About | Smoking River Brewin

the brewerS

Brett

Brett Borchard grew up in Redding California and moved to Meeker in 2020. He was part of the first days of the brewery, making the dream a reality. The brewery location has been many businesses, including a meat processing plant, car wash and bakery. Brett helped to renovate the space into the brewery, dining area and bar that it is today. Spending time now with hops, yeast and malt, Brett is happiest when he sees people enjoying the beer.

CHIP

Chip Brown was born in Hamilton Montana but grew up in Darby. After spending many summers in Meeker with his dad, he moved here in 1986. Chip received a B.S. from Colorado State and then started working at Colowyo. With the impeding closure of Colowyo, Tristate offered continuing education to retrain workers, so Chip followed his home-brew interests and enrolled in the "Applied Craft Brewing" Program at Regis University. Part of the program was to find an internship...Smoking River Brewing Co was next!

Chip is still working full time at Colowyo, but spends a few days crafting your favorite brews at the brewery.

Raised in Meeker, brothers Kevin and Kristofer had made the most of the great outdoors surrounding their hometown. Hunting, fishing, camping, snowmobiling, and biking they have done it all. In college, the brothers developed their love for Craft Beer. While living overseas, Kevin developed a deep connection with the farm-to-fermenter concept. In Italy, Kevin had a unique experience seeing the grape farmer's process of field to fermenter to bottle. Watching one particular owner sit in a chair on a sunny day pondering his wine, Kevin watched and listened as the Vintner mused on his grape varieties and the wine-making process. It was a matter of pride and joy. Kevin knew that someday he wanted to run a brewery and take the same pride in the beer-making process.

At the same time, Kristofer was enjoying craft beer festivals, bikes, adventure races, and other craft beer-centered events and thought his hometown would be a great place to have a brewery for similar activities and be a true public house.

Years later Kevin and Kristofer moved back to their hometown of Meeker Colorado. With families of their own, they wanted to create a family fun place to sip cool refreshing beer with Meeker-grown hops. Kevin, and his long-time friend Dan, began Smoking River Hops to produce a multitude of hop varieties on the verdant river banks of the White River (historically referred to as Smoking River by the local Ute population).

In the Summer of 2021, the brothers opened the Smoking River Brewing Company to the public with an emphasis on quality craft beers, family fun, and community service. The brewers crank away on their 3.5 BBL system trying to keep up with public demand! Our locally grown hops are fresh and full of flavor which gives the beer a nice hop pop! With numerous taps, there is a beer for everyone.

We hope to see you and your family at our brewery on the way to your next adventure. Please come meet ours!

The Owners

How this started -

Our Team

Smoking River Brewing Company was born out of a dream to create a fun and relaxing atmosphere that promotes Community, Diversity, Outdoor Recreation and Public Outreach. We celebrate the many wonders at our doorstep and serve as a portal to the North West Wilderness of Colorado. We promote public engagement through support of local activities, entertainment, enlightenment and provide common grounds and tools to keep people connected.

Our hope is that we will continue to contribute to our vibrant local culture known as ‘Meeker’s living room’.

Our mission is to provide high quality beers and robust engagement through well trained staff that are experts in customer service that builds a comforting brand inside and out.