{"id":42247,"date":"2022-02-11T01:28:52","date_gmt":"2022-02-11T08:28:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/carver-brewing-co-s-brothers-pass-business-to-next-generation\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:05:56","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:05:56","slug":"carver-brewing-co-s-brothers-pass-business-to-next-generation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/carver-brewing-co-s-brothers-pass-business-to-next-generation\/","title":{"rendered":"Carver Brewing Co.\u2019s brothers pass business to next generation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Brothers
Brothers Jim Carver, second from left, and Bill Carver, right, toast on Thursday to the next generation of Carvers, Claire and Colin Carver, who will take over ownership of Carver Brewing Co. on Main Avenue in downtown Durango. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Brothers Bill and Jim Carver announced this week they are stepping down from their bakery turned brewpub, Carver Brewing Co., after nearly 40 years in downtown Durango.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems like a great time to pass the reins,\u201d Jim said. \u201cBrewpubs are a young and energetic business, and the timing is really just right.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ownership of the brewpub will be passed to the next generation, Colin and Claire, who share the last name of Carver. Colin and Claire are the children of Bill Carver.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe couldn\u2019t be more thrilled,\u201d Claire said. \u201cOne of the things I\u2019m most excited about is to work with a friend and a sibling. There\u2019s an innate trust.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bill said having a second generation take over the business feels special.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels great to have a second generation to step in and keep the business locally owned and continuous in intent,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Colin said he and his sister have no plans to shake up what is being done at Carver\u2019s, and that it will largely remain the same community spot it has always been.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think a lot of it is just going to be business as usual. We\u2019ll still have all of the things that Carver\u2019s is known for,\u201d Colin said.<\/p>\n

He said the change in ownership will make Carver Brewing Co. one of the only second-generation brewpubs in the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve done a little research, and can\u2019t really find another one,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Bill and Jim bought the old Durango Bakery in 1983 and operated Carver\u2019s as a bakery for the first five years of business.<\/p>\n

Carver\u2019s was the second brewpub to open in the state of Colorado, just a few months behind Wynkoop Brewing in Denver.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve always been very early adopters of new trends,\u201d Bill said. \u201cWe had the first espresso machine in Durango back when we were a bakery, we were the first to have a nonsmoking patio and then the first brewpub in the area.\u201d<\/p>\n

Claire, 31, and Colin, 29, will be the owners of the oldest brewpub in Southwest Colorado.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a legacy component to it,\u201d Claire said. \u201cIt\u2019s not just a restaurant, there is some history behind it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Claire and Colin said they\u2019re excited to work with the team of managers and servers that currently keep Carver\u2019s running smoothly.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so exciting to see this cornerstone business in Durango that was started by siblings, and is being passed to siblings,\u201d said Carver\u2019s General Manager Dasha Greidanus.<\/p>\n

Carver\u2019s employs about 40 people, but it ultimately depends on the time of year, Colin and Claire said.<\/p>\n

Colin said he\u2019s seen a number of businesses recently be passed from generation to generation in Durango, including Maria\u2019s Bookshop.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a bit of a cool trend to have a second, or in some cases a third generation of kids that grew up in Durango that decided to stay here,\u201d Colin said. \u201cClaire and I are really excited to be a part of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jim said the idea to pass the torch has been brewing since before the pandemic hit, but the brothers decided to keep working until things settled down.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been thinking about it the last couple years, and when COVID-19 hit, we decided to just wait until it mellows out,\u201d Jim said. \u201cThe road is becoming much clearer ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bill and Jim said it won\u2019t be a sudden transition. They plan on working with Claire and Colin over the coming months to support the new owners as they fill the shoes of their father and uncle.<\/p>\n

Both Bill and Jim said they aren\u2019t sure of any specific plans for retirement yet, but they are excited.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a truck and a camper, so traveling is high on the list,\u201d Jim said.<\/p>\n

Since the family announced the transition Tuesday on Facebook and Instagram, the posts have received over 10,000 views. The Carver brothers said it has been fun to see how excited people are about Colin and Claire stepping in.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really touching,\u201d Claire said. \u201cI\u2019ve talked to a lot of people this week that are very excited.\u201d<\/p>\n

njohnson@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brewpub remains family and sibling-owned<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42248,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[4389,582,2490,28],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-42247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-carver-brewing-co","tag-craft-beer","tag-distiller-and-brewer","tag-headlines"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42247"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42247\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85273,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42247\/revisions\/85273"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42247"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=42247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}