Pumphouse Brewery: Colorado’s State Bird is a Pint of Craft Beer
Pumphouse Brewery and Restaurant
Pumphouse Brewery in Longmont, Colorado has been around a long time in terms of craft beer years and is practically an elder statesperson of the beer scene in Colorado. Pumphouse opened in May of 1996 and was founded by Craig Taylor, Dennis Coombs, Dave D’Epagnier and Tom Charles. Taylor was a homebrewer who was looking for a career change from his day job as an aerospace quality engineer. In 1995 the group bought the William Lugg building in Longmont, which had been everything from a tire store to a car dealership and spent one year transforming it into a working brewery.
It only took a few years, but the brewery started winning medals in 1999, with its first of six including a gold medal for its Igniter American Pale Ale.
Over the next twenty years, Pumphouse would stay small and focus on its restaurant, hospitality and beers. Things changed during the pandemic when the founders all decided to retire. They sold the brewery to Teamshares, which helps companies raise capital to become all employee owned.
A New Era: Employee Owned
Forager IPA
“As an employee-owned brewery, we’re getting back to our roots to realize Craig’s vision of introducing a new generation to the delights of ambitious small-batch craft beer,” said Pumphouse president Conrad Legendy. “We recently brewed a re-imagined Igniter Pale Ale – the same one that took gold at the Great American Beer Festival in 1999 with a recipe updated for the 21st century. It won gold and best of show at the Colorado State Fair and gold for IPA at the US Beer Open.”
Pumphouse has been winning a host of awards lately: brewery of the year, best of show, three golds and two silvers at and most recently a silver medal in the experimental IPA category for their Forager IPA at the Great American Beer Festival.
The Beer Styles of Pumphouse
Five Pumphouse beers
Pumphouse has been busy in 2023, brewing 44 different beer styles. They have five year-round styles and seven seasonals on draft at their brewpub which is a restaurant but also a sports bar called The Red Zone, which was added to the business in October of 2004.
“There are 5 beers we always have on tap – Firelight Kolsch, Wildfire Wheat, Flashpoint IPA, Overflow IPA and Red Alert Amber,” notes Legendy. “We try to have seven seasonals on at any given moment.”
Most of the 100 employees are focused on running the restaurant side of things. For a large brewpub, it’s surprising that there are only two brewing employees but the restaurant is massive with approximately 9,000 sq. ft. of service space. The menu features over 75 items so there’s something for everyone. The brewhouse is also huge, with a 60 BBL system and even with that, Legendy says they have trouble keeping up with beers for the restaurant so they do not distribute in the area.
A Bright Future
Pumphouse seasonal brews
Legendy loves that they are part of the diverse brewing scene in Colorado and is excited about the future.
“Colorado’s state bird is a pint of craft beer,” jokes Legendy. “We have the privilege of being one of over 400 breweries in the state. There are a lot of people who live in this state – and a lot who come to visit – who love beer. In a sense, Colorado is to beer what California is to wine. There’s pride and joy in serving a pint of beer you’ve brewed, to a person who truly appreciates it.”