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Newest riverfront patio in Glenwood Springs invites locals to sunbathe and enjoy uniquely brewed beers

Troy Casey on the new patio at the South Grand Casey Brewing location.
Chelsea Self / Post Independent

It was a sunny, blue-sky day with plenty of birds circling and chirping as if to announce Casey Brewing’s new patio. In addition to their downtown taproom, Casey Brewing has a Barrel Cellar location, further down Grand Avenue, where the beers are made and there’s a prime vantage point for the Roaring Fork River.

“We opened up the taproom around Labor Day of 2019 … and while that was happening we kind of shut this down for normal activities just so we could focus on the taproom,” Troy Casey, owner of Casey Brewing, said. “COVID came and we just kind of shut this down because we had that going on downtown.”

The scenic overlook came along with Casey’s purchase of the brewery. The “patio” area sat largely unused for 6-8 months until renovations that took it from an overgrown and rickety area to another nice spot along the Roaring Fork River, Casey said.



The new covered patio at Casey Brewing's South Grand location.
Chelsea Self / Post Independent

“I’m very proud of the beers we make. People come from all over the country to try our beers and pairing that with, in my opinion, one of the most gorgeous patios in the state, I just think it’s going to be a no-brainer for anybody who’s maybe never tried one of our beers before to the people that were camping out to get our beers seven years ago,” Casey said.

Now, there’s a cement floor for a lower level with new, woven patio chairs and large umbrellas that lead to a small set of stairs that lead to multiple high chairs and tables beneath an overhang, also atop cement. Taproom manager and soon to be Barrel Cellar manager and sister-in-law to Casey, Diana Adkisson worked out the vision for the new patio with Casey’s wife and said she took some of her inspiration from wineries west in Grand Junction.



Outdoor seating at Casey Brewing's South Grand location.
Chelsea Self / Post Independent

“(We) worked together to come up with the fact that we wanted to create a lot of shade up here, because as you can tell the patio gets hit by the sun a lot. So, we wanted to create a space that felt grand and big, but also was able to provide comfort to the guests as well,” Adkisson said.

Casey said he wants the patio to be a cool place for people to visit while enjoying their brews. There will be some variation between the taproom downtown and the barrel cellar, he said, in an effort to reserve some of the brewery’s more specialty blends and exclusive sours for people seeking more complex and nuanced brews.

“Here since this is where our production space is, we’re gonna go a little bit deeper into our cellar as far as the different farmhouse style beer goes. … We want to be able to offer something different here than what they can see downtown,” Casey said.

The Casey’s Barrel Cellar will now be the second establishment directly on the river, aside from Rivers restaurant just south of the roundabout at 27th Street and Grand Avenue. Casey said he felt rivers used to attract more industrial companies, and while Glenwood has an abundance of public access spots to the Roaring Fork and Colorado rivers, he’s excited to begin this next chapter for his brewing company and be able to provide the spot to locals.

The new covered patio at Casey Brewing's South Grand location.
Chelsea Self / Post Independent

“We’re kind of matching the quality of the experience with what I believe is the quality of the beer,” Casey said.

The patio will be open from 11 a.m to 5 p.m. starting May 15 on Saturdays and Sundays. No tickets are needed, it is free and open to all, including kids and dogs, and accessible by the Rio Grande bike trail. Adkisson started working with Casey back in 2014 when his business first took off, and she said she’s ecstatic to be able to open up the redone patio space to the public for this summer.

“Now if it ends up that a lot of people are starting to hang out past 5 (p.m.) and enjoy that space, we’ll consider keeping our hours open later. Because it’s still beautiful in the summer, up until 8 p.m. it doesn’t get dark. We’re kind of looking at that, playing it by ear and seeing how the space works,” Adkisson said.

Casey Brewing’s Barrel Cellar

– 3421 Grand Ave, Glenwood Springs, CO 81601

– Open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays beginning on May 15.

Reporter Jessica Peterson can be reached at 970-279-3462 or jpeterson@postindependent.com.


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