Cerebral Brewing’s parking lot-turned-mega patio started as a pandemic-era lifeline when people needed space to breathe — and drink — and city officials tried to keep businesses afloat.
Even as N95 masks disappeared, the patio remained and became a popular public gathering space for the Congress Park neighborhood.
“It was friends and family from all over, people just enjoying themselves and having fun outside,” said Sean Buchan, one of Cerebral’s owners.
But now, that space is much smaller.
The beloved brewery, which Denverite readers voted as their favorite in the city in 2019, recently converted more than half of the patio back into a parking lot at the behest of city officials.
The change left Buchan sad and frustrated, he said, because the taproom is so easily accessible via bicycle, sidewalk and public transportation. The brewery will be just a block away from the under-construction East Colfax bus rapid transit line.
“There's a lot of other ways to get here,” Buchan said.
Cerebral’s big patio was part of a temporary city program. The permanent version didn’t allow it to stay
City Council approved Denver’s Outdoor Places Program in July 2023. Officials say Outdoor Places built upon the “successes and lessons learned” from the makeshift pandemic-era program.
The old program allowed Cerebral to use its entire lot as a patio. Without getting too deeply into the weeds, the new program does not.
The restored lot has a handful of parking spaces, including one ADA spot.
The nature of Cerebral’s property is another reason it had to add back parking. The brewery shares a building and an off-street parking lot with two other eating and drinking establishments next to a residential zone, said Ryan Huff, a spokesman for the city’s planning department.
“Given all this, per zone lot rules, they had to open up a handful of required parking spots,” Huff wrote in an email. “This also lessens the parking impact on the neighborhood surrounding these businesses. Cerebral was allowed to maintain a patio area.”
But parking rules may soon change again.
City Council is considering Mayor Mike Johnston’s proposal to abolish parking minimums altogether. Street safety advocates gathered at Cerebral recently to write letters to policymakers in support of the idea.
Buchan supports cutting parking requirements, too. The smaller patio isn’t affecting business too much now, but he expects that will change as the weather warms.
“We’ll start to feel that in the next few months,” he said.
