So Many Roads Brewery Hits Another Licensing Speed Bump for Serving Alcohol to Minors

So Many Roads Brewery, a psychedelic Grateful Dead bar that doubles as a live-music venue, has wandered down the wrong path yet again — getting slapped with its second liquor-license violation for serving alcohol to minors in less than a year — and the Denver Department of Excise & Licenses isn’t letting the establishment off easy.

On September 7, Excise & Licenses Executive Director Molly Duplechian rejected a settlement agreement between the City Attorney’s Office and So Many Roads that had required the business to show why its liquor and cabaret licenses shouldn’t be revoked after the bar violated an agreement it had reached with the city last October.

“The August 16, 2023, Settlement Agreement between Respondent and the City Attorney is hereby rejected,” Duplechian wrote.

So Many Roads, located at 918 West First Avenue, had closed for the month of November 2022 as part of a previous settlement. In response to accusations of selling alcohol to minors, along with disorderly behavior and distribution of controlled substances, the bar admitted to those behaviors and closed for a month.

That So Many Roads controversy was closely linked to a licensing case in which a bartender sold cocaine to an undercover cop, causing Sancho’s Broken Arrow to close for good. Both venues were once owned by promoter and Deadhead Jay Bianchi. In 2020, while facing sexual assault allegations, Bianchi transferred ownership of Sancho's to Tyler Bishop and Timothy Premus, and Bishop took over as sole owner of So Many Roads.

Bishop did not respond to a request for comment.

The latest violations at So Many Roads were uncovered through a Denver Police Department operation, just as they were last year.

In February, an underage DPD cadet who possessed a vertical Colorado driver’s license with “Under 21” printed on it attempted to enter So Many Roads with an undercover officer. Both were allowed into the venue.

“Upon entering the bar area, the underage cadet went to the bar and ordered two Coors Light beers (alcoholic beverage) from a white male with grey hair, who was working as a Bartender,” notes a show-cause order issued by the city in June. “This bartender was later identified as Jay M. Bianchi, date of birth 06/22/1968. Bianchi served the two beers to the underage cadet, for which the underage cadet paid a total of $10 in cash.”

Bianchi did not respond to a request for comment regarding the case.

Though he no longer owns So Many Roads, Bianchi has been involved throughout the establishment’s licensing saga — and even helped organize a fundraiser to help keep So Many Roads afloat last November.

Now his bartending escapade could put the venue in jeopardy of closing for another lengthy amount of time.

Last fall's So Many Roads settlement stipulated that if any additional violations occurred over the next year, the space would get hit with an automatic 45-day closure. Whether that happens will be determined after a September 27 meeting with a city hearing officer, who will subsequently issue a recommendation on whether to impose the 45-day closure penalty or any other penalty. Duplechian will then review the evidence before making a final decision.

This marks just the second time in the past five years that an Excise & Licenses director has rejected a settlement between the Denver City Attorney’s Office and a business license holder. The other was in a case concerning a Pinkerton security guard.