Brauns on Blake closes, ending the sports bar's Denver legacy

Less than a year after opening, the Brauns on Blake sports bar has closed at 2401 Blake Street. The spot was Brauns's second location. The first -- and most well-known -- Braun's on Auraria Parkway closed last summer after the Pepsi Center, which owned the building where Brauns Bar and Grill was located, didn't renew the lease.

Brauns on Auraria had been a prime hangout before, during and after Colorado Avalanche and Denver Nuggets games since it opened in 2002. The second location wasn't as successful.

Brauns co-owner Troy Johnston didn't respond to messages seeking comment, but he's currently involved in starting up a new brewery in the Lower Highland neighborhood. Prost Brewing, named for the traditional German toast, will be located at 2540 19th Street in the Harold Call and Company building.

Johnston said in a previous interview that it will rely on no-nonsense German-style beers and forty-year-old brewing equipment shipped from a brewery in the world-famous beer region of Bamberg, Germany. It will have a tap room and what Johnston calls "an authentic beer garden" -- something that's becoming more popular in the United States, with long tables and pea gravel but no TVs.

"This isn't going to be for everybody," he said. "We are going to have great beers, but a very small selection. These are going to be sessionable beers that you will be able to drink and enjoy. We are going to go back to the way beer is supposed to be brewed."