Lovers of art, as well as IPA’s have something new to croak about. Golden artist Jesse Crock has painted an outdoor mural on the north wall of the city’s newest brewery, Mountain Toad Brewing.

The three-panel mural measure 10-and-a-half by 7-and-a-half feet.

“They’re panels showing different scenes of Golden, and I had to throw in a toad,” Crock said. Another scene, showing a kayaker on Clear Creek with the Colorado School of Mines (CSM) “M” in the background, was included to honor the school where two of the owners met.

One of those owners, Kaylee Acuff, recently earned her doctorate degree from CSM, and taught there, until recently.

“I see a lot of my students here, so it’s an interesting change of roles,” Acuff said.

Acuff, and the other three owners — Thad Briggs, Josh Robbins, and Brian Vialpando — opened Mountain Toad on Memorial Day weekend, and say they have enjoyed strong community support so far. The brewery features six beers on tap, typically including a range of styles, such as their Mt. Zion IPA, and White Ranch Wit (Belgian white). The brewery has followed the lead of fellow Golden breweries like Golden City and Cannonball, and invited food trucks to swing by most evenings, providing food to go with the libations. Newly added umbrellas for the brewery picnic tables have added shade to their beer garden.

“We really are passionate about the community, and just wanted to add to it,” Acuff said. She described that Golden atmosphere as being “where you can just pull up a chair and share a beer with anybody.”

Besides the new mural, there are other big changes afoot at Mountain Toad. Acuff and Robbins are getting married. The happy couple is celebrating by crafting an “I Do Brew” Belgian ale for their wedding guests, as well as for visitors at the brewery.

The ownership decided to feature Crock’s artwork, both for the wall mural, as well as hanging several of his pieces inside the brewery, because of its vibrancy, and its reflection of the Golden lifestyle, Acuff said.

“It’s alive. It’s what we’ve all seen out there, except it’s in paint,” Bar Manager Kelly Burton said.

Briggs said the mural, and the building’s overall red paint job was a massive improvement over the pale pink color the building was in when first purchased.

“It just adds so much color,” Briggs said.

The brewery received funding assistance from the Golden Urban Renewal Authority for both their sign, as well as the mural.

Crock said the mural was the first he had ever done outside, and the largest. He said that even though painting on cinder block was “difficult to say the least,” he had enjoyed the work.

“I couldn’t ask for anything else,” Crock said. “It’s a dream come true to be able to share my art in my hometown.”

Crock said his future artistic endeavors include getting ready for the Golden Fine Arts Festival Aug. 17 and 18.