Wilding Brands, the Colorado company behind Denver Beer Co., Great Divide and Upslope, is closing its 35,000-square-foot production brewery at 4455 Jason St. in Denver’s Sunnyside neighborhood and will hire a contract brewer to make its beer instead. Chief Development Officer Charlie Berger confirmed the move to BusinessDen on Nov. 5, and Brewbound reported the shift on Nov. 6.
Reference Log
This is a production change, not the end of the brands. Nothing in the reporting says Denver Beer Co., Great Divide or Upslope are being discontinued. Their beer will simply be brewed somewhere other than Sunnyside.
What is closing, and what continues
The building, known as Canworks, is the brewery being shut. It opened as a Denver Beer Co. production brewery in 2014, according to The Denver Post as summarized by Hoodline. Under Wilding it became the shared production hub for Great Divide, Station 26 and Upslope as well.
Stem Ciders is not affected. BusinessDen reports that the cider will keep being made at Stem’s own production facility and taproom in Lafayette.
Berger was candid about the economics. “I’m not 100% sure it’s cheaper in the short term, but it’s just a different business model,” he said, as quoted by BusinessDen.
The Canworks equipment auction runs Nov. 10–17
Auction firm New Mill Capital has listed the contents as the “Canworks Major Production Brewery” in Denver. Online bidding opens Tuesday, Nov. 10, at 1 p.m. Eastern (11 a.m. Mountain, 10 a.m. PST) and closes Tuesday, Nov. 17, at the same time. A 20% buyer’s premium applies.
The listing shows the scale of what Wilding is giving up:
- A DME 40-barrel three-vessel brewhouse and a DME pilot system
- Two 240-barrel fermenters and a 240-barrel brite tank, plus 19 fermenters of 120 barrels and five 120-barrel brites
- A CFT 40-head can filler with a six-head seamer, a depalletizer, a cartoner and a tray packer
- About 2,000 half-barrel and sixtel kegs
- Lab equipment, plus “taproom, kitchen & support items”
The auction includes taproom and kitchen items, but the status of the Canworks taproom and any closing date for it have not been confirmed.
Why the move matters
Wilding grew by buying. It acquired Great Divide in April 2025 and Upslope in late 2025, and brought their production to Canworks, according to New School Beer + Cider and The Denver Post as cited by Hoodline. After the Upslope deal, The Denver Post reported, Wilding expected to make more than 80,000 barrels of beer and other drinks a year.
In general, contract brewing means a beer company pays another brewery to produce its beer instead of owning and running the plant itself. Wilding has not disclosed its partner or terms. The change comes during a hard stretch for the state: at least 31 Colorado breweries closed in 2025, according to Colorado Brewers Guild figures cited by The Denver Post, as reported by Hoodline.
What we still don’t know
- Which contract brewer will make Denver Beer Co., Great Divide and Upslope beer.
- How many Canworks employees are affected, and what happens to them.
- When the last batch is brewed in Sunnyside.
- Whether anything about the beers or packaging changes.
For earlier coverage of the brands, see Denver Beer Co. Celebrates 12 Years and Great Divide’s Lone Tree Roadhouse.
Sources: BusinessDen (Nov. 5, 2026); Brewbound (Nov. 6, 2026); Hoodline (Nov. 6, 2026), citing BusinessDen, The Denver Post and New School Beer + Cider; New Mill Capital auction listing.
Featured image: Great Divide Brewing in Denver, photographed in 2015 by Paul Sableman via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0. Context photo only; this is not the Sunnyside Canworks facility. Cropped, color-graded and overlaid by BeerAlien.
BeerAlien
Terry Bunch
