After long road to opening, Littleton brewery has planted roots

By the Thirst Team

Close followers of Colorado brewery news have been waiting since 2019 for Zymos Brewing to open. The taproom was slated to open in Westminster five years ago, but plans were delayed by the pandemic and other issues, then the brewery moved down to Littleton.

Class of 2024
We are closing out 2024 with profiles of a few new breweries that opened this year.

The name is inspired by Zymurgy, the science of fermentation. It makes everything from the Educated Rodents Kolsch to the Baggot Street Lower Irish stout, and also has a few guest taps. Zymos also hosts live music, trivia and game nights, poker and other events.

After nearly a year in business, we asked co-owner Alex Tift some questions about the brewery.

Why did you start your brewery?

Our mission at Zymos is to build a community around great craft beer. We've always loved craft breweries and the communities that form around them, both within the industry and among craft beer drinkers. We spend a lot of our free time hanging out in breweries playing games and talking to people. I've made so many friends and met so many wonderful people in breweries, and I wanted to build a place where people can form those kinds of connections while drinking some amazing beers. We put a lot of thought and effort into making Zymos a comfortable, welcoming, and inclusive space so that we can share craft beer with as many people as possible.

What makes your beer unique?

We like to think that there's a lot that makes our beer unique, but in a lot of ways it comes back to community again. Whenever possible, we use locally sourced ingredients and we work with small businesses to help support them. The majority of our malt comes from Root Shoot in Loveland, our yeast is from Propagate Labs in Golden, and we use locally harvested honey and Spruce tips in our beers. Also, nearly all of our beers are gluten reduced, which is another way we try to make Zymos beer accessible to more people.

As a small batch brewery, we're able to make a really wide variety of beers and be very responsive to neighborhood tastes and seasonal flavors. We make traditional styles like Kolsch and West Coast IPAs, but we can also experiment and make things like a Honey Matcha Blonde or a Green Chili Pickle Cream Ale. We aim to have something on tap for just about any palate. This extends beyond beer into our seltzer and non-alcoholic options as well. We have NA beer, NA cocktails, NA Wine and NA cider, plus true zero-proof options for kids and adults. We know that some people don't drink beer and we want to welcome them as well.

Our taproom is also a big part of what makes our beer (and Zymos more generally) unique. Our taproom is divided into a number of different areas that each have their own vibe. We have traditional bar seating, which includes an ADA-height bar as well as high-bar and table seating. We also have a lounge area with armchairs and sofas for people who want a more comfy atmosphere. We also have two patios. Our beer garden out back has bench seating and cornhole, while our front patio has cushioned patio chairs in small groups.

Finally, we're focused on science and analytics to ensure we're making the best beer possible. We have a small in-house lab that lets us carefully track the progress of each batch and maintain quality throughout.

What has been the biggest surprise of your first months in business?

Our biggest surprise so far has been the amazing support and welcome we've gotten from our guests and the community. Our grand opening was so much more than we could have hoped for and we've continued to have amazing interactions with our guests and other community organizations. We've hosted community events, wedding receptions, birthday parties and more. We're so grateful to the people who've trusted us to host their events and who have let us be part of their big life moments. We never expected that we would have so many people excited to use our venue so early into our journey.

What are you pouring?

We rotate our beers pretty frequently, but we definitely have a few flagships that we try to keep on frequently:

Educated Rodents - Kolsch: A light easy drinking favorite, our kolsch is a German classic

Hop Ritual - Our rotating experimental IPA series: We keep the malt base consistent, but we use different hops for each batch. It's a great way for us to see how new hops play while sticking to a single style of beer. We're up to version #4 now, and this has been a consistent hit.

Barnabus's Favorite - Imperial Milk Stout: This is the base that we're currently barrel aging, and it's also got something of a cult following already. We have a handful of regulars who always go for this beer, and we have a hard time keeping it on tap.

Skaldic Spruce - Nordic Ale with Spruce Tips: We brewed this nordic ale using Kviek yeast, which gives a slightly fruity farmhouse flavor. We infuse the mash water with Colorado harvested spruce tips to give a citrusy-piney finish. We haven't had this on since spring, but it will definitely be a seasonal release every year.

Home By Sunrise - American Amber: A classic malty beer, this one is another neighborhood favorite (and my personal favorite as well). A lot of our guests are looking for more traditional, less hop forward beer styles and this is another beer that we struggle to keep on tap.

Any plans for 2025?

We've got some big plans for 2025, not least of which is our one-year anniversary on Feb. 2. We'll be having a big event on Feb. 1, but the anniversary festivities will probably be spread over a few days. We'll also be releasing the first beer from our barrel program: An imperial milk stout aged in a Talnua whiskey barrel. We're also planning to expand our barrel program using barrels from other local distilleries. We're also looking forward to collaborating on some fun and interesting beers with other Colorado breweries.