Hickenlooper brews more than beer.

• Author: SUTTON, KATHLENE
• Position: John Hickenlooper of Wynkoop Brewing Company - Brief Article

John Hickenlooper may be Denver's most laid-back entrepreneur, but the founder of Wynkoop Brewing Co. is passionate and persistent about his causes. Now, he's ready to come out shootin' if Denver's new football stadium is branded with a corporate name.

His version of a blazing shotgun in this instance is a court injunction, which he'll seek "to let a judge decide the issue," he said.

Hickenlooper has already poured megabucks into his stadium-name campaign, mounting a "Friends of Mile High" Web site, selling bumper stickers and commissioning a poll that found taxpayers sided with him 2 to 1. When a mid-October press leak revealed that the Metropolitan Football Stadium District Board of Directors was poised to award naming rights to one of three corporate bidders, Mayor Wellington Webb echoed Hickenlooper's longstanding battle cry that "not everything is for sale."

Their joint press conference dominated the newscasts and the next morning's front page, and later, the commission rescinded negotiations with bidders.

Hickenlooper follows his heart no matter where it takes him, and sometimes it has led him into entrepreneurial ventures with more problems than profits.

Public-spirited amenities like an experimental school and an affordable-parking structure had to be dropped from the multi-building complex anchored by partner Joyce Meskis' Tattered Cover in LoDo.

Hickenlooper and his Wynkoop partners backed out of three of the 12 brewpubs and restaurants they launched or bought across the country. And he never found a bank loan to expand into the upper floors of the Wynkoop building. Hickenlooper says one banker who turned him down laconically reminded him, "The pioneers get the arrows. It's the settlers who get the cash." As a result he sold all 15 lofts on the top floors at cost.

Despite these various setbacks, Hickenlooper's passion for his projects and his perseverance in the face of daunting odds continue to attract investors, customers and friends. With their support he has...