The brewery that began as an enthusiasm for exploring brew craft between five Colorado State friends in 2004 is broadening its longtime Fort Collins footprint. Slated to reopen this summer, Zwei Brewing Company will expand its brewery space and tap room at 4612 Mason St. in Fort Collins. The brewers will take over the adjacent suite, previously occupied by proVelo Bicycles.
“We ran out of room in the space,” co-owner Kirk Lombardi told What Now Denver. “We added our last tank last week. We’re doing prep on the new space and moving the entire brewery operation into there.”
What this requires the construction crew to do is demolish walls, portions of the cement floor slab to dig out new trench drains, add vents to the roof, and replace the garage door (per Fort Collins permitting docs) replacement. Plans also call for the facility’s second floor mezzanines to be connected to enable a connection between first floor areas.
This construction will double Zwei’s current 1,500 square feet to 3,000 square feet. Lombardi estimates that the brewery tasting room’s inside capacity will grow from 71 seats to about 140. This is in addition to a 150-seat capacity in the outdoor biergarten.
“This will help bring our brewery into a more pristine, happier work environment,” Lombardi said. “There’s more state of the art equipment. It’ll be easier to keep clean and allow us room to expand over the next few years.”
Zwei specializes in offering up delicious standard German brews. This includes Zwei Pils, a Bavarian-style pilsener, Helles, a Munich-style golden lager, Vienna Lager, an Austrian-Style lager, seasonal styles, and more. Patrons will find a “Z” on each of Zwei’s bottles. Zwei is the German word for two, which represents the brewery’s slogan: “Brewed With Friends” — a reminder that these suds are made by longtime friends with local ingredients.
Lombardi estimates that the brewery aims for its expansion to wrap up in July. Until then, Zwei’s tasting room will remain open during construction.
