Tim Felkner is getting a bar for his drinks.
The man behind bottled drink business Uncle Tim’s Cocktails opens Broderick in Denver’s Wash Park neighborhood this week.
“A lot of people don’t see us as a dinner spot but more as a before- or after-dinner drinks place,” Felkner said. “I’ve been out at (nearby Mexican restaurant) Perdida before where it’s been an hour-and-a-half wait and you need something to do in the meantime. Broderick can be that thing.”
The spot at 1080 S. Gaylord St. will serve Felkner’s signature cocktails, like the negroni and old fashioned, alongside “Broderick Favorites” that Felkner and his buddies used to sip on when he lived in San Francisco.
Before moving to Denver in 2019, he and his friend and now business partner Patrick Stern had a penchant for hosting people in the Bay Area. Felkner, whose whole career has been in the hospitality industry, opened six restaurants during his time there.
“At the time, the gathering place (for us) was on Broderick Street, and we called it the Broderick Flat,” he said. “It was a lovely apartment, big living room. It worked well for a lot of different brunches, dinners, birthday parties.”
He wants Broderick in Denver to bring that same sense of home when it opens in Wash Park on Aug. 19. The 1,500-square-foot spot is laden with couches and soft lighting, where patrons will soon enjoy drinks like the $16 mezcal, pineapple and lime combo named Single Village Fix alongside $10 salads, $15 Gino’s Panino paninis, $22 charcuterie boards and other light bites.
This is the second foray into the Denver taproom world for Felkner. He ran a previous spot in the Ruby Hill neighborhood. That one was open from January 2023 through December of that year at Uncle Tim’s old production facility, which moved this past May. But he said it lacked ample space and foot traffic.
“When we had the tasting room in Ruby Hill, we really had to draw people to that neighborhood,” Felkner said. “But on Gaylord, the neighborhood is supportive and it’s a little easier to get to from other neighborhoods. It’s a retail hub.”
For now, Broderick will open at 4 p.m. and close at 10 or 11 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. But Felkner hopes to add coffee and daytime hours in a month or so.
Despite being excited to open, Felkner wishes it happened months sooner. Instead, he waited about twice as long as he expected to get permits from Denver. Change of use within the zoning code was the biggest challenge. His space was formerly home to a liquor store, Bottle Shop 33, which closed last year.
Felkner found the back-and-forth process with Denver’s permitting staff frustrating. He said every time he would resubmit something at the city’s request, he’d be sent to the back of the line. Each time, the turnaround would take three to four weeks, he said, despite CPD staff having already seen the application.
“I’ve done permitting mostly in San Francisco, and I was surprised to learn that that process was even faster there,” Felkner said. “I’ve gotten permits there within three months. For this to take nine months was shocking.”
Felkner said Uncle Tim’s is still going strong, with revenue rising 30% to 40% in each of the past four years. It’s been profitable since four months in, he said. A quarter of sales come online and about half from in-person markets. The remainder is made up of wholesale, including liquor stores, event centers and taprooms that have limited cocktail options.
The next step for the brand’s parent company, aptly named Broderick & Co., is to sell spirits under the Broderick label. Felkner is unsure when the mixers, like the Italian liqueur Amaro, will be available.
“It’s hard to launch a parent company first. You don’t launch a restaurant group with your first restaurant,” said Felkner, noting that he and business partner Sterns had plans beyond Uncle Tim’s when it started years ago. “So we’re now introducing the parent company to help people to get familiar with it.”
