Voodoo Brewing Co. opens in Colorado Springs
May 30—Colorado Springs' newest craft beer destination, Voodoo Brewing Co., opened Saturday inside a renovated building off Garden of the Gods Road.
Voodoo is a small-but-growing craft pub chain based in Meadville, Pa., which operates on a franchise model.
Local owner and general manager Micah Maffeo said his location is a Colorado first for Voodoo, which has a handful of brewpubs in Pennsylvania and about a dozen independently owned and operated locations nationwide, including in Las Vegas and outside Cleveland.
"I think Voodoo is all about bringing people together, with good beer and good pub food," he said.
Maffeo was born and raised in Colorado Springs and graduated from Rampart High School. He discovered a passion and knack for entrepreneurship early, selling guitars to help pay his way through Colorado State University.
After seven years of service in the Army, and a career as a military intelligence officer, Maffeo initially planned to dive into the civilian world of real estate investing, but the pandemic market boom suddenly meant hefty buy-ins and dwindling profits. He then considered buying an existing business, but quickly learned he wasn't the only wanna-be, or established entrepreneur with the same ambitions.
Opening a franchise, though, was something he could swing — if he could find one with a menu, and a vibe, that felt right
"I didn't want to sell my soul or identity to a cookie-cutter corporate machine," he says, in a bio on Voodoo's franchising website. "I wanted to bring to my community something fresh, something that was new and brought value. Something that would fit in my community like a glove but was unique."
Maffeo signed on with Voodoo in summer 2021, and then spent eight months searching for a space before 808 Garden of the Gods Road became available. The location previously housed the final iteration of Big Train Family Restaurant, a Springs comfort-food staple for more than 50 years before it closed in early 2022.
He hoped to open before the end of last summer. Then, when that date got postponed, November became the plan.
"In fact we did everything backwards, painted first, put signs up first...got them up in time for that projected opening date, but then we just constantly kept getting kicked back," Maffeo said.
The Voodoo menu features 24 taps of Voodoo beer and locally-sourced, beer-infused, "elevated pub food," including pizzas and pretzels, burgers and things that pair well with beer cheese (though, really, what doesn't?).
"It's been a long time coming and we're just excited to finally be opening." Maffeo said last week, as last-minute work wrapped up ahead of the grand opening. "We hope everyone comes out to check us out."
More brewery notes: Elsewhere in the Springs, Dauntless Brewing Co. is drawing closer to its big reveal at 1647 S. Tejon St., in the former location of Distillery 291, by the Ivywild School. And, on the city's west side, WestFax Brewing Co.'s Colorado Springs taproom continues to take shape, in leaps and bounds, at Pikes Peak Avenue and 31st Street.
