Once breweries achieve some level of success, it seems the first thing they do is open another location. This was not the case for Ken Carson at Nexus. Even after the success of the food menu, national TV appearances, awards, and lines out the door, he was very cautious about his expansion plans. That patience has paid off with the opening of the Nexus Silver Taproom at 2641 Coors Blvd NW. It is an easy to get to location in an untapped market. This should spell success. It officially opens Thursday, but I got to poke around a bit during the soft opening Tuesday.

So, what’s different?

1. No kitchen. People hoping for some chicken and waffles with Kaylynn’s exquisite brews are out of luck. That doesn’t mean no food, however. Ken is working to partner with eateries in the strip mall location to deliver food to patrons. There are also several restaurants that you can pick up food from and take into the taproom. Karim and I opted for Wing Stop, and I would say he was pleased …
   
2. The layout. The first thing I noticed was the ample patio (see above photo). Like the original location, the patio faces east so there is a bit less worry about roasting in the afternoon sun. Ken is sticking with later openings for now, but once the place becomes a hit (and it will be), some sort of shading option will become necessary for earlier in the day. The inside is very spacious and gives it an open and welcoming feel. I’ll let the pictures do the talking, but you will notice that it does not feel as cramped as the original location. We’ll see what happens when it’s full of people, though.
     

What’s the same?

1. The beer. It’s still delicious, and you can get all Kaylynn’s signature beers in addition to a few guest taps. Plus, they have the Salted Caramel Stout on tap. WIN!!! I was a very happy nerd and it was the perfect dessert after my wings. (Karim and I may have pestered Ken about serving it with a scoop of ice cream, or putting it on cask, or barrel aging it, or serving it on nitro … bless his patience with us as we geeked out!)
   
2. The service. Granted, it was a quiet evening there with it being a soft opening, but I was happy to see the friendly service that I love at the original location is still a priority at Nexus Silver. Every person I spoke with had genuine smiles on their faces and were eager to know what they could do to make the experience even better.

Since I had his attention, I asked Ken about the status of the Nexus Neighbor program. Regulars may have been frustrated by the system being out of commission. That’s nothing compared to the frustration Ken and the staff have been going through. What happened was this: The old payment system would not allow the two locations to communicate, meaning that points would not transfer from OG Nexus to Nexus Silver. The company hired to make the new systems communicate and upload the member database had a few glitches. This left the poor servers to manually enter each ticket. BUT, he also gave me this scoop: He will be giving bonus points to all Neighborhood members once the system is back online as a thank you for their patience and understanding. Did I mention that Nexus has good service? It starts at the top.

All in all, Ken has set himself up for success yet again. I can see Nexus Silver quickly becoming a regular hangout for the neighborhood, as well as those who happen to be passing by.

Cheers!

— Kristin