Tetra Private Lounge & Garden — Denver’s Premier BYOC Venue

Last verified: May 2026

The Venue

Tetra Private Lounge & Garden sits at 3039 Walnut Street in the heart of the RiNo (River North Art District) neighborhood. The venue operates as a private membership BYOC (bring-your-own-cannabis) club — members and guests bring their own cannabis (purchased separately at any Colorado dispensary) and consume on-site in the lounge’s seating areas, garden patio, and member spaces.

Owner Dewayne Benjamin built Tetra as a private-club model from its 2018 opening, initially under Denver’s Initiative 300 framework and subsequently under the post-2019 HB 19-1230 statewide hospitality license categories.

The First Social-Equity Hospitality License

In March 2022, Tetra received Denver’s first social-equity hospitality license with a ribbon-cutting attended by Governor Jared Polis and Mayor Hancock. The award was significant for several reasons:

• First-mover within Denver’s newly-launched social-equity hospitality program
• Public visibility for a Black-owned cannabis hospitality venue
• Symbolic alignment of the Polis-Hancock equity-policy framework with operating reality
• Established precedent for subsequent equity-license applications

Tetra’s success under the equity-license framework is part of the broader social-equity-program success-story narrative. Social-equity licensing detail.

The Membership Structure

Tetra operates on a tiered membership pricing model:

• Daily pass: $20
• Monthly membership: $50
• Annual membership: $350

Memberships include access to the lounge interior, the outdoor garden patio (RiNo’s only operating cannabis garden space), member events, and reciprocal benefits at affiliated Colorado cannabis-friendly venues.

What Members Can Do

• Smoke flower on the outdoor garden patio (weather-permitting)
• Vape and use disposables indoor and outdoor
• Consume edibles indoor and outdoor
• Use cannabis tinctures and topicals
• Attend member events — rotating educational programming, social events, holiday celebrations

What Members Cannot Do

• Buy cannabis on-site — Tetra is a BYOC venue, not a hospitality-and-sales venue (unlike Cirrus Social Club)
• Sell or transfer cannabis to other members — consumption only
• Bring alcohol — Liquor Enforcement Division Rule 47-900 prohibition applies
• Drive impaired — Tetra coordinates rideshare options with members for safe departures

The August 2025 Show-Cause Order

⚠️ In August 2025, Tetra received a “show cause” license-discipline order from DLCP alleging unauthorized vendor sampling at 4/20 events. This was the first such order against a Denver cannabis hospitality establishment.

The venue remains open through the resolution process. Denver reports approximately 90% of administrative show-cause cases end in settlement rather than revocation, but the order is a meaningful operational concern. The resolution timeline extends through 2026.

The show-cause underscores the regulatory sensitivity around hospitality-license operational compliance, particularly during high-traffic events like 4/20.

The RiNo Setting

Tetra’s RiNo location places it in the heart of Denver’s most cannabis-adjacent arts and nightlife district. Walking distance to:

• Mission Ballroom — major concert venue
• RiNo Art District galleries — First Friday Art Walks
• RiNo breweries — though Tetra cannot co-locate with liquor licensees, the broader neighborhood is brewery-dense
• Larimer Square / LoDo — downtown Denver entertainment

RiNo neighborhood detail.

The Cannabis Experience — Tetra’s Mobile-Lounge Counterpart

Tetra operates as Denver’s premier brick-and-mortar BYOC venue. Sarah Woodson’s The Cannabis Experience — Colorado’s first licensed mobile consumption lounge — serves a similar BYOC use case in a mobile format with the “Roots, Rhythm and Reefer” Welton Street tour as its signature programming. Both Benjamin and Woodson are prominent Black cannabis-industry advocates in Denver. Mobile tours.

Pricing in Context

Tetra’s daily pass at $20 sits at the upper end of the Denver consumption-venue market. Cirrus Social Club’s admission and product purchase is structured differently (cover charge plus on-site purchases). Mobile tours cost $50–$200 depending on tour type and duration. The market is segmented but not strictly price-competitive — each venue serves different use cases.

Companion Pages

For Cirrus Social Club detail, see our Cirrus page. For mobile tours, see our mobile tours and Coffee Joint page.