Longmont, CO — Colorado Craft Beer Week kicks off on Friday, March 21st and Colorado-based craft brewery, Oskar Blues, is celebrating with the release of three collaboration beers— all concocted and brewed up with fellow brethren-in-beer at Shamrock Brewing Co. (Pueblo, CO), La Cumbre Brewing Co. (Albuquerque, NM), and St. Archer Brewing Co. (San Diego, CA).
The following specialty beers will make their debut on Saturday, March 22nd at the Colorado Brewers Guild’s inaugural Collaboration Festival at the Curtis Hotel in Denver, CO.
Death By Coconut #DeathByCoconut
Brewed by: Oskar Blues Brewery (Lyons) Head Brewer — Jason Buehler and Shamrock Brewing Co. Head Brewer— Keith Hefley
Death By Coconut is an Irish porter aged on dessicated coconut and dark chocolate from Robin Chocolates in Longmont.
6.5% ABV/45 IBUs
Fat Slim India Style Session Ale #FatSlim
Brewed by: Oskar Blues Brewery (Longmont) Head Brewer — Tim Matthews and La Cumbre Brewing Co. Owner and Brewmaster — Jeff Erway
Brewed with a rare North American barley called the “Full Pint” and hops from South Africa and New Zealand. The Fat Slim has a very crisp and light malt body with an aroma is lychee, white pepper, juicy tangerine, and a hint of agave nectar.
5% ABV/55 IBUs
St. Oskar’s Indica Black Lager #IndicaBlackLager
Brewed by: Oskar Blues Brewery Plants Manager — Jim Weatherwax and St. Archer Brewing Co. Director of Brewing Operations — Yiga Miyashiro
An India Black Lager dry-hopped with experimental hop HBC 366.
7.45% ABV/90 IBUs
Saturday’s Collaboration Festival will also be the first time consumers will have the chance to get their hands on the Centennial Pale Ale—a collaboration beer brewed up by over 140 Colorado Brewers Guild members at the Oskar Blues brewery last month. The official collaboration beer for the 2014 Craft Brewers Conference will be served in 16 oz. cans at the CBC in April marking the first time a CBC collaboration beer has been packaged in a can instead of a bottle.
In addition to collaborating with other breweries to create new flavors, Oskar Blues brewers have also been executing collaborations with ingredient makers in the industry.
Briess Malt & Ingredients Co. contributed caramel rye and Hopunion provided hops for Oskar Blues Lyons head brewer, Jason Buehler, to create hisCry Me A Rye’ver Roggenbier and the Expalemental Pale Ale; two beers that’ll also be served up at this year’s Craft Brewers Conference.
Oskar Blues Longmont head brewer, Tim Matthews, has also been hard at work putting the final touches on The Full Pint Strong Ale—a beer brewed with a special barley variety called “The Full Pint”. This unique ingredient is the outcome of collaboration between the brewer, the grower (Sayer & Son, LLC – http://sayerson.wordpress.com/ ), and the maltster (Colorado Malting Company – http://www.
“Collaborations within the industry are such a great thing. It’s awesome to see different people bring different things to the table, creating a unique and complex end product each time,” Matthews said.
About Oskar Blues Brewery
Founded as a brewpub by Dale Katechis in 1997, Oskar Blues Brewery launched the original craft beer-in-a-can with Dale’s Pale Ale in 2002 using a tabletop machine that sealed one can at a time. In 2008, the makers of the top-selling pale ale in ColoRADo moved into a 35,000-square-foot facility in Longmont, ColoRADo. The brewery has since experienced explosive growth—packaging 59,000 barrels of beer in 2011 and 86,750 barrels in 2012. In December of 2012, Oskar Blues opened the doors to an additional brewery in Brevard, North Carolina. Together, the breweries packaged over 119,000 barrels of beer in 2013, distributing its trailblazing craft brews to 32 U.S. states.