Stick With Us, Friends: A Letter From the Founder of River North Brewery
- River North Brewery
- 2 hours ago
- 3 min read
I’ve always thought of River North as a “beer first” brewery. That mentality paid off in 2025 in a big way. We started 2025 with an epic Mid-Sized Brewery of the Year win at the inaugural Colorado Brewers Cup. It’s still a bit surreal to be honest with you. But we didn’t stop there. We steamrolled through the year with accolades at the World Beer Cup, Australia International Beer Awards, US Open Beer Championship, National Honey Beer Competition (yes, that’s a thing!), Japan International Beer Cup, Brussels Beer Challenge (our 5th year in a row), the Denver International Beer Competition, and the illustrious European Beer Star.
There’s one big (I mean really big) thing I haven’t mentioned. Alongside our good friends at Cannonball Creek, Westbound & Down, and Third Eye, River North took home Brewery of the Year at GABF (1000-2000 barrel category). Holy s***. That actually happened. We could not be more excited to share the honor with such phenomenal brewers. Keep an eye out for some amazing collaborations with our fellow BoTY winners in 2026.
As I mentioned at our annual Norther Society holiday party (yes, you can still join if you hurry), you cannot be brewery of the year without a Brewer of the Year. For those of you who haven’t met him yet, Matt Malloy has been our head brewer since 2020, and he’s absolutely killing it. It’s not uncommon to find Matt and me sipping a pint at the end of the bar after a brewday, so come say “hi” if you happen to see us.
All the way back in January, Matt Malloy and I had the opportunity to sit down with Craft Beer & Brewing to talk about all our crazy ideas on brewing style-bending high strength beers, among many other topics. Check out the podcast HERE, if you have not already heard it. Speaking of high strength beers, 2026 will be the 10th anniversary of our original high-gravity beer series, The Decennials. We will definitely be throwing a party for God Complex, Shadowman, and Father Time next fall. Stay tuned.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, though. January 31st will be the next installment in our annual party that celebrates the darkest of dark beers. Stouts, of course! Super Stout will return with twelve different rare, vintage, new, adjusted, and barrel-aged stouts all on tap at the same time. It’s not to be missed. Dry January officially ends on the 30th this year – you heard it here first. (Side note: I was using em-dashes before ChatGPT. There’s no AI here, people!) We will see you on Saturday, January 31.
Actually, scratch that. We will see you this Saturday, January 3, for the Resolution Breaker Party. Anniversary 13 Stout will be on tap while it lasts.
Believe it or not, River North Brewery turns 14 years old this year, the perfect age for a brewery in the state known for its 14ers. We will again be concocting a monstrous barrel aged anniversary beer, consisting of a blend of single, double, triple, and quadruple barrel aged stouts. You may just see us sampling some of the barrels if you stop in early on a Friday afternoon in January. Be sure to clear your schedule on February 21. You will not want to miss our 14th Anniversary Bash.
It’s no secret that 2025 was a difficult year for many breweries. It just sucks to hear about long-time friends and brewers closing up shop. When you hear news of other breweries pouring their last beer, take a deep breath and remember why we brew and drink beer in the first place – because it’s f***ing delicious! What I’m trying to say is that River North Brewery is here to stay. So stick with us, friends, and I mean that in a “Stick with us, kid” kind of way. We’re going to keep innovating. Every batch we brew is an opportunity to try something new, to make our beers even better. Now have a beer, and we’ll see you in 2026!
Cheers,
Matt Hess
Founder, River North Brewery
