Joint venture agreement pairs craft beer pioneers.

• Author: Dedrick, Jay
• Position: MANUFACTURING - Breckenridge and Wynkoop

Colorado's craft brewing industry has long held a reputation for collegiality. It's not uncommon for brewers to combine talents and facilities for the sake of creating one-shot products. If a brewhouse is running low on malt or hops, chances are a cross-town competitor is willing to open the cupboard to help a friendly rival.

Such camaraderie has led to a 50-50 joint venture by two pioneering names in the state, Breckenridge and Wynkoop. Starting this month, the Denver-based holding companies will team to share portfolios, equipment and talent at their brewing facilities and restaurants.

Both sides stress that the arrangement enables the preservation of established brand identities. Both will have their own boards of directors, while a board of four managers - two from Wynkoop, two from Breckenridge - will oversee the corporation.

For Wynkoop, which famously began with Colorado's first brewpub under the leadership of new Gov. John Hickenlooper, the teaming offers an immediate production capacity boost for its line of canned beers sold at retail. The LoDo establishment's 20,000-barrel annual capacity is more than doubled by Breckenridge's 50,000-barrel capacity at its Golden Triangle facility. Wynkoop now can brew and can products at Breckenridge, while Breckenridge can experiment with new brews by using Wynkoop as a pilot system.

"We were quickly butting up against our capacity, and were faced with the reality...