Boulder’s BRU pub closes

BOULDER — Friday marked the final day for brewery and restaurant BRU on Boulder’s east side. After seven years of operation, the ongoing health and economic crisis caused by the pandemic claimed the craft brewer.

In a note on its Facebook page earlier this week, co-owners Bryce Clark and Ian Clark said the brewery was shutting down due to COVID-19-related financial stress

BRU was originally founded as a half-barrel craft brew operation in a garage in 2012 and moved to its location at 5290 Arapahoe Ave. a year later.

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The brewpub proper was established in the midst of the Great Recession and survived the Boulder floods of 2013, numerous issues with utilities and the construction of the Parc Mosaic apartment complex next door over its lifetime.

“BRU has lived through so much, but unfortunately it could not survive COVID-19,” the brewery said in its post.

Representatives from BRU did not return a request for comment Friday afternoon.

Craft breweries across the country were already dealing with thin operating margins due to the steady growth of competition in the segment coupled with declining or stagnant sales, but the pandemic and the ensuing shutdowns cut off a critical source of in-person taproom revenue for many neighborhood brewers.

A Brewers Association survey from April showed about 46% of craft breweries had only enough capital to sustain themselves for one to three months if the stay-at-home orders were in effect.

While hard lockdowns have been lifted in Colorado and elsewhere, there are still restrictions on alcohol-serving establishments because public health experts fear inebriated people are less likely to follow social distancing protocols. Many breweries have stemmed the losses by pivoting aggressively to take-out service for growlers and cans.