A day after Great Frontier Brewing announced that it would close its doors after 10 years serving beer in Lakewood, a fellow brewery, Old 121 Brewhouse, said it will take over the spot. Great Frontier, 2010 S. Oak St., was known for serving gluten-free and gluten-reduced beers.
The location, which should reopen in the fall, will serve as Old 121’s flagship, while the brewery’s original taproom, 1057 S. Wadsworth Blvd., will be rebranded as Ye Olde 121 Public House.
On top of that, The Pizza Bandit, which has gained a wider following since opening a kiosk inside Avanti Food & Beverage in Denver, will park a food truck at the new location permanently.
“We consider ourselves extremely grateful to have seen success during a tough time for breweries in the Denver area and are excited to bring our beer to more Coloradans,” said Old 121 co-founder Katie Nicholson in a statement. “We also want to thank Mike and Brian of Great Frontier for being cornerstones of the Lakewood beer community for the past 10-plus years.”
The expansion is a big one for Old 121, which will now be able to make beer on a 15-barrel brewing system — five times larger than its existing brewhouse. As a result, it will ramp up production and distribution of beers like Old 121 Lager, West Coast IPA and Great American Beer Festival gold medal-winning ESB (2024); expand its soda offerings, like root beer, ginger beer and coconut cream; and add hard seltzer and hard root beer.
“Since 2022, the brewery has seen double-digit growth year-over-year, nearly maxing out the current production space,” the owners said in a statement.
In addition, the new taproom (which Old 121 will own) seats 75 people, as compared to 60 at the original location, and the owners expect to expand the outdoor seating. As for The Pizza Bandit, it will be available during the brewery’s open hours. Founded by Melina and Federico Felix, the truck makes Neapolitan-style pizzas. It also makes a root beer float using root beer from Old 121.
Ye Olde 121 Public House, in the meantime, will get a pool table, darts and booths. It will continue to brew beer and shift its focus almost exclusively to lagers.
Old 121 was founded in March 2019 and has been run since 2022 by Katie and Sam Nicholson; they are now adding a third owner, head brewer Bobby Rinehart, to the team. Rinehart previously brewed at Barquentine Brewing in Edgewater. Both he and Sam Nicholson are graduates of the Regis University Applied Craft Brewing program in Denver.
