In 2018, Liberati, an Italian restaurant and brewery co-founded by Alex Liberati, was one of Denver’s most anticipated openings of the year. Billing itself as the only brewery in the world to specialize in Italian grape ales, Liberati introduced its patrons to “oenobeers,” a term Liberati coined to describe “a beer-wine hybrid with each beer using a different wine grape in its fermentation.”

Liberati, who is originally from Rome, may have introduced oenobeers to Denver, but the concept of craft beers with wine grapes, known locally in Italy as Italian grape ales (IGAs), have existed for at least a decade.