Hop Grenade Blends Local Community with an Innovative Flair

The Hop Grenade taproom blends education, technology, music, and a one of a kind rotating line up of beers. The new craft beer establishment opened in Fort Collins because they wanted to elevate craft beer. They wanted to offer something for the community and take a robust rooted element like beer and present it in different ways.

Justin Crossley is one of the owners of The Brewing Network, host of The Session and the owner of the Hop Grenade. Crossley host a long-standing podcast for professional and homebrewers from around the globe in the back room of the tap house. They started the podcast in Justin’s garage in San Francisco. The network grew into the first site in the East Bay of San Francisco. Now they expanded the system to Fort Collins. The first podcast listenership were homebrewers. As they homebrewers graduated to craft beer professionals, the network transitioned too.

Justin talks about the shows:

“We interview professionals so that homebrewers can learn what they do. We mix in industry professionals to talk about beer scenes. We discuss flavoring, yeast, techniques and the whole brewing process.”

The community is a cornerstone of the organization of both the California location and now Colorado. Part of the reason they chose Fort Collins was because of the active community that surrounds the brewing industry and ally with the brewers. They have local food in the taproom and feature Friday Night Flights that collaborates with a local business. December the flight’s pair with Walrus Ice Cream. A limited amount of flights consisting of four, 4 oz. Beers paired with four handmade and specially curated ice creams, including Horse & Dragon‘s Sad Panda ice cream, specially made just for Hop Grenade.

The tech-savvy establishment displays a current daily lineup in real-time on a digital screen, online, and in the tap-room. The display tells how long until the keg is tapped.The digital system that powers the tap-room was custom-built. Every table gets the handheld device to sort through the current list of beers. All the TV’s and the website link together. They show how much beer remains in the tap. The keg red flashes red when the beer gets low so you can plan your beer drinking from anywhere.

Justin solved a problem in the restaurant industry. With this system, he says:

“It is greener, in the long run, I think it will have saved us money over time. The user experience is fantastic. You sit down; you get a screen. You can scroll through in real-time. I never have to tell you we are out of something you have your heart set on. We solved for ourselves this industry problem of outdated paper menus.”

They have a roving events calendar. They host local music on Saturday night. 

December 16 features live music from William & Thomas from The Ugly Architect.

The Hop Grenade Taproom is an original place to enjoy some local favorites and try something new. It has a modern tech flair with a warm, inviting atmosphere.