The Tivoli Brewery (now the Tivoli Student Union) is a historic building originally home to the Tivoli Brewing Company.
/ref> It was designed by prominent Denver architect Frederick C. Eberley. The building is located in the Auraria Neighborhood of Denver,

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

. Today the building is home to the

Tivoli Student Union The Tivoli Brewery (now the Tivoli Student Union) is a historic building originally home to the Tivoli Brewing Company. It was designed by prominent Denver architect Frederick C. Eberley. The building is located in the Auraria Neighborhood of Den ...

of the

Auraria Campus Auraria Campus is an educational facility located near downtown Denver, Colorado in the United States. The campus houses facilities of three separate universities and colleges: the University of Colorado Denver (CU Denver), Community College o ...

, serving as a student center for the

Metropolitan State University of Denver Metropolitan State University of Denver (MSU Denver or Metro State) is a public university in Denver, Colorado. MSU Denver is located on the Auraria Campus, along with the University of Colorado Denver and the Community College of Denver, in d ...

, Community College of Denver, and the

University of Colorado Denver The University of Colorado Denver (CU Denver) is a Public university, public research university in Denver, Colorado. It is part of the University of Colorado system. History University of Colorado System Anschutz Medical Campus The University ...

. In August 2015 the revived Tivoli Brewing Company began brewing in a new facility inside the building, in the original brewing area.

History

The Tivoli Brewery building, located in the Auraria Neighborhood of Denver, Colorado, is considered a historic landmark. The building is the former home of the Tivoli Brewing Company, which was named after the Tivoli Gardens located in Copenhagen Denmark by past owner John Good. The Tivoli Brewery building was built in 1864 by German immigrant Moritz Sigi along with the Colorado territory's first artesian well. A well known local character and Denver councilman Sigi brewed the best "Buck Beer", a hybrid lager/ale similar to a Bock. Mr. Sigi had a sudden and tragic horse carriage accident that led to his death in 1874. The brewery was then sold to Max Melsheimer. Melsheimer renamed the brewery Milwaukee Brewery and attempted to expand the business production with the purchase of 250-barrel copper brewing kettles. The Milwaukee Brewery was not able to fulfill this mass production, and Melsheimer foreclosed on the loan he took out for the purchase. John Good, who was involved with both banking and brewing in early Denver history, took over the company and renamed it Tivoli Brewing Co. At the time, the Tivoli Brewery and Zang's Brewery were the biggest breweries before prohibition. Zang's never recovered from the prohibition leaving Tivoli to become the iconic Denver Beer for the Western Aristocrat and eventually a dominant brewery in the west. Tivoli continued to grow and the public continued to embrace Tivoli beer. After Good died in 1918, the brewery stayed in the hands of Good's descendants and his long-time business partner, William Burghardt. By the 1950s, the brewery became one of the largest breweries in the country, producing up to 150,000 barrels a year which were sold everywhere west of the Mississippi. In the early 1960s Tivoli continued to grow with the Hi-En-Brau brand. When Loraine Good, the final Good descendant, died in 1965, Carl and Joseph Occhiatio purchased the Tivoli-Union Brewery from the estate. The brothers immediately faced hardship when the Platte River flooded in 1965, damaging the brewery. One year later, a labor strike set the business back exponentially. In April 1969, the Tivoli Brewery closed for business. Until Tivoli closed, it was the second oldest continuously operating brewery in the country with Pennsylvania's Yuengling brewery being the only brewery with an existence surpassing that of Tivoli. After years of abandonment it was converted into a shopping center in the mid 1980s by architectural firm HOK. For some years, the property housed AMC 12-theater operation, later the Starz FilmCenter, which hosted the Denver Film Society's annual

Denver Film Festival The Denver Film Festival is held in November, primarily at the Denver Film Center/Colfax, in Denver, Colorado, now the Anna and John J. Sie FilmCenter (Sie FilmCenter). Premiere events are held in the Buell Theatre and Ellie Caulkins Opera House ...

from 2001-2011. Two Pints of Tivoli Beer

Today, the building is home to the Tivoli Student Union of the

, serving as a student center for the Metropolitan State University of Denver, the University of Colorado Denver, and the Community College of Denver. While it is now used as meeting rooms and student group offices, many of the historic features still remain, including the copper brewing kettles and a barrel lift that is visible from two levels. Tivoli Brewing Co. has since been revived in 2012. The brewery serves as the center of the brewing and beer industry education programs at the schools that share the Auraria campus.

References

External links

Tivoli Student Union Home Page
* {{Metropolitan State University of Denver Brewery buildings in the United States Historic American Engineering Record in Colorado National Register of Historic Places in Denver Economy of Denver Towers in Colorado Student activity centers in the United States Auraria Campus Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Colorado 1882 establishments in Colorado Buildings and structures completed in 1882

History

See also

References

External links