Drinking Tivoli beer in Denver for more than 100 years

Milwaukee Brewing Co., Creator: Joseph Collier,  Date [1890-1900]

Century plus tab runs for 

Tivoli-Union Brewery Company 

By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com

The Milwaukee Brewery Company was established in 1859 by James Endlich at 10th and Larimer Streets in Denver, Colorado.  It was an early Denver brewery located in the area that became the Tivoli Brewery complex. In 1901, it merged with the Union Brewing Company to form the Tivoli-Union Brewery Company, which operated until the mid-1960s.

In 1860, the brewery was sold to John Good, who enlarged it and renamed it after the Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen. In 1901, the brewery merged with the Union Brewing Company to form the Tivoli-Union Brewery.
Built in 1870 by German-born Mortz Sigi, the Tivoli Student Union was originally part of the Colorado Brewery. 

Date: 1902. Men and boys pose with cigars, pipes, shovels, a broom, and beer bottles. Crates and labels read: "Tivoli Union Brewing Co. 1342 10th St Denver, Colo."

"The Tivoli Student Union changed owners and names several times throughout the eighteen and nineteen hundreds, with architectural additions being made along the way. Sigi’s Brewery was founded in 1864. It was renamed the Tivoli Brewing Company after Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen in 1901 by John Good. The Tivoli Student Union remained a brewery until the late 1960s, " according to Auraria Higher Education Center information,  in 1901, the building became the Tivoli-Union brewery, named after the famous amusement park in Copenhagen.

During prohibition, the president of the company kept the brewery alive by manufacturing “Dash,” a cereal beer.

The Tivoli-Union was producing 150,000 barrels of beer annually by the 1950s, but by 1966 it was shut down due to its failing business after a worker’s strike. The brewery closed in 1969 after the Platte River flooded it in 1965, shortly after the Occhaitio brothers purchased the facilities. 

Tivoli Brewery team, Date: [1940-1950] The Tivoli Brewery wagon and Clydesdale horses in Denver, Colorado; people ride the conveyance and watch from behind a fence by a loudspeaker. Harness includes silver studs.

In 1973 the Tivoli was placed on the National Register of Historic Places, guaranteeing the restoration and protection of the buildings and major brewing equipment.

The Denver Urban Renewal Authority bought the dilapidated Tivoli with the help of federal funds and transferred ownership to the Auraria Higher Education Center.

When renovation became too costly, the state contracted private developers to restore the buildings of the Tivoli for commercial use. The buildings were brought together under a three-story atrium. 

In 1991, Auraria students voted to buy back and re-develop the Tivoli to use for educational purposes. It opened as the Tivoli Student Union in 1994.

The Tivoli re-opened as a student union/retail center in 1994 after a two-year renovation. It now serves as a defining hub of the campus.


The plant shown here continued to operate until 1969, producing Denver Beer. Several horse-drawn wagons are on the dirt street in front of the building.

After a forty-three-year absence, Tivoli Beer began flowing again in 2012.

To further develop the revived brand, the brewery’s owners embarked upon a $3.5 million renovation of the old building (with the help of ($975,000 in State Historic Preservation Tax Credits) to serve as their brewery and tap house.

The non-historic additions of the 1980s were removed, and the historic interior features were restored. New brewing equipment occupies the space where Tivoli’s original mash tuns and copper kettles once stood, according to the brewery's information.

Roger Whitacre,  Date:1985,  July. Night view of the Tivoli Brewery Building (formerlyTivoli-Union Brewery) at 10th (Tenth) and Larimer Streets in the Auraria neighborhood of Denver, Colorado. The four-story brick building has arched windows, a smokestack, and a tower with a mansard roof. A sign reads: "Tivoli Beer."

 

It is Friday. Keep 'em coming boys.  Antique beer keg lift conveyor machinery at the old Tivoli (a.k.a. Union) Brewery in downtown Denver. Photo by Rob Carrigan.

 
Outlaw Light (or Outlaw Mile Hi Light) is a fast-growing, affordable 4.2% ABV light Kölsch-style beer produced by Tivoli Brewing Co. in Colorado. Marketed as a "crushable," independent alternative to major brands, it features a slightly maltier, crisp profile. It is expanding nationwide, with partnerships including singer HARDY and the Outlaw Music Festival.