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About The Grateful Gnome
The Grateful Gnome Sandwich Shoppe & Brewery is a family friendly deli, restaurant, and brewery that was established in April 2018.
Meet Dan.
The Grateful Gnome Sandwich Shoppe & Brewery is the concept of owner/operator Daniel Appell. Dan was six-years old in 1982 when his father purchased Bangiola’s Sandwich Shoppe and Catering in Parsippany, NJ. Dan started working there immediately, performing every aspect of the business through his graduation from West Virginia University. In 1999, after spending seventeen years growing up in and learning the family business, Dan went on to bartend at Arthur’s Tavern in Morris Plains, NJ and 10th and Willow in Hoboken, NJ. Curious about leaving the retailer side of the Food and Beverage industry for the supplier side, Dan worked for Anheuser-Busch at High Grade Beverage (Randolph, NJ) in a sales capacity before relocating his life to Denver, CO. Since moving to Colorado, Dan has been an member of the Sales, Marketing, Distribution, and Packaging teams at Upslope Brewing Company (Boulder, CO), Wynkoop Brewing Company (Denver, CO), Wonderland Brewing Company (Broomfield, CO), and C Squared Ciders (Denver, CO).
Meet Brian.
Born and raised in Minnesota, Brian has been making beer since 1993. After a stint in the Army and college, it all began with his first batch of homebrew, and it instantly became an obsession! He committed himself to learning everything related to the science,creativity and history of making beer.
By 1995 a once in a lifetime opportunity to turn his hobby into a career presented itself and he jumped at the chance to start his future as a professional brewer. It was in Kansas City that Brian started to develop his reputation. He was an integral part in the startup of several successful local brewpubs and personally trained some of K.C.’s most respected brewers. Along the way, he collected a few GABF medals and honed his love of creative recipe development. Staff and guests alike have always valued Brian’s dedicated interaction with the community, dubbing him “Brew Geek” in his ability to discuss beer trivia, science, and history with anyone who would listen!
After getting married, Brian and his wife decided they wanted to build roots in a place with a more active outdoor lifestyle. Colorado was an easy choice as they had long been fans of the Rocky Mountain beer and music scene.
In the more than 20 years that Brian has been in Colorado, he has gathered a few more GABF medals, and has had fulfilling positions with great brands such as Mountain Sun, Breckenridge, and Over Yonder.
Brian has been fortunate enough to have been an editorial advisor for BrewPub magazine, a lecturer at several conferences, and participated in some amazing collaboration brews with some of the most respected brewers in Denver.
Brian took a step into production brewing, seeing Breckenridge Brewery through its massive expansion, as well as with Sleeping Giant, the largest contract brewing facility in the west, in an effort to support smaller scale craft breweries seeing impressive growth in their own businesses. While production brewing gave him valuable experience in quality control, laboratory procedures and efficiency best practices, he missed the creativity and one on one connections that comes with small-scale brewing, bringing him full circle back to his brewpub roots.
It is with great excitement that Brian brings his 30+ years of professional brewing experience and passion to the Grateful Gnome team! Brian looks forward to bringing you creatively expressive beer, a flexible and ever changing beer menu, consistency in flavor, and a connection with the people drinking our beer.