Public Offering Brewing Co. Opens on South Broadway

By Jay McKinney

Sometimes life calls for a career switch, even if it’s a drastic one. Cody Higginbottom did just that when he decided to leave an investment banking career and start his own brewery.

Public Offering Brewing Co. may be creatively named in honor of Higginbottom’s financial past, but it’s truly about making people feel welcome and a part of the brewery. The stock-market-influenced logo showing a beer split between a bull and a bear, is yet another expression of welcoming guests from all walks of life.

The brewery is set to open Nov. 18 in the South Broadway neighborhood of Denver, and Higginbottom aims to make it a hub for the community — regardless of what the market is doing.

“The entire concept of the brewery is creating a place where everyone not only feels a connection to the brewery but that they feel like they’re a part of it,” Higginbottom says. “For so many people, beer can be a common bond and the catalyst for conversation and friendship. We just want to take it one step further and make our customers and community feel like our brewery is their brewery and create one big neighborhood of beer loving friends.”

While this may be Higginbottom’s first independent venture into brewing, he certainly doesn’t lack experience. Like many industry vets, he honed his skills by brewing in his home for nearly 10 years. When he became more serious about the hobby, Higginbottom contemplated a switch in careers in early 2016 and started looking for positions in the brewing industry.

However, he says it was hard to get noticed without any formal training. From there he decided to pursue a craft beer certificate from Regis University while continuing his day job in banking.

After receiving the certificate, Higginbottom entered an internship at Station 26 Brewing where he was able to expand his knowledge under the guidance of Wayne Waananen and Allen Anderson. The experience was extremely valuable in his development as a brewer, and he is thankful for the opportunity they gave him.

“I spent a lot of time cleaning kegs, but they also had me doing every facet of brewing and cellaring and trusted me to complete tasks with no supervision once I had proved myself competent,” Higginbottom says. “I left the internship feeling like I still had a lot to learn, but I also felt like it provided me with a solid foundation and the tools to understand what brewing on a commercial scale required.”

As he embarks on his own journey as a head brewer, one could say Higginbottom views his customers as shareholders and values their honest feedback. When he became serious about his homebrewing, he created a pilot program to help refine his skills and develop new recipes. Every other week he would release a new beer that he would share with friends and family and then ask them to complete an anonymous online survey of 7-10 questions. The program gained traction through word of mouth and eventually Higginbottom had nearly 70 active users that would sample his beers and provide feedback on flavor characteristics and overall enjoyment. He used the unbiased advice to refine his recipes and make them better.

In addition to a nice lineup of beers, Public Offering’s taproom will greet guests with large community tables and floor-to-ceiling glass windows enclosing the 10-barrel brewhouse. Front and back roll-up garage doors will create open-air space, as will the 2,000-square-foot back patio.