Meet Luke Smith of Coda Brewing Co. in Golden

Today we’d like to introduce you to Luke Smith.

Luke, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Coda Brewing started in our barn in Golden, Colorado. I was a yeast scientist at the time working in translational and research molecular drug design. We used yeast as a model to develop novel cancer therapeutics. I officially started the company while in the barn and studied under a mentor for many years until finally opening a proper brick and mortar in 2014 on the University campus where I was a scientist. We were fortunate enough to win a couple Great American Beer Fest silver medals over the course of two years but after having a couple kids my wife and I decided to move it closer to home and I could be closer to the kids. We were fortunate enough to find a place one block from our home where we had lived for a decade. We wanted Coda to be a part of the neighborhood we have grown to love. We had many offers to rebuild our brand in Golden but ultimately decided to bootstrap the company ourselves due to the fact that so many partnerships go awry. Our family and friends all pooled together in so many ways to physically build out the location it was unbelievable. Our general contractor, fabricators, welders, carpenters, painters, all were helping us to succeed and working for beer. True friends indeed. We opened the doors in September 2018 and we were off. We set conservative goals and were able to meet them and continue to meet them 6 months later. We are very happy being a small mom and pop brewery making some of the most innovative science driven beers. We look forward to our first spring and summer and are already looking to expand into the unit next door.

Has it been a smooth road?
The road was very rocky. Typical things you hear about like buildout taking forever, permits getting lost or delayed and inspections, oh inspections. The not so typical issues are the ones you have to worry about. Equipment failures almost caused us to close the doors.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
I took my knowledge of Protein assays, structure-based drug design, yeast biology, water chemistry, etc. and put it into making beer. We are set apart from other due to the fact that every beer has a unique yeast strain and a unique water profile to accentuate the style of beer you are drinking. We are set up in a functional apothecary. This means we pull down potions and tinctures off the shelf and add them right into your beer. Pretty cool eh? Our motto is “Ale’s what cures you”.

Is our city a good place to do what you do?
After only 6 months of operation we are looking to acquire the unit next to ours. Our tap room is full every day and we need more room. This will house more barrels as well for our sour beer production. We are also working on our can package design so people can take beer to go directly from the taproom.

Pricing:

• Most Beers are $6 – $7
• Mixed Cultures Sour Beers are $8 – $12

Contact Info:

• Address: 15965 S Golden Rd. Ste C2 Golden, CO 80401
• Website: codabrewing.com
• Phone: 303-360-8691
• Email: Luke@codabrewing.com
• Instagram: @codabrewing
• Facebook: @codabrewing
• Twitter: @codabrewing

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