Briar Common Brewery + Eatery

Briar Common Brewery + Eatery occupies a corner building at 2298 Clay Street in Jefferson Park, the neighbourhood wedged between Empower Field and the Highlands, and describes itself simply as a Jefferson Park brewery-restaurant focused on classic beer styles with an eclectic and well-paired food menu. The bar list is unusual for a brewery in that its non-alcoholic offering is split into two properly developed halves rather than a single line at the bottom of the page: a house-built zero-proof cocktail section, and a rotating guest shelf of non-alcoholic beers from breweries that specialise in them.

The zero-proof section runs six drinks at $7 each, all made from juice, house syrups and tea rather than commercial mixers. Very Cherry combines a house cherry-orange-ginger simple syrup with lime juice, ginger beer and club soda. Pomegranate Zinger is the sharper option, pomegranate juice with lime and ginger beer. Brushfire is built on blood orange juice with lime, a clove syrup and soda, which gives it a spiced, autumnal profile. Cherry Cooler is the lighter cousin of Very Cherry, dropping the ginger beer for club soda. Keep Calm is served hot — chamomile tea, honey, lemon juice and hot water — which is a rarity on a bar menu and useful in a Denver winter. On The Rockies is the showpiece: a colour-changing lemonade built on butterfly pea blossom syrup with lemon juice and club soda, which shifts hue as the acid hits the pigment. Alongside these the bar keeps guest non-alcoholic cans at $6, currently Best Day Brewing's Electro-Lime and West Coast IPA and 4 Noses Camp Zero Tangerine Guava Blonde, so a visitor can drink non-alcoholic beer of two quite different styles as well as a built cocktail. Briar Common trades from 11am daily, to 9pm on weeknights and Sundays and 10pm on Friday and Saturday, and the food menu is designed for full meals rather than bar snacks, which makes it a straightforward dinner option for a mixed group where not everyone is drinking.