Breaking News - Canned Craft Beer?
November 15, 2002 -- Oskar Blues Releases Colorado’s First Canned Craft Beer
Oskar Blues Brewery is making history and changing the way craft beer lovers view canned beer. The small brewpub operation northwest of Boulder has just released Dale’s Pale Ale, the nation’s first full-flavored, canned pale ale and Colorado’s first canned craft beer.
"We like pushing the envelope and stretching the boundaries," says Dale Katechis, founder of Oskar Blues and namesake for his company’s precedent-setting beer. "We like hearing something can’t or shouldn’t be done and then doing it. That’s what craft brewing is supposed to be about."
Dale’s is the heartiest beer ever squeezed into a can, a richly hopped ale that stretches the style guidelines for pale ales. Brewed with hefty amounts of European malts and four strains of American hops (added in a 90-minute boil), Dale’s delivers a blast of hop aromas, a malty, hoppy middle and a clean finish. It weighs in 6.5% ABV.
Why put such a big beer into a little can? "The public’s perception," Katechis says, "is that cans are a cheap way to sell cheap beer. But we see cans as the beer industry’s most popular package and the premium way to present our beer to the public. Unlike bottles, cans eliminate the risk of light damage and oxidation to our beer." The glass polymer lining of Dale’s Pale Ale cans also ensures the beer never contacts metal.
Brian Lutz is the brewmaster for Oskar Blues and the company’s sister brewery, Redfish New Orleans Brewhouse, in Boulder. Lutz agrees that the can is the next frontier for the craft beer market.
"The canned market offers nothing for the beer connoisseur," says Lutz, whose beers have won three medals in the Great American Beer Festival’s professional judging contests. "There’s a void there that needs to be filled, craft beer lovers deserve a choice in beer packaging." In addition to providing the most protective package for his beer, Lutz notes, "Cans are far more environmentally friendly than bottles, they’re much easier to recycle. They also make it easier for outdoor enthusiasts to take great beer into the backcountry, in the canoe, the ski-pack, anywhere they want to go."
"Outdoor recreation," Katechis says, "will never be the same thanks to Dale’s Pale Ale."
Dale’s is packaged on Canadian-made canning gear that Oskar Blues has installed in a once abandoned barn adjacent to the company’s brewpub/blues bar in Lyons. The beer is packaged in cans from the Ball Corporation’s Golden, Colorado plant. Dale’s Pale Ale cans are also shipped under constant refrigeration.
Can sixpacks of Dale’s Pale Ale are now appearing in stores in the Boulder/Denver area and along Colorado’s Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. Oskar Blues’ other off-premise beers -- Rev. Sandi’s Sinful Stout, Angry Monk and Gaston’s Swollen Delta Stout -- are currently sold in 22-ounce bombers. They will become canned beers in the near future.
Katechis and his team are aware that beer lovers weaned on bottles may not be ready for canned craft beer. "We realize we’re going to have to educate the world before we win it over," Katechis chuckles, "and that’s okay with us. The fact is we make ambitious beer, we have fun doing it and we don’t ever want to get boring in how we sell it. We’re not predictable or dull and neither is our beer."
Wayne Anderson will head up sales and distribution efforts for Dale’s Pale Ale.
For retail and distribution inquiries contact Wayne Anderson or Dale Katechis at 303-823-6685.
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