According to the Brewers Association, Colorado is home to 433 Craft breweries, ranking 4th most in the US. Colorado is governed by the Colorado Beer Code, which provides laws relating to licensing, taxes and fees, production, wholesaling, and retail sales of beer within the state.

Colorado is a dual licensing authority for retailers, which means that licensees are required to become licensed at the local governmental level before becoming licensed by the state.

Colorado is a very relatively friendly jurisdiction for breweries to set up shop. Breweries are eligible to also hold distributor licenses, small brewers (making less than 300,000 gallons of beer per year) are not subject to franchise protections,  and state excise taxes on beer ($0.08 / gallon) are lower than all but a few states.