Giddy up, we’re headin’ West!

Join the Beer Culture Center at the Museum of Boulder for an evening of beer and an exploration of a unique chapter in Boulder County’s brewing history.

The history of beer and brewing in Boulder County runs deep with the first breweries opened by Austrian and German immigrants in the 1860s and 1870s. However, ideological change was simultaneously on its way to the Front Range via the Chicago-Colorado Colony.

Formed by wealthy businessmen from Chicago, the newly formed Chicago-Colorado Colony sought to establish a thriving agricultural community in Boulder County. From 1871-1873, they established their new city and named it Longmont. Where industrialized farming was their main motive, there were cultural motives as well. Promoting ideas of moral integrity, Longmont, Colorado was established as a temperance community. Being caught drinking alcohol could cost residents their membership in the colony and destroy their careers and livelihoods.

This presentation from Professor Travis Rupp of the University of Colorado Boulder and Beer Culture Center Advisory Board Member, explores how Longmont residents interacted and struggled with surrounding communities in Boulder County who had longstanding beer and brewing traditions in the 19th century.