Grist Brewing Takes a Novel Approach as it Opens a New Bistro in Denver

While the majority of Colorado’s craft breweries had to rapidly alter their business models or even make wholesale changes as a way to stay in business over the past years of the pandemic, nine-year-old Grist Brewing has taken a different approach — one that is paying off.

It has almost entirely abandoned canning in favor of its high-concept venues, which feature food, Grist beer and historic, literary and sometimes trippy atmospheres. The latest, Field and Forest Fabled Bistro Pub, opened last week in the former Close Quarters coffee shop at 415 South Cherokee Street.

“We try not to be cheesy. We’re not Epcot Center. … But we are building what we’re calling these immersive experiences,” explains Gary Hilton, a longtime marketing consultant who bought into the brewery three years…