The brand new proprietor of the Colorado Springs brewery stays upbeat throughout the Colorado Springs Information pandemic

Matt Dettmann didn’t set out to take over a business in the middle of a pandemic. But if you’re a business owner with an eye for opportunity and Serendipity has you falling into your lap, try not to get timing in the way.

“Even in a perfect economy, the risk is high,” said Dettmann, a Colorado Springs restaurateur who bought Trinity Brewing Co. from founder Jason Yester in July. “A lot of things happened and somehow came together that made this opportunity possible and I’m just so glad I can do that.”

51-year-old Dettmann has been in The Sources since 2009, a year after Trinity opened. He said he was a long-time customer at the award-winning brewery near Garden of the Gods Road.

“Back then there weren’t many brewpubs in Colorado Springs,” said Dettmann from a town that is now home to more than two dozen people. “Trinity is in such a unique place and has just done so many things and has always been extremely creative and developed so many styles that every place is doing now.”

In addition to a background in restaurants and real estate, Dettmann’s résumé includes work as a Hollywood noisemaker, creating “everyday sound effects” like closing doors and breaking glass for blockbuster films like “Spider-Man” and “Identity” in the 1990s and Early 2000s.

“Completing the brewing is a dream come true. If I could be anywhere, I would be in the brewhouse all day every day, ”said Dettmann.

When Yester opened the brewery in 2008, popular beer terms like “sour” and “seasons” raised eyebrows rather than glasses, and it was a rarity to achieve a barrel-aged brew. In his sophomore year, Trinity received his first medal at the Great American Beer Festival for TPS Report, a wild ale-style beer made entirely from wild Brettanomyces yeast. As of 2012, it was voted the state’s best brewery for six years and was voted the world’s 27th best brewery by ratebeer.com in 2011. The beers have been voted twice among the 25 best beers in the world by Draft Magazine.

Yester announced in July that he had sold the brewery and would be leaving at the end of the month to pursue the “next chapter” in his life.

“Times have changed and I respectfully walk on my own,” said Yester, who is currently using his non-brewing talents to produce a “Portlandia” -style show about Manitou Springs called “Laundromat Chronicles.”

Dettmann said Trinity will continue the traditions of creativity and innovation established by Yester. Despite being a homebrewer for more than a decade, Dettmann takes a back seat at the brewery run by Jon Taylor, a former brewer at Magnolia Brewing Co. in San Francisco.

“Jon said,” I just want to make really creative beers, and not every brewery lets me do that, “said Dettmann, assuring Taylor that he was coming to the right place.

The brewery’s 40 taps offer plenty of space for art, including a range of 10 new IPAs.

The pandemic has slowed business at the brewery, which has patio seating and takeaway orders for food and drink while it closes. However, production is still going well.

“We brew new beers every month, usually a few a month. We haven’t stopped since we arrived, ”said Dettmann. “Our optimism is future-oriented. We hope to open again soon and when we do we want to be ready to go. I think there are a decent amount of people willing to go out and have a beer. “