Fiction Beer Company Parker opens

Public Notices

BY RACHEL LORENZ SPECIAL TO COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA

Great beer with a great concept is what took Christopher Belila from a Fiction Beer Company customer to an employee and, nally, a proprietor.

“It’s something unique,” the majority owner of Parker’s newest brewery and taphouse told Colorado Community Media. “Fiction Beer: books, beer, book clubs, book sales.” e 2,600-square-foot space in the Country Meadows Square shopping center is Fiction Beer Company’s

Hours after receiving its liquor license on May 23, Fiction Beer Company Parker debuted in the former home of Welcome Home Brewery near the intersection of Hess Road and South Parker Road. It was “absolutely thrilling” to see his bar in action and customers occupying its padded vegan leather seats, enjoying themselves, Belila said. He sold 251 pours that rst evening.

If You Go

second location. e rst, owned by Ryan and Christa Kilpa trick, opened in Denver’s Park Hill neighborhood in 2014.

Both places pay homage not just to the craft of making beer but to the literary world as well. Each taproom has a bar adorned with the spines of real books, a lending library and a list of beers inspired by literary works.

In addition to bar seating, a long community table and plenty of two tops, the Parker spot has a few reading nooks, complete with cozy chairs, and a living-room-like setup behind the brewery’s double-sided replace. e six-barrel system in Parker will be used for additional capacity and as a laboratory for experimenting with new recipes, Belila said.

“I like to call us a brewery lounge. … We wanted it to have a very comfortable feeling where people just want to spend time drinking great beer,” Belila said of the interior’s clean lines and sleek nishes that he designed with part-owner and General Manager Mallory Gillette.

Fiction Beer Company focuses on lagers, IPAs and a rotating selection of both classic styles and experimental beers, according to its website.

Belila became a regular at Fiction in Denver not long after it opened and then a part-time employee, working behind the bar, in 2017. Last fall, he registered his company, e Beer Bodega LLC, with the state, and by December he was contemplating the purchase of Welcome Home Brewery’s assets. In January, he left the corporate training world where he had worked for two decades. Bringing Fiction beer to Parker has been his full-time vocation ever since.

“ e ultimate goal for e Beer Bodega is to help take great breweries and help them expand to the suburbs,” Belila said.

Fiction in Parker has several events planned to draw in customers not already familiar with their beer. Its grand opening weekend begins June 1 with a ribbon-cutting and features a variety of live music over the next three days. On June 10, it’s hosting a book fair for adults in conjunction with local bookstore Books Are Awesome. Belila and Gillette are also working on a beer and shoe shine event for Father’s Day. Trivia and poker and other game nights may be coming as well.

“We’ve got all sorts of other fun stu that we’re working on that is designed to support Parker,” Belila said.