Bohemian Bier Spa set to open in Glenwood Springs this December

When Dasha Balasova immigrated to the United States in the late 1980s, contributing a piece of her culture to a small town in the Rocky Mountains was the last thing on her mind. 

She came to America to distance herself from the Czechslovakian communist regime, then spent a decade building her life back up as the owner and operator of two bars and a club in Los Angeles. 

After moving to the Western Slope in 2006, she fell in love with the area, feeling at home in a similarly mountainous region and continued her passion of owning watering holes. Balasova owned and operated the Brush Creek Saloon in Eagle for five years before purchasing the historic Black Nugget Saloon (then Carnahan’s Tavern) in Carbondale, restoring it to its prior aesthetic of a miners bar in 2012. 

She spent many hours traversing through Glenwood Springs during her trips from her home and saloon in Eagle to her saloon in Carbondale, eventually falling in love with the culture of Glenwood Springs. Her love for the historic district in Glenwood led to her motivation for her magnum opus, a traditional Czech Republic bier spa in the heart of the Rocky Mountains. 

“Glenwood is amazing,” she said. “I love Glenwood because of the historical side, the fact that it’s bigger, the restaurants and springs, the tourists, and because I’m European I like to sit and watch the people. I just fell in love with this city and knew I wanted to bring something unique.”

Bier spas are a 2000-year old tradition rooted in homeopathic beliefs. Beer baths have been used in central Europe dating back to the middle-ages and are known to treat skin conditions, relieve joint and muscle pain, stimulate the circulatory system, and hydrate skin.

When completed, the spa will offer eight different private therapy rooms, six of which will feature two tubs and can hold a max of four people. Two of the rooms will be connected with a sliding door for larger parties, one room will be a romantic room with only one tub, and one will be an ADA accessible room. 

Each room will be uniquely designed to foster the feeling of being in old central Europe with deep rich wood surrounding the walls and will have a theme designed around a certain Czech beer, including Pilsner Urquell, Gambrinus, and more, though will all feature the same amenities. 

“We want people to forget that they’re in Glenwood while they’re inside,” Balasova laughed. “We want them to be surprised they aren’t in Europe after their stay is done.”

Amenities will include rain showers, infrared saunas, bluetooth speakers, and authentic Czech made wood beer bath soaking tubs. Although the actual recipe is secret and will be buried with Balasova, most bier spas use a similar recipe of water, beer, dry yeast, beer foam, hops, barley and beer-based cosmetic products that are imported from Czechia. Each bath will be drained and remade and the room will be completely cleaned after every 90-minute session. 

“The springs are amazing, but they put chlorine in the water, and more than that they’re so busy,” she said. “This is very private. The bath will only have water, a liter and a half of beer, dry yeast, oil, beer foam, all mixed in a bath and you sit and enjoy.”

Beer, champagne and snacks will also be available for purchase during the 90-minute session.

Balasova explained that she wanted to create something that both indulged in the local historical culture of downtown Glenwood Springs, but also represented her unique story. They first bought the building that later became Ming’s Cafe, but realized it was too small to carry out the dream. 

“The building didn’t have a basement, and it was too small for what I wanted to do in Glenwood,” Balasova said. “I knew I wanted to do a bier spa, something I know from the Czech Republic. It sort of plays off the springs, but it’s more private.”

She then fell in love with the 140-year-old building at the corner of 8th and Colorado Avenue, a building that was currently occupied by High Country Gems & Minerals “The Rock Shop”, Cooper Corner Gallery, and Bleu Door Boutique. Her husband could feel a catch in a building that had been sitting on the market for over eight months, but Balasova’s passion and natural ability to carry out her dreams outweighed his concerns, and they broke ground on the project just after Labor Day 2022. 

“I’m a Sagittarius, I just wanted it,” Balasova laughed. “I said ‘Maybe there is a catch, but this building would be perfect for the Bier Spa.’ This is an old building, and I knew there were going to be obstacles and surprises, but I would just deal with it.”

The two put $2.5 million down on the building together before realizing the extent of the history the building had experienced.

Built in 1886, just years after the town was renamed from Defiance to Glenwood Springs, the building has served as a grocery store, an office building, a house of residence, a medical office, a financial institution, and most infamously, a flop house.

During construction, the two found the entrance to the tunnel used by the bandits that ran the now tourist town. The tunnel supposedly connected every building in downtown Glenwood and even (allegedly) ran underneath the Colorado River and connected to the Hotel Colorado.

Although most of the construction revolved around updating archaic infrastructure, Balasova made sure to keep the historic integrity of the building intact — evident through original brick still displayed inside, and two of the original support beams from the 1880s still doing their work in holding the building. 

Since starting the project in 2022, the two have spent over $5.5 million on rejuvenating infrastructure that was over two centuries old in some spots. According to Balasova, after all is said and done — including aesthetics — the project will probably end up costing over $6 million. 

The renovations have included everything from phasing out archaic plumbing systems, and knob-and-tube wiring — an electrical system introduced in the Civil War — removing asbestos, replacing the entire structural skeleton with steel, literally raising a sinking building up four feet, introducing a revolutionary indoor plumbing system they call “the million dollar wall” and everything in between.  

The two are currently shooting for an opening in December, but are yet to set a hard opening date. According to Balasova, the City of Glenwood and the Glenwood Springs Chamber have shown immense support and are grateful of the investment the two are showing to their project. 

“(The city) knew that sooner or later this building would have had to come down, so they have been very appreciative that someone has come and invested so much money and care into the building,” she said. 

The building that was built in front of horse-drawn buggies for gamblers and outlaws will enter yet another era of its existence, this time for tourists and locals alike who want to experience a taste of old Europe. 

For more information about the Bohemian Bier Spa, visit bohemianbeerspa.com.

Original reporting from Post Independent