Yetters Brewing opens quietly in former downtown sandwich shop

GREELEY — What Greeley lost in a sandwich shop downtown is now an overall gain as Yetters Brewing Co., quietly opens.

Formerly in a building on the east side of Eighth Avenue, Daniel Yetter moved his brewing company to 1011 Ninth Ave., a former Subway sandwich shop a block west. He’s labored to get the brewery open in the new spot for the last year.

But he recently decided to open the doors and see if people noticed. And did they ever.

“I was just trying things out, and I didn’t want to tell anyone,” Yetter said. “But we were slammed on Saturday, and the word got out. So yeah, people were clearly more willing to come to a Yetters location on 1011 than they were at 725.”

Yetters was previously Green Earth Brewing in the former Greeley Hatworks building at 725 10^th St. There, the big windows and wood floors were a complement to the 1910 construction and feel. But, he said, keeping the building warm in the winters and cool in the summers was practically impossible. He found the former Subway location, complete with a basement for a game room, and an outdoor patio for live music in the summers, and he took the plunge. Bonus — it was in his price range. But he was met with the news he had to put in a fire-suppression system, which delayed opening quite a bit.

The Yetters sign has been up for a year, and pressure to open has been building, which made him feel a little better about finally opening the doors.  “It is a little bit striking,” Yetter said. “I’ve had so many people stop by and say, ‘You’re going to be a brewery? When are you going to be open?’ So many people who didn’t know about Green Earth. When we were doing construction, they were like, ‘Please, just open.’”

Yetter, 47 and a former pastor, prides himself on creating a place where everyone can feel comfortable. He’s not just saying this — he really does want to be considered the Cheers of Greeley.

“You may come in as strangers, but you’ll leave as family,” he said. “We do work really hard on that, even the people who came in on Saturday. I had a great time with them, they were very promising about coming back, we had a great time here. We really want to be a local’s place, specifically downtown.”

The grand plan is to serve all types of liquor to satisfy most tastes. He has eight Yetters-brewed beers, which include best sellers in a pale ale, an IPA, a porter, an amber and Irish red, a lager and a honeybee Belgian ale.

He has been in touch with Syntax Distillery and Cocktail Bar and 477 Distillery, alcohols he’ll use to make cocktails. As long as it is made in Colorado, he wants to use it. And if he can recycle it, all the better.

But his vision contains a lot more than just alcohol and a good time. He feels Greeley’s downtown could use an on-the-go lunch concept in which people don’t have to spend an hour or always settle for fast food.

He has a food license in which he can bring in pre-cooked foods and prepare sandwiches, and he plans to make that a reality. At this point, however, the idea is in concept, but he is talking with vendors.

He plans to have four televisions for people to watch soccer or football, and he also has turned the basement into a gaming room.

“One of my biggest hopes is I can get a crowd for, like, soccer or football,” Yetter said. “If I can get a crowd for football games, I’d be so excited.”

In the basement, he has some stand-up video games, television and plans for a foosball table. If he can afford it, he also will try to bring in a shuffleboard table. He said customers also will be welcome to bring their own gaming so they can play downstairs.

During the winters, that patio will have a fireplace and some comfy couches, as well.

Yetters Brewing Co. is open now on Thursdays and Fridays from 4 to 9 p.m., and from 1 to 9 p.m. on Saturdays. As he gets all of his pieces in place — staff, for one — those hours will eventually change to Tuesdays-Sundays.