WeldWerks becomes a mainstay in Greeley and a magnate for beer geeks nationwide

By Dan England

Neil Fisher sat in his tasting room on a Tuesday, two hours before lunch, with chairs stacked on the tables, darkened lights and an empty bar. He had a meeting to attend, but this half hour was a rare moment of peace and quiet, both for him and the tasting room, even if it was time spent with a reporter.

The WeldWerks Brewing Co. building, with its tasting room and brewing operations out back, swallows most of the corner of 8th Avenue and 5th Street in downtown Greeley. On most afternoons and evenings, the tasting room is packed, and when the brewery releases a rare beer, there are lines that linger for hours filled with fans who want a taste, or more likely a few four-packs.

And yet, just before he launches into plans for an expansion, he admits something. It was not supposed to be this way.

Fisher moved to Greeley 11 years ago from North Carolina. He met his wife Bianca just a few months after the move, and they got married and had kids. He worked for a non-profit that did home repairs for low-income families, and Bianca worked for the Downtown Development Authority while being groomed by the director, Pam Bricker, to take it over one day. They were average people who loved where they lived, and that was enough. Neil had just a couple hobbies to help him unwind from the domestic bliss and work. He liked poker and brewing beer in his garage with his friends.

He always had an interest in brewing, even back in North Carolina, but there was no culture to support it. When he moved west, there was one thriving Greeley brewery, Crabtree, and a small group of homebrewers. The group grew to more than a dozen, and maybe as many as 20, and they had fun experimenting and learning from each other. The beer got better, far better than anything he’d ever had in North Carolina, and that got someone’s attention.

When a neighbor’s mutual friend, Colin Jones, who had a background in business operations and technology, suggested that Fisher should sell his beer, Fisher responded that he wanted to stick to the garage. But he also offered a concession. He’d enter his beer in a regional competition in Vail, and if he did well, he’d reconsider.

He did do well. He won it.

Two months later, in March 2014, he and Jones had set up a business plan. Jones would run sales, and Fisher would be the head brewer. By the end of the year, they bought the downtown building and were brewing a couple of signature beers. They had a business. But they also had a caveat.

The wanted to open the business in Greeley and keep it there.

“We had some heated arguments with others opening breweries in the area,” Fisher said. “Some thought we were crazy, especially to go downtown, but we saw so much potential for expansion.”

Business boomed so much that even after the end of the first year, Fisher tossed his long-term plans in the trash and tried to grow as fast as possible.

That included growing their give-backs to Greeley as well. By last summer, they had created an annual beer festival to raise money for their own foundation, donating nearly $100,000 combined in the first two years and, perhaps most importantly, WeldWerks had become a source of pride for the city.

BIGGER AND BOLDER

The expansion came much sooner than anyone expected, especially Fisher. WeldWerks announced plans for a Colorado Springs taproom last April, and that, in addition to a high demand for canned beer, meant they were “caught with our pants down,” Fisher said. They’re still a little de-pantsed. In the first year of operation, they produced 400 barrels. This year they will sell nearly 10,000 barrels, despite a demand that far exceeds that volume. “We have started to dip our toes into out of state distribution to coincide with festivals and events we are attending in other markets. But nearly every distributor we have worked with has asked for more frequent drops, if not year-round distribution,” he said. “We’ve had to say no.”

The brewery employs 33, so it’s not the manpower as much as it is the need for additional tanks, equipment and space, Fisher said. WeldWerks announced that it purchased two buildings and more parking spaces in late 2018 on the same lot where its current taproom resides. The taproom may need to be expanded - there are calls for more patio space - but most of the expansion will just mean more room and more ways to produce and ferment the beer.

WeldWerks enjoyed the success it did for a few reasons, but the brewery’s innovation had a lot to do with it, said Michael Mosher, coordinator of the brewing laboratory science certificate program at the University of Northern Colorado.

You’ve probably heard of Juicy Bits by now. That beer is the taproom’s flagship and most well-known product. It is considered by many fans to be one of the world’s best beers. But Juicy Bits, and the IPAs and other beers that followed, showed some forethought. It would have been tempting to lean on Juicy Bits and have a few other mainstays, such as a stout and an amber, but instead the brewery took chances on crazier beers. Offerings include hazy IPAs, dozens of unusual flavors (the brewery offered a Bomb Pop beer recently), milkshakes and fancy, higher-end stouts. In fact, Juicy Bits and their Hefeweizen are the only two beers WeldWerks keeps on the menu year-round.

“They were really forward-thinking,” Mosher said. “They appeal to a very wide audience. There’s a style that you will like there.”

Fisher knew he was on to something in 2016, just a year after they opened, when cars began to pull up for the brewery’s big release of a Medianoche, the rare and rich stout with limited production.

“We had no idea people would embrace it, but we had a line out the door,” Fisher said. “We didn’t even know who most of the people were. We didn’t know there was a market outside of Greeley.”

Fisher, however, believes in WeldWerks’ innovation as much as Mosher. In 2018, the brewery offered more than 125 different beers, and this year there still seems to be at least one new release every Friday promoted on its Instagram account.

“That’s our identity,” Fisher said. “Innovation is one of our core values. That’s who we are. We know people know and love Juicy Bits, but if we don’t have a tap list that’s rotating and creative, then we will lose who we are.”

HERE TO STAY

Despite the success and national attention, there are no plans to sell out. In fact, Fisher has doubled down on his adopted town.

The biggest example of that, he said, is the WeldWerks Invitational. The summer festival drew 47 breweries from 15 states and more than 1,600 people to Greeley. WeldWerks covered the cost of the breweries’ travel, food and beer (though many donated that back), but all the proceeds went to the brewery’s foundation. That meant $50,000 for local charities in 2019 and they hope to donate $60,000 from this year’s event.

The brewery also now has a community development team that will help determine where that money goes in addition to exploring ways to getting involved besides donating product to events and doling out donations and sponsorships. Fisher wants to do more.

“Maybe we can offer volunteers,” Fisher said. “Maybe they need social media engagement, and we can help with that. We are always looking at ways to do more.”

But the festival is more than just a way to give some money back. Greeley remains viewed as a place that isn’t nearly as hip as Fort Collins or Boulder. “We know what Denver people say about us,” Fisher said. “It’s unfounded in a lot of ways, but we do know what people say. We want to be one of the voices to change that. We want to restore pride to this town.”

The WeldWerks Invitational portrayed Greeley as a beer hub, and indeed, that’s become true. Greeley has at least a half-dozen breweries now and some appear to be inspired by what WeldWerks is doing. Wiley Roots, another successful brewery garnering a national reputation for its own lines, developed a cluster of slushy beers for the summer. Fisher said he loves them.

He said he enjoys seeing Greeley’s breweries thrive. Meanwhile, he will continue to push the boundaries at his location.

Fisher believes Greeley residents take pride in supporting and developing such a well-known brewery, and UNC’s Mosher confirms it. “They are a small-town-boys-get-big story,” Mosher said. “The successes they’ve had are outstanding. It’s really great to see a brewery hit it big and run with it.”

Those outside Greeley have indeed noticed, and Fisher has heard offers from investors that could get his attention. But he’s declined them all.

“We’re just trying to continue investing in our staff and our community,” Fisher said. “We’re not going anywhere.”