Oskar Blues Brewery
Founded in 2002 by Dale Katechis, Oskar Blues Brewery was the first U.S. craft brewery to brew and can its own beer. In fact, the Longmont, Colo., brewery only cans its beer. “We thought the idea of our big, luscious pale ale in a can was hilarious,” Katechis says. “And it made our beer immensely portable for outdoor enjoyment fun.”
Cans also keep beer extremely fresh; they keep out light and oxygen, are recyclable and don’t break like glass. They’re also economical, as glass bottles, according to the brewery, constitute a whopping 35 percent of the weight of a bottle of beer.
From the beginning, when the brewery would “hand-can” its flagship Dale’s Pale Ale—originally sealing them one at a time—canned craft beer caught on big time. Today Oskar Blues cans other heralded, award-winning beers such as G’Knight (American Strong Ale), GUBNA Imperial IPA, Old Chub Scotch Ale, Mama’s Little Yella Pils and its seasonal imperial stout called Ten FIDY.
“We’re in this to have fun and put some extra joy on the planet,” Katechis says. “We love the way people’s heads spin around after they try one of our four-dimensional canned beers. ‘That came out of a can?’ We hear it all the time.”
(www.oskarblues.com)
