharing beer they love to make, while making a place for people to gather.
Having now spent time on both sides of the bar, I have learned a lot of folks come to the brewery because they live nearby, often within a 3-mile radius. In our growing city of Denver, people are increasingly drawn to things close to home. So much life happens in the places where we are rooted. Regulars at Old 121 are greeted by name—by the bartender, but also by the other regulars. On any given week, multiple local events are hosted at the brewhouse. Recently, a book swap night was hosted by Lakewood Book Swap Society. The event was an opportunity for neighbors to pass along books to new readers in exchange for new books to take home for themselves. The event lasted several hours. Some enjoyed our beer, some enjoyed our house-made sodas, either way people’s roots grew a little bit deeper because of the brewhouse.
Like many good things, there is a shadow side of the local brewery. As the nature of the business is to sell alcohol, pitfalls are always present. People overindulge. Patrons get unruly and rude. One thing I have observed over the years is in addition to having concern for the business and its reputation, owners, bartenders, and even other patrons share a concern for the wellbeing of the overindulgent individual. There is grace and compassion available at the local brewery. It is where life is happening in real time, which includes walking through the shadow side of life.
If you want to get to know a place and its people, it follows some time should be spent at the local brewery. As the poet and translator John Ciardi said, “Fermentation and life are inseparable.” The local brewery is a sacred place.
Formerly a civil engineer, Bobby Rinehart is now a co-owner and brewer at Old 121 Brewhouse. Hoisting sacks of grain, dumping in hops with reckless abandon, and cleaning (so. much. cleaning.) for a living is a dream come true. When not working, you will find Bobby gardening, camping, fishing, doing “research” at local breweries, and traveling with his wife Becky to visit their children and grandchildren.
