The venture successfully brewed two silver medal winning beers at GABF. Not to mention, it’s how Smith closed his first career as a scientist heading a lab of 14 people.īefore opening the Coda Brewing that exists today, Luke Smith and his old partner collaborated to start Coda Brewing Company in Aurora, Colorado. It is also the way many people cap off their work day. It’s the end product of an arduous brewing process. One of Smith’s favorite bands, Led Zeppelin, produced their last album called Coda and it was a culmination of all their songs. So how did the name Coda come about? A Coda is a musical symbol-the oval with crosshairs and in Italian, codas means the tail or the end. A sessionable beer is on the list right now and he’s working on their first Pale Ale and first Saison in response to the seasons changing.

He’s finding a balance between creating beer that he wants to drink (Hazy IPA, anyone?) but also what the neighborhood is telling him they want to drink. “All I want to do is make the best beer and I can’t drink it all, I try, but I have to sell some of it,” Smith told me. On any given day you’ll find a variety of neighborhood residents enjoying a beer on the patio whether that be local families, Mines students, empty nesters or passers-through. It’s the first ever brewery in this neighborhood. In late 2018, the new brewery opened its taps to the beer connoisseurs in Pleasant View. He wanted to be a good neighbor, as he’s lived in the area for 11 years and is raising his family there too. Photo courtesy of Coda Brewingīefore opening Coda, Smith made sure to go to every house in the neighborhood and introduce himself and the brewery. This core group coupled with a plethora of volunteers came together to do the brewery equivalent of an Amish barn raising. A general contractor named Chad, a fabricator named Derek, a welder named Lance and a carpenter named Donovan showed up and basically never left. This record build out took place because of a few key friends who stepped in to lend a hand. Smith found the perfect warehouse in Golden in 2018 and the buildout took place at lightning speed-within seven months he was able to open his doors. He’s got more than two dozen mixed culture yeast blends-some are cultured to have passionfruit flavors, some to be extra tart, etc. Photo courtesy of Coda BrewingĪ self-proclaimed “yeast geek,” Smith propagates all of his yeast in-house (which you can see fermenting on the south facing shelves behind the bar). Increasing calcium chloride levels can round out a stout flavor while calcium sulfate makes hops pop and lends dryness.

Smith told me that you can design water to accentuate different beer styles. Who knew that water could make such a difference in a beer? Many breweries have what Smith calls a “house flavor” because they use the same water and yeast for all of their beers. Smith is building every beer with a unique water profile and unique yeast strains and blends to accentuate the style of each individual brew. Taking a very deliberate approach to recipe creation, his method is based on starting small and scaling as things work out. His background in science labs has had a big impact on his brewing process. Luke Smith, owner, head brewer and yeast wizard, almost looks like Gene Wilder with his curly head of hair and ginger chops.īefore becoming a brewery owner, Smith was a wildlife ecologist and structural biologist. The brewery is tucked in a warehouse in a residential neighborhood and feels like a middle school science room combined with an old-timey apothecary. Have you ever seen Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory? The original one with Gene Wilder? That’s kind of what visiting Coda Brewing is like.

Coda brewing