Trve Brewing Bacchanal is Back in the Mile High City

After much too long waiting in our dark and cavernous living rooms, hunkered down sorting through records and trying to remember basic social skills for the next time we could all gather, it is back—Trve Brewery in Denver, Colorado are celebrating their 10th Anniversary Brewing Bacchanal.

“We’ve been doing these anniversary shows every year leading up til the pandemic hit, so it’s nice to just be able to get back into that and do something that feels somewhat normal again,” says owner Nick Nunns. “It’s really encouraging to know that we can pull this off, and to not have to worry about it getting postponed or canceled. And it’s our 10-year anniversary, so I wanted to make sure to do something big for this year.”

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And go big they did: this year, the bill includes local legends Khemmis and Dreadnought, as well as Panopticon, Hulder, and Vastum. Hulder alone is enough to bring folks in from out of town, and adding Panopticon and Vastum to the mix makes for a pretty epic metal fest.

But to truly understand what makes this festival special, one must look beyond the big names on the bill and at how Trve acts as a hub to the metal community in the Mile High City. In a community that is homogenized and whitewashed by a lot of corporate ownership and tech-bro highrises, Trve is a beacon of metal at their South Broadway bar location. The formula is simple: come in for one of their delicious, cvlt, small-batch beers or some merch, then sit at their bar or gorgeous wooden table and listen to metal blasting.

On any given night, you can see all types at the bar, from those tech bros mentioned above to local bands and metal fans pregaming before heading down the street or across town to a venue. Even during the pandemic, they kept their walk-up window open, selling bottles, cans, growlers, merch, and a little bit of fresh-from-a-metal-show-with-all-my-gear energy at a time when it was needed most. They also employ folks in local, up-and-coming bands and allow local metal enthusiasts (including yours truly) to sell books and other merchandise from their storefront.

“We also put together a 10-year anniversary beer for the event with a special recipe,” Nunns says. “But aside from this event, I don’t think we’re doing anything different or new, per se. We’re just trying to get back to normal. I think that’s really the biggest thing for us. Business was great in 2019, and we’re just trying to get back to the point of people feeling comfortable and ready to come to the tap room and grab some beers.

“I also don’t think we’re trying to make up for lost time,” he muses. “The time is lost—It’s gone now. So now it’s just a matter of, OK, let’s get back to what we were doing and what we know works. Let’s get back to normal, and then we can gauge what our next steps are going to be.”

If you’re in Denver this weekend, on Saturday, June 25, come check out some beer and great metal at the Gothic Theatre and support a metal-themed brewery that always supports its community.

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Note: As of Thursday night, Vastum has dropped off the fest lineup due to illness.