Falling Rock Tap House in Denver is closing its doors and going out of business. Chris Black, owner of Falling Rock Tap House in Denver is our first guest today on Brew Ha Ha, today with Herlinda Heras, with Harry Duke sitting in for Steve Jaxon. Sadly for the beer world Chris Black is on a farewell tour. Falling Rock Tap House has been the most popular tap house in the country for many years. Now he has a set of several four-foot-by-six-foot signs that depict the logos of beers they sold. A former bartender who worked for him painted them. Now, he is visiting the breweries to give them their signs. He just visited Lost Abbey in San Diego and now he is up in Northern Caifornia to deliver some others at Anchor, Lagunitas, Sierra Nevada and Deschutes.

Jeremy Cohen is on the phone from Schmaltz Brewing. Jeremy Cohen is wrapping up 25 years of brewing. He started at age 26 in 1996 in San Francisco. He grew the brand and sold beer all over the country. Now instead of trying to sell a regional brand, he is focussing on a new brand to serve just the New York City area with an exclusive wholesaler. He also has a new taproom in Troy, upstate New York. He is also doing consulting in the beer industry. He says he never thought it would get a far as it did.

Brew Ha Ha "Brews News with Herlinda" is sponsored by Russian River Brewing Co. and by The Beverage People / Fermenter's Warehouse.

 

Herlinda describes how Falling Rock was located near the Colorado Rockies stadium. During the World Beer Cup in Denver, Falling Rock was the place to go. He still has a beer truck with 22 taps that can go to events.

Bob Brewer is the legendary sales guy for Lagunitas. He met Chris Black a long time before Falling Rock. They met in Houston when Chris was a rep for a German brewery and Bob worked for Lagunitas. There was a tap house in Houston called The Ginger Man. Later he found that Chris had a taproom. Bob Brewer’s role at Lagunitas included troubleshooting taps, sales and marketing. He always had a table at Beerfest and would go to Falling Rock in the off hours.

Once there was an All-Star game at Coors Field and the rep from a large American brand put their signature product in every single bar, except for Falling Rock. They festooned the town with their logo, but only gave a case of beer to Chris, who proceeded to smash it with a large hammer, and then turned it into a sign outside the store saying something like “no crap on tap.”