Longmont, Colo., July 29th – Oskar Blues Brewery, the first craft brewery in the country to brew & hand-can their beer in November 2002, continued its explosive growth posting a 38 percent increase in depletions over the past six months. The Brewers Association press release (read HERE) announced a 13 percent industry wide volume increase during the same period, with Oskar Blues outpacing industry volume growth by 25 percent. This follows eight years of consecutive double digit growth (triple digit growth before that) which catapulted Oskar Blues to “Craft Brewer of the Year” by Beverage World Magazine in March.
Oskar Blues’ continued growth has been fueled by the addition of their Tasty Weasel Taproom & Brevard, NC brewery that began brewing in December 2012. The Oskar Blues Brevard brewery shipped more than 1.2 million cans to 15 states in the month of June labeled “Brevard, North Carolina.” The new brewery is growing to meet demand and is already on track to brew more than 50,000 barrels of beer in its first production year.
Colorado’s funky little brew-pub has grown to become the largest American craft brewery to package beer exclusively in cans, producing 85,750 barrels of beer in 2012 while climbing to 27th on the Brewers Association Top 50 Breweries list released in April.
Innovation continues to drive the brewery. Dale’s Pale Ale was released nationwide as the first American beer in the single-serve 19.2oz. “Imperial Pint” can to kick off 2013. Mama’s Little Yella Pils followed in Ball Corporation’s 19.2oz. “Imperial Pint” can in April. Arizona spring training baseball stadiums, Colorado’s Red Rocks Amphitheater and Fillmore Auditorium along with Chicago’s House of Blues are top drivers for the new single serve package.
“Continuing to push the boundaries is what gets us up in the morning, it’s what drives us. The 19.2oz. package is a product of that drive and passion. We continue to do what we love, toss a can in your backpack for the backcountry or a grab a stovepipe (19.2oz.) at music and sport venues.” says Oskar Blues Soul-Founder Dale Katechis.
Oskar Blues also offered their “big three beers” in the new CANundrum Mix’d 12-pack of cans. The 12-pack includes four each of the multi-award-winning brews. Dale’s Pale Ale was named “Top U.S. Pale Ale” by the New York Times and called “One of the quintessentially hoppy pale ales of our time,” by BeerAdvocate.com. RateBeer.com refers to Mama’s Little Yella Pils as “like summer in a can.” Mama’s Little Yella Pils also won silver at the 2011 Great American Beer Festival while Old Chub Scotch Ale earned bronze.
You can read the Brewers Association’s full press release here: http://www.brewersassociation.org/pages/media/press-releases/show?title=brewers-association-reports-continued-growth-for-u-s-craft-brewers#
About Oskar Blues Brewery
Founded by Dale Katechis in 1997 as a brewpub and grill, Oskar Blues Brewery launched its craft-brewed beer canning operations in 2002 in Lyons, Colo. It was the first American craft brewery to brew and hand-can its beer. Today there are more than 200 craft breweries canning beer. The original crew used a hand-canning line on a tabletop machine that sealed one can at a time. Oskar Blues Brewery in Longmont packaged 59,000 in 2011 and grew to 85,750 in 2012 while opening an additional brewery in Brevard, NC, in late 2012.
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