City Star Brewing

MARCH 11: WHO declares Coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. Colorado Governor Jared Polis declares state of emergency.
MARCH 12: Coronavirus related policies posted for City Star staff.
MARCH 13: Increased taproom sanitizing procedures – regular disinfecting of tablets, phone, door handles, etc. United States declares national emergency. JD jokingly suggests we ordered branded face masks.
MARCH 14: Added mid-day bathroom cleaning. Served 158 flight th s of Lucky Charms beers to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. A lot of customers expressed happiness to see people in City Star.
MARCH 15: All unnecessary items handled by multiple people removed from taproom (games, menus, coasters, etc).
MARCH 16: I established communication with our loan officer at Independent Bank. Designed and ordered new blank City Star bottle labels. Governor Polis passes Colorado Health Order, effectively closing our business. I create staff Slack channel #keepitflowing, opted to remain positive and refrain from instead using #fuckcovid. Brainstormed virtual events with staff and instructed them to file unemployment claims expecting a reduction of hours.
MARCH 17: New day, new business model. Our brewery moved from on-premise sales to “to go” sales only. Less than five people are permitted in the taproom at a time, spaced six feet apart. New hours (2-7pm daily), new schedule, invested in a crowler machine and crowlers for improved “to go” packaging. Thank you Oskar Blues, Crowler Nation and Jeremy Rudolph. Instructed staff to remove seating, keep doors open, and continue heightened sanitizing procedures. Plan for taproom staff to work in teams of two for safety in light of higher public anxiety levels.
MARCH 18: New hours again (3-7pm daily). U.S. Congress passes Families First Coronavirus Response Act. We decide to postpone our annual Hops and Harley festival (originally scheduled for June 20th).
MARCH 19: Launched crowler sales and online ordering via Square + curbside pick-up.
MARCH 20: E-mailed Town of Berthoud staff and board members, encouraging communication and leadership. Governor Polis approves brewery deliveries.

If that virus has got you down
Take a drive into town
Support your local community bar We’ve got what you need at City Star
Society is in bit of a panic
And everyone is a little manic
So drop in quick and pick up a crowler
Find comfort in the fresh fill of a growler
City Star is ready in any condition
Good people and quality beer is our mission
Whether its a virus or the weather
Adversity and hardship brings us together
We love our Berthoud community
So we raise our glasses to immunity
Be patient, be loving, and please be kind
Let’s always keep our neighbors in mind

by Benjamin deLeeuwerk

MARCH 22: Designed and ordered Outlaw bottle labels. Fast tracking our next barrel aged beer in an effort to move as much packaged beer as possible. We originally had a Meet the Distiller event planned with Deerhammer that will no longer be possible. We anticipate being soon shut down completely.
MARCH 23: Launch “Beer it Forward” campaign where people can purchase a beer for someone to enjoy once the taproom re-opens. Note + recipient name will go on sticky notes in taproom window. Westword publishes a little press on City Star and Crowlers. Shared 15% off coupon for Deputy mug club members (they’re missing out on their main membership perk right now… $1/off pints). Designed and ordered new blank City Star crowler labels. City of Denver issues a shelter-in-place order, which briefly includes the complete closing of breweries. Alas, with lobbying help from the Colorado Brewers Guild breweries are deemed essential and may continue with to go orders.
MARCH 24: Our taproom has been shut down for 1 full week. With our pivot to ‘to go’ beer only our revenue is down 32% compared to the same week in 2019. This business impact doesn’t account for the considerably lower profit margin selling ‘to go’ beer.
MARCH 25: Larimer County and then Governor Polis issue a stay-at-home orders for the State of Colorado. Colorado Brewers Guild confirms that breweries are essential and thus exempt.
MARCH 26: Launch Virtual Tip Jar for anyone to tip City Star staff via Venmo. Promote free crowler promo for medical professionals and first responders. Applied for EIDL (Economic Injury Disaster Loan) via SBA.gov. Nacho Mama’s Tacos food truck serves out front with phone ordering and a large sign instructing customers to space six feet apart. They are the first food truck we’ve hosted since closing.
MARCH 27: We bottle and release Outlaw Whiskey Barrel Aged Imperial Stout. United States Congress passes and President Trump signs CARES Act (Coronavirus Aird, Relief and Economic Security Act). With respect to the CARES Act, City Star could receive assistance with an EIDL Loan advance grant, PPP Program, and Debt Relief Program.
MARCH 28: Six foot lines installed on the taproom floor.
MARCH 30: Apply for EIDL loan via SBA.gov again with request for advance grant up to $10,000 (new form is available). Independent Bank turns off auto-payment on our existing SBA 7(a) loan.
MARCH 31: Galaxy IPA released in crowlers. Made the decision to continue maintaining staff employment at pre-COVID levels (no furlough for our crew). Attended multiple webinars on CARES Act provisions. In hopes of qualifying for a PPP Loan (and having it forgiven) we made the decision to pay our staff’s wages at their January/February 2020 levels, including what taproom staff were averaging in tips. Our loan officer at Independent Bank confirmed that our existing SBA 7(a) loan would benefit from 6 months of payments by SBA.
APRIL 1: Covid-19 is unfortunately not an April Fools Joke. Our taproom has been shut down for 2 full weeks. With our pivot to ‘to go’ beer only our revenue is down 35% compared to the same week in 2019. Covid Compliance Officer (maybe a Larimer County Sheriff?) verified that we are operating in compliance with all health orders. She recommended we remove more seating from our taproom and add chalk lines six feet apart out front for food truck customers.
APRIL 2: Independent Bank issues a draft of the PPP Loan Application and requirements, though lenders are still awaiting final guidance from SBA. I submit the draft application and requirements.
APRIL 3: Independent Bank issues new PPP Loan Application and requirements. I submit the revised application and requirements again. We are requesting a loan of $42,261.16 that could be forgivable if employment conditions are met and 75% of this amount is used for qualified payroll expenses. Any funds not forgiven are subject to 1% interest rate and two year term loan. PPP Loan conditions changed at least three times since the signing of the CARES Act. Governor Polis urges everyone to wear face masks when they have to leave the home (guess we should have ordered those branded face masks JD joked about). Receive World Beer Cup Competition $720 Refund. Covid Compliance Officer visits City Star again, confirms we are in compliance, suggests moving patio seating out front (done!).
APRIL 4: Loan officer at Independent Bank confirms receipt and application is in approval queue. First day of Colorado Craft Beer Week. City Star staff polled on comfort and safety level with current sales model. No EIDL cash advance as of the end of the week.
APRIL 5: Governor Polis requests everyone wear face masks when they leave the house.
APRIL 6: Move to curbside and patio beer ‘to go’ pick-up only. We are no longer refilling customers growlers. Still no EIDL cash advance. Ran bi-weekly payroll High Point, including 90 ’empty’ hours to maintain our staff at their Jan/Feb employment levels.
APRIL 7: Our taproom has been shut down for 3 full weeks. With our pivot to ‘to go’ beer only our revenue is down 44% compared to the same week in 2019. We are fortunate to be able to sell beer.
APRIL 8: No sign of promised deposit from the EIDL advance we applied for over a week before. Bank says our PPP application is still in the queue and awaiting approval by SBA.
APRIL 10: Salted Lime Kolsch release day. Customers get in the spirit, showing up for curbside pick-up in beach/island attire. We sell 80+ crowlers, John has to return to the brewery to fill more before we close.
APRIL 13: Despite uncertainty we hope to celebrate City Star’s 8 year anniversary this May with our community. Ordered 2020 glassware for City Star Deputy mug club members. Researching how we can make our bathroom doors “touchless” for customers. Whitney has turned the Great Room into her “home gym”.
APRIL 14: Our taproom has been shut down for 4 full weeks. With our pivot to ‘to go’ beer only our revenue is down 45% compared to the same week in 2019. The Brewers Association’s annual Craft Brewers Conference launches online today with five weeks of free seminars. JD received a toilet paper tip today. Our loan officer emailed to let us know our PPP loan is approved and documents will soon follow. We don’t know the loan amount yet, but this is promising. Still no EIDL cash advance.
APRIL 15: First daily City Star staff beer cheers (aka “Go Team”) on Zoom 5pm.
APRIL 16: Colorado Brewers Guild Town Hall on Zoom. Berthoud businesses meeting on Zoom. It’s reported that the SBA has exhausted all funds for the PPP loans.
APRIL 17: Beer celeb Julia Herz picks up crowlers at City Star! Still no EIDL funds or information on our PPP loan. We were told we were approved for a PPP loan, but we have not received any documents, nor do we know the loan amount. Staff are required to wear face masks when interacting with customers (no longer an option).
APRIL 18: Great day to test out beer deliveries! We’ve built a second website for online delivery orders. Planning for City Star crowler and bottle delivery to Lyons, Colorado + 10 mile radius (20 orders!). City Star tent we’ve been using for curbside pick-up is broken and now in need of repair.
APRIL 20: Our loan officer tells us our PPP loan documents should arrive within a few days. Governor Polis announces plans for an upcoming ‘Safer at Home’ period for Colorado; based on his plan our taproom will not open before May 15th. We are making plans to make home deliveries this weekend (Thursday – Berthoud, Friday – Johnstown/Milliken, Saturday – Lyons).
APRIL 21: Surprise…. $10,000 EIDL Advance deposited into our account! Our taproom has been shut down for 5 full weeks. With our pivot to ‘to go’ beer only our revenue is down 45% compared to the same week in 2019. Ran bi-weekly payroll, including 65 ’empty’ hours to maintain our staff at their Jan/Feb employment levels.
APRIL 22: Signed PPP loan documents today! We have been approved for a $42,200 loan (1% interest rate, 2 year term, payments start November 2020). Purchased web domains citystarpickup.com and citystardelivery.com to more easily direct customers for online ordering. We are planning to make deliveries Thursday-Saturday this week. Today we joined the Colorado Strong Beer campaign, launched by the Left Hand Brewing Foundation. In coordination with other Colorado breweries we’ll brew the Colorado Strong Pale Ale, in support of our supply chain and breweries. We will be donating 20% of beer sales back to LHB (“funds raised will be donated to the community to support Healthcare, Hospitality, Service Industry, and Gig Economy Workers affected by Covid-19”). City Star’s Colorado Strong Pale Ale will release mid-May.
APRIL 23: John runs Berthoud deliveries.
APRIL 24: “Keep it Flowing”… City Star Beer, Community, Kindness T-Shirts NOW available for sale. Our PPP Loan has been funded for $42,000; SBA still hasn’t issued clear guidance on how to achieve forgiveness for some or all of the funds, so we plan to be very conservative. JD and Whitney run deliveries to Johnstown and Milliken.
APRIL 25: Whitney runs deliveries to Lyons + Summit Tacos.
APRIL 27: Colorado’s Stay-At-Home order converts to Safer-At-Home order. Our taproom has been shut down for 6 full weeks. With adding deliveries and new t-shirts our revenue is down 13% compared to the same week in 2019. This is a major improvement over the previous weeks. Costs of goods sold are substantially higher with our “new to-go” model so our overall business picture is unclear, but we are optimistic.
APRIL 28: Town of Berthoud launches a generous sales tax rebate program to support small, local businesses during this time.
APRIL 30: Loveland deliveries.
MAY 1: Raspberry Saison release. Johnstown and Milliken deliveries. Some businesses are allowed to re-open today, but brewery taprooms do not have a re-opening date. We expect May 15th or later. April 2020 revenue was down 35% from April 2019.
MAY 4: Cheers to 8 Years of Beers! This day in 2012 City Star opened its doors. We launch City Star Deputy Mug Club membership sales, and hosted a Virtual Toast from the beer garden at 7pm. Ran bi-weekly payroll, including 90 ’empty’ hours to maintain our staff at their Jan/Feb employment levels.
MAY 5: We’ve been shut down for 7 weeks, revenue was down 40% last week compared to the same week in 2019. Ran bi-weekly payroll, including 48 ’empty’ hours to maintain our staff at their pre-COVID employment levels.
MAY 8: Dead or Alive Imperial IPA release.
MAY 11: John hits the road for the mid-west to purchase a canning machine. We still don’t have a date for re-opening, but Governor Polis plans to review data and make an announcement on May 25th.
MAY 12: We’ve been shut down for 8 weeks, revenue was down 25% last week compared to the same week in 2019. City Star Colorado Strong Beer release today, the first Colorado release with 125+ breweries on board (coloradostrongbeer.org).
MAY 13: John purchases and loads up a MicroCanner canning line from Grand River Brewing in Michigan.
MAY 15: Chili The Kid release. Unload canner and we begin re-designing the taproom to allow for safe table spacing, including placing barrel stacks between all tables. A restaurant in town opens today against the county and state health orders; they encourage us and other businesses to follow suit. SBA finally published the PPP forgiveness application, giving businesses guidance on how to plan for and achieve partial or total loan forgiveness. Larimer County applied for a variance to relax Safer-At-Home rules.
MAY 16: As part of re-designing our taproom, we move our twelve foot community “Kings” table to storage at Root Shoot Malting’s malt house. We move our ‘to go’ order pick-up station inside the taproom with a table + crowler fridge near the front door. Customers are able to enter though our front door and exit through the hall door. Our staff is ELATED to no longer setup our tent out front daily. We’ve continued running deliveries to Johnstown and Milliken on Fridays and Lyons on Saturdays.
MAY 18: Ran bi-weekly payroll, including 47 ’empty’ hours to maintain our staff at their pre-COVID employment levels.
MAY 19: We’ve been shut down for 9 weeks, revenue was down 14% last week compared to the same week in 2019. Reviewed guidelines for breweries to open in Larimer County’s variance request sent to the State of Colorado. Most notably including: 30% capacity indoors, up to 60% capacity outdoors, no bar seating, reservations only. Larimer County no longer requires customers to wear masks.
MAY 20: State of Colorado releases a draft of guidelines for restaurants to re-open (breweries may or may not be included). Most notably including: no service after 10pm, 8 foot spacing between tables, gloves and masks for employees, plastic cups, party. We order food service plastic gloves and plastic cups to have in hand in anticipation of opening rules.
MAY 22: We learn that there is a very real possibility that breweries will not be permitted to open alongside restaurants in Colorado. I submit feedback on the proposed guidelines, email Governor Polis, Representative Perry Buck, and Senator Rob Woodward. Larimer County’s variance application is still under review.
MAY 23: The State of Colorado approved some of Larimer County’s variance application, including the opening of restaurants but excluded breweries. This is devastating. There is a lot of confusion with some news sources publishing inaccurate information. Local officials help with contacting county and state officials to find out more information on why breweries were excluded. Understanding the State’s reasoning will help the Colorado Brewers Guild advocate for breweries before Monday’s announcement.
MAY 25: The State of Colorado announced the process for restaurants to re-open, including breweries able to allow for on-site consumption of food. Larimer County adjust their variance in accordance with the State’s new regulations.
MAY 28: We re-open our taproom! All table service, complete sanitizing between parties, check-in at the front door, hourly bathroom sanitizing, face masks, pre-formed parties of 8 or less, occupancy limits, and 6′ spacing between patrons.

After 2+ months of chronicling the shutdown of City Star Brewing, we are working hard to ‘keep it flowing’ for on-site consumption and to-go orders. The future is unclear (for everyone), but we are incredibly fortunate to be a part of such an amazing community in Colorado. Thank you for following along and for your support!

The Crowler Inventor Is Saving Small Breweries, One Can at a Time
by Jonathan Shikes

The guy who invented the Crowler would be feeling proud right now, but he’s too busy taking orders for them.

Jeremy Rudolf will be working seven days a week for the foreseeable future, but that’s okay. His job has never been as important as it is these days. Over the past week, as breweries faced the gut-punching effect of mass closures because of the coronavirus crisis, these large cans have been the only way for them to bring in revenue since breweries and taprooms are still allowed to sell beer to-go and, more recently, by delivery.

“We took 600 orders in four days. That’s about two months’ worth of orders normally,” Rudolf points out. “We are getting a constant stream of phone calls and emails, a lot of times from the same people. But we are working through the weekend; we’re not going to stop. Supplies are really low, but we’ll get more next week, so we will be able to catch up really fast. For now, though, we are asking people to borrow from one another.”

Rudolf runs Crowler Nation, a Longmont company that sells aluminum Crowler cans and Crowler machines, bar-top devices that seal the cans in seconds so that customers can take out any beer on tap. Over the past six years, the machines have become fixtures at just about every brewery in Colorado — not to mention thousand of others nationwide and in other countries — but they are particularly useful for smaller breweries that don’t can or bottle their beer on a regular basis.

He’s also offering another product to breweries — and now to restaurants, which gained the temporary right to sell draft beer to-go and for delivery on Friday after Governor Jared Polis relaxed some of Colorado’s liquor laws. Twistee Cans don’t require a Crowler machine, so businesses can simply fill them from the taps or from kegs, twist on the tops and send them out the door. They come in six different sizes.

And Crowlers have come a long way. In 2012, Rudolf was the packaging manager at Oskar Blues Brewery in Longmont when he came up with the notion of the Crowler. Not only would sealable cans give the company an alternative to the unwieldy and sometimes unsanitary glass jugs known as growlers, but they would fit with the Oskar Blues image of innovation; after all, the brewery was the first to can craft beer back in 2004.

The concept started small but picked up steam as Oskar Blues began requisitioning sealing machines from a company that specialized in making them for people who can fruits and vegetables at home. The brewery then sold them to other breweries along with pallets of special 32-ounce Crowler cans from Golden’s Ball Packaging. The Crowler is, and continues to be, a Ball trademark.

Word got out quickly, though, and Oskar Blues began to get dozens of orders a month from all over the world. It also gained some competitors. By 2015, Rudolf was the full-time CANministrator of the Crowler business, and by 2018, with more than 3,000 machines under its belt, Oskar Blues separated the business from the brewery, creating Crowler Nation as its own company, although it’s still owned by Oskar Blues and its parent company, Canarchy.

Before the pandemic, breweries relied on Crowler Nation’s nine warehouses around the country for supplies of cans (which now come in multiple sizes, although the 32-ouncers are still the norm), machines, lids, labels and service, often on the same day they put in the order. Now, because of increased to-go sales, some breweries are are running out. But since Ball only manufactures the Crowler cans once every three months, Crowler Nation’s supplies will also be low for another week to ten days.

But Crowler Nation does have others sizes, as well as the Twistee Cans, which have come in handy for at least a few breweries, including 12 Degree Brewing in Louisville, which ran out of its 32-ounce Crowlers on Friday, and for Berthoud’s City Star Brewing, which was one of the few beer makers that had, until last Monday, still been relying on glass growlers for to-go customers.

“Following the Colorado health order to close taprooms, we reached out to Jeremy Rudolf and immediately ordered a Crowler machine and Crowlers. Two days later Crowlers were filled and walking out the front door,” says Whitney Way, who owns City Star with her husband, John.

Spending money on new equipment at a time when the future is so uncertain was a frightening thing to do, but also “very necessary,” she adds. “The shutdown meant completely reinventing our business model with to-go beer as our primary sales driver. We needed to step-up our to-go beer game — and fast.” City Star is using smaller-sized Crowlers, but will probably switch to 32-ounce cans once the coronavirus crisis is over.

For Rudolf, it has been gratifying to see the Crowler grow from an experiment with Ball into something that he’s been able to bring to so many breweries. But at the moment, it’s also “bittersweet,” he says. “I pride myself on being someone who helps and I couldn’t be happier that the cans are helping.” But the cans are also in short supply this week, right when these breweries need them the most.

Original article source: https://www.westword.com/restaurants/denver-restaurants-takeout-delivery-during-coronavirus-11666765

City Star Celebrates St. Patrick’s Day with Lucky Charms Flight

By Steve Graham

Your neighborhood pub might serve bright green beer on St. Patrick’s Day, but a Berthoud brewery is taking it up a notch and also serving purple, orange and red beers for the big day.

For the third year, City Star Brewing will lean into the leprechaun part of the Irish holiday and craft a colorful and “magically delicious” Lucky Charms beer flight. And unlike the pastel breakfast marshmallows (or the green Bud Light, for that matter), there are no artificial dyes or ingredients involved.

“Enjoy tasting the rainbow, sampling exotic brews of varying hues, and … rest assured that all ingredients are natural,” City Star co-owner Whitney Way said.

City Star opened in 2012, when home-brewing enthusiast John Way left his job at Oskar Blues to launch the first craft brewery in Berthoud with his wife, Whitney. The couple still owns and runs the brewery.

“We’ve just kind of stumbled through it,” Whitney said.

The brewery is in a rustic brick building that used to be the City Star livery stable, and the Ways draw on that history for the horseshoe logo and the “Western, historical vibe.”

City Star has five mainstay beers, including an IPA, a stout and a red ale, plus a range of seasonal specialties and barrel-aged offerings on tap. Everyone at the brewery has input on the lineup.

“Anytime our staff has ideas, we try to incorporate that as well,” Whitney said.

Staff members also suggested ingredients for the Lucky Charms flight.

The beers are a surprise each year, but Whitney expects to add butterfly peaflower to a golden lager, which naturally imbues a bright blue or purple hue. Whitney also purchased bee pollen for making a dry-hopped lager, and plans to revive a beet saison that was a taproom hit a few years ago.

Original article source: https://www.thirstcolorado.com/source/2020/3/4/rainbow-of-taste