Georgetown brewery bankrupt, millions of dollars in debt

Guanella Pass Brewing, which has locations in Georgetown and Empire, is bankrupt.

The 7-year-old brewery filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Dec. 30. It has $2.3 million in debt, far more than the $860,000 in gross revenue that it earned in 2023.

Guanella Pass became Georgetown’s first brewery since Prohibition when it opened in May 2017 at 501 Rose St. in the tiny Clear Creek County town. It has 16 owners, led by Steven and Stacey Skalski of Evergreen, who together are its majority shareholders.

Steven Skalski bought 501 Rose St. for $180,000 in 2016, county records show.

“We’ve got this building, we had to build it all out. It was an old antique shop,” Skalski told a beer podcast in 2019. “We had to do a lot of demolition work and put floors in.

“It’s just a great spot. People are discovering Georgetown more and more.”

In 2020, Guanella Pass opened a brewpub at the foot of Berthoud Pass along U.S. 40 in Empire. It also operates the SilverBr...