Locals planning to follow the Denver Nuggets playoff run this season have a new game day-worthy beer that celebrates one of the team’s star players and a cross-continental collaboration.
Denver Beer Co. recently teamed up with Branko Popovic, proprietor of Ravangrad Pivara, a brewery located in Nikola Jokić’s hometown of Sombor, Serbia, to create a beer for the post-season.
From Sombor to Denver Cold IPA will soon be available in six-packs of cans and on tap at all five Denver Beer Co. taprooms on the Front Range.
How this collaboration came to be is both coincidental and quintessentially Colorado, said Charlie Berger, co-founder of DBC and of its new parent company, Wilding Brands. As Berger tells it, he’s a “huge Nuggets fan” who simply wanted to learn more about Serbia as he pondered new ideas for a seasonal beer. (The season being basketball season.) Inspired by Jokić’s 2025 offseason plans to drink “a lot of beer probably,” Berger decided to research the local brewing scene in Somber and stumbled across Ravangrad Pivara, which has unexpected ties to Colorado.
A decade ago, Ravangrad Pivara founder Popovic was in Colorado studying for his brewing and food biotechnology degree, and he was so inspired by the local craft beer scene that he decided to start his own brewery.
“I was amazed by the culture, the taprooms, and the community vibe in craft beer, so when I finished my studies, armed with both a brewing diploma and the dollars earned in Colorado, I bought my first brewing system, and that is where my journey began,” Popovic said in a statement.
Berger reached out to Popovic directly and the two workshopped beer styles that would best embody the spirits of Sombor and Denver, landing on a “cold” India pale ale. Inspiration came from existing beers in Ravangrad Pivara’s portfolio, as well as ideas from Denver Beer Co.’s staff, Berger said. Additionally, they considered what kind of hops were available to Popovic, since he is planning to brew a batch for local drinkers in Sombor.
Popovic is scheduled to return to Denver during the first round of playoffs and brew another batch of the cold IPA, so there is some available if the Nuggets make the NBA Finals, Berger said. Cold IPAs are hoppy beers fermented at lower temperatures using lager yeast, which lends a crispness to the mouthfeel and bolsters the bitterness.
“It’s incredible how the game of basketball has basically turned Sombor into a sister city for us,” Berger said in a statement. “To connect with the all-star brewers in Jokić’s hometown feels like the perfect way to bridge the gap between Colorado and Serbia.”
Denver Beer Co. is now accepting pre-orders for six-packs of From Sombor to Denver Cold IPA on the brewery’s website. It is also planning to host watch parties once the NBA playoffs start on April 18, during which time the beer will also be available on draft.
It’s not the first time a Colorado brewery has made a Sombor-themed beer in honor of Jokic. In 2012, Greeley’s Weldwerks Brewed created Sombor Shuffle, a hazy IPA honoring the first of what would eventually be three MVPs for the Joker.