Falling Rock Is Closing

I'm definitely in shock. My heart goes out to Chris, Steve, and Al Black + the entire Falling Rock crew and family. Falling Rock is an irreplaceable beer institution. Denver will never be the same.

Thanks for 24 years of awesome beers and good times!

From: https://fallingrocktaphouse.com/4072-2/

Howdy Everyone,

First – The Negative
I’m really not sure how to say this but we here at the Falling Rock have made the difficult decision to close. I know this may come as a shock to those of you out there, but this last year has just been the icing on the cake of the last 5 years. A year-long construction project that caused a 30% drop in sales, changes in the neighborhood that have impacted our business negatively (like crazy late-night crowds and decreased office usage), continued increasing competition from our suppliers, challenges in finding kitchen staff plus rapidly increasing costs all have added up to a financially unsustainable situation. After consultations with our landlords (who have bent over backwards during COVID to help us and have been amazing for the last 24 years to work with) we have all decided that us closing will allow both parties to move on without causing financial harm to either one.

Second – The Nitty-Gritty
The Falling Rock will close on Sunday June 27th in the evening (not sure of what time, we’re going to play it by ear). We will be closed on Monday June 21st & Tuesday June 22nd in order to sort through items and get ready for a whirlwind 5 days of selling off the beer, booze, and the stuff on the walls (Note: all of the Neons and current Taphandles are going back to the Breweries/Distributors that own them, I will be at the bar after 1pm on Wednesday-Friday for this purpose). Tentatively the hours on Wednesday and Thursday will be 5-10pm, Friday 5-10pm, Saturday Noon-10pm, and Sunday Noon-? The Beer Cellar (most of which can be checked out on fallingrock.com/products ), lots of remaining T-shirts, Signage, old Tap Handles that the breweries no longer use will all be sold off. COME AND GET IT. If anybody has ideas of what to do with the bottle collection, I’m all ears, I’d really hate to just recycle them.

Finally – The Positives
We can’t possibly thank all of you enough for the last 24 years of the Falling Rock. To the amazing Falling Rock staff (some of whom have been here since day 1 or very nearly so) that truly have been our family here in Denver, Thank You for everything you did to make our vision of what a beer bar could be. We changed the Denver Beer Scene and completely changed GABF Week. When we opened the Falling Rock in 1997, bars/restaurants participation surrounding the GABF was almost exclusively hanging a banner out front welcoming the GABF crowd and selling buckets of Sam Adams for a discounted price. Falling Rock was not having ANY of that. We called up some breweries and had some special kegs sent in. In 1998 we started having a schedule of special Tappings and by 1999 we decided to expand the week by having a Kick-off Tapping on Monday. To ALL of the breweries that supplied us with amazing beers for the last 24 years, we were so honored that you would consider us worthy of pouring your most prized beers, Thank You. To all of the local brewers that supplied us with amazing beers to serve, hung out after your shifts and became such good friends at the same time, Thank You. Special thanks to Crooked Stave Artisanal Distributing for all the organization and supply of interesting, amazing, small Breweries from all over to choose from. Another Big Special Thanks goes out to the Elite Brands crew for keeping me in beer for all these years. This last year has been horrific and Falling Rock would not have made it through without the support of Vinnie and Natalie Cilurzo of Russian River Brewing keeping us supplied in Blind Pig and Pliny the Elder kegs. I know it took a lot of extra effort to keep the kegs rolling to us, but it helped keep us alive, Thank You. To All of you that bought beer from the Cellar Sale and donated to the Gofundme fund. You got us through the winter and gave us a shot at surviving, I’m sorry that we didn’t ultimately succeed but you have our undying gratitude, Thank You.

Love & Eternal Thanks
Chris, Steve, & Al Black
Plus all the Falling Rock Staff

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Lost Abbey Falling Rock is

 

I was only there once. It was for a BA Denver pub crawl on December 07th, 2013. Falling Rock was the last official stop, but a few of us diehards stumbled up to River North after wards...



...I believe that's @Todd in the black shirt and face turned away from me at an adjoining table...more of us in the foreground (sorry, I don't remember any names at this point)...



...we were a small but diverse and interesting crowd.