Author: by Jennifer Mulson, The Gazette

COLORADO SPRINGS – On the sleepy, arctic, first day of the new year, long-anticipated change was afoot at one Safeway store. Where once “near beer,” the much-maligned, but grudgingly accepted liquid refreshment with 3.2 percent alcohol by volume, resided on the cooler shelves, was now a colorful bevy of full-strength local and craft beers. “I’m excited,”…