Tag Archives: Oskar Blues

Palisade Brews & Cruise Festival – May 6, 2017

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Cruise on over to The Colorado National Bank Brews & Cruise Festival! The festival will be held Saturday, May 6, 2017 from Noon – 5:00 p.m. at Palisade Veterans Memorial Park (120 W 8th St, Palisade, CO 81526). Rain or shine, There will be vendors, food, brew samples, local wine for sampling, corn hole tournament and live entertainment with The Navigators, Lincoln Pants Band, and Dual Lakoo.

General drinking tickets are $25/person which includes a complimentary beer mug. Bring your bike for the ride home. Non-drinking tickets are also on sale now.  Volunteers are welcome to call 970-464-7458 for sign up form. Ticket prices will be higher the day of the event. Purchase your tickets here.

NEW FOR 2017 – VIP Tent
New this year is the VIP tent for serious beer lovers. Craft beers not available on the western slope will be on tap in the VIP tent, Oskar Blues special draft, Cigar City and Parrin the featured Breweries. Ticket holders will have tables, water and food all for $55 pre-sold and $60 at the gate. Tickets are limited to only 100. Buy early!

Burning Can Festival, Lyons, CO – June 4, 2016

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Burning-CanOskar Blues Brewery is bringing its BURNING CAN (notjusta) Beer Fest and CAN’d Aid Fundraiser back to Lyons, Colorado on June 4, 2016. This summer tradition is an award-winning celebration of canned craft beer, Burning Can (notjusta) Beer fest is part of Lyons Outdoor Games. More than 60 craft breweries from around the country will be on hand to sample their canned brews – nearly 200 beers in all – and take part in the country’s original active beer festival that combines live music, spectator sports and sport competitions, and a concert by the Dirty Dozen Brass Band.

Registration is open and tickets are on sale HERE. Burning Can also features participant and spectator sport competitions including The Beer Relay, a team trail running and beer drinking event. This four-hour competition is run in teams of two or four. Runners will complete as many 5K laps as possible within the four-hour time period. If they choose to drink an Oskar Blues beer prior to their lap, they get two-minutes deducted from their lap time. The team with the most laps wins. Those who’d rather spectate than participate can watch legendary mountain bike freeriding and trials rider, Jeff Lenosky, perform jaw-dropping, not-to-be-missed demos. Lenosky is a three-time National Champion and World Record Holder for the highest bunny hop on a mountain bike (45.5 inches).

This celebration of craft beer-in-a-can raises money for Can’d Aid Foundation. The CAN’d Aid Foundation is all about diggin’ in and makin’ a difference with their “do-goodery” program areas: Towns, Tunes, Treads + Trails and Love Yur Mama. The two-year-old public charity has raised nearly $2 million and has recently provided disaster relief assistance to South Carolina, North Texas and Flint, MI with fresh drinking water and rebuilding efforts through its “Towns” program. Look for additional events highlighting Can’d Aid Foundation’s community do-goodery to surround their April events, including bike builds & giveaways and free music workshops and instrument donations. Burning Can in CO and NC were called “7 don’t miss US beer fests” by CNN. Burning Can and Lyons Outdoor Games named USA TODAY 10 BEST “Greatest Beerfest in All the Land”.

Snowmass Mammoth Fest: June 13-15, 2014

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Snowmass-Mammoth-FestThe Snowmass Mammoth Fest, formerly Snowmass Chili Pepper & Brew Fest, returns for its 11th year on June 13-15, 2014 in collaboration with Snowmass Tourism. Tickets are on sale now.

The Colorado summer festival season kicks off in Snowmass Village at this year’s Snowmass Mammoth Fest. Snowmass Mammoth Fest is proud to announce that Chris Robinson Brotherhood, and Leftover Salmon, will headline the event this summer. Additional musical artists include Xavier Rudd, Les Claypool’s Duo De Twang, The Motet, Nathaniel Rateliff, Bonerama, Houndmouth, Royal Southern Brotherhood, Wheeler Brothers, The London Souls, Miner, and local DJs Berkel Beats, and Echo Da Funk.

Snowmass Mammoth Fest will include great music and food, but don’t forget about the brews! Come celebrate the Grand Tasting on Saturday, June 14th from 2:00pm to 5:00pm in the festival grounds where 25+ breweries will participate with over 50 different beers. Come sample some tasty brews from your favorite breweries on Saturday afternoon while listening to great music in Snowmass Town Park.

Mammoth-Fest-Brewery-ListThere are options of staying in a local hotel near the event, or you can camp at the event. Snowmass Mammoth Fest is coming up pretty soon, so be sure to check out avialability at local hotels here. Snowmass Mammoth Fest is a unique opportunity to be able to camp out at a festival with great music, food, and of course, craft beer. If you’re more interested in camping, check out the options here.

Snowmass Mammoth Fest – June 13-15, 2014
Snowmass Town Park
2835 Brush Creek Road
Snowmass Village, CO 81615

2013 Top 50 Craft Breweries List: Includes 6 From Colorado

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CBP13_Top_50_ BreweriesThe Brewers Association recently released their list of the 2013 Top 50 Craft Breweries in the U.S. For the 2nd year in a row, 6 Colorado breweries are on the list. The 6 on the list include; New Belgium, Oskar Blues, Odell, Left Hand, Rock Bottom & Breckenridge. These 6 are the same as last year, but a few of them have moved spots on the list from 2012. Left Hand Brewing Co. made the biggest jump, moving up 5 spots from #43 to #38. Oskar Blues moved up 3 spots from #27 to #24. On the other end of the spectrum, Craftworks Restaurants & Breweries (Rock Bottom) dropped 7 spots from #32 to #39.

6 Colorado Breweries listed in the top 50 Craft Breweries in the U.S.

  • New Belgium Brewing Co: #3 (no change from 2012)
  • Oskar Blues Brewery: #24 (up 3 spots from 2013)
  • Odell Brewing Co: #34 (down 1 spot from 2012)
  • Left Hand Brewing Co: #38 (up 5 spots from 2012)
  • Craftworks Restaurants & Breweries (Rock Bottom): #39 (down 7 spots from 2012)
  • Breckenridge Brewery: #40 (up 1 spot from 2012)

Of the 6 Colorado Breweries listed in the top 50 Craft Breweries, 4 of them are also listed in the top 50 overall brewery list!

4 Colorado Breweries listed in the top 50 overall:

  • New Belgium Brewing Co: #8 (no change from 2012)
  • Oskar Blues Brewery: #33 (up 3 spots from 2012)
  • Odell Brewing Co: #44 (no change from 2012)
  • Left Hand Brewing Co: #50 (1st time on the list!)

2013-Top-50-Brewery-List

Denver Makes It Rain – Fundraiser for Colorado families affected by fires

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Denver Makes It Rain
 
Denver Makes It Rain is a fundraiser to raise money for the many families that were affected by the devastating wildfires this summer. The non profit organizations that will receive the donations are the Pikes Peak Community Foundation and the Black Forest Foundation. The Denver Makes It Rain Fundraiser will be held this Sunday, August 4th from 2-8 pm. Tickets are on sale now for $10 and day of show is $15. If you love Colorado craft beer, and want to help out families in need, this is a must attend event!  The event will be held at Prost Brewing, which is west of I-25 accross from Coors Field at 2540 19th St. Denver, CO 80211.
 
All ticket sales include one free beer ticket and one free raffle ticket. Once inside you can buy beer tickets: $4/1 beer ticket or $20/6 beer tickets. There will be 16 craft breweries from Colorado donating 3-4 kegs each. Including: Odell, Stone, Prost, Alaskan, Elevation, Lagunitas, Great Divide, Firestone Walker, Oskar Blues, Breckenridge, Rock Bottom, Left Hand, Boulder Beer, Boulevard, Crazymountain, Hall Brewing. Raffles include over $2,000 worth of restaurants, chiropractors, bars, museums, bowling alleys. $4/ raffle ticket. Food trucks, live art, family friendly and live music including Building a Desert, Lead by Design, Digg, G.R.V., and headlining Joey Porter’s Vital Organ!
 
Buy tickets online at www.cervantesmasterpiece.com or visit our website at www.facebook.com/DenverMakesItRain 
 
100% of ticket sales, beer sales and raffle sales and 20% of food and merchandise sales go to the non profits! 

Beer Mapping: The rise of Craft Beer

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The New Yorker recently ran a story about the rise of craft beer in the United States. There are currently 2,360 American craft breweries, and the number is steadily rising each year. The flavors, styles and unique characteristics of craft beer play a major part in the rise in craft beer. Another major reason for the popularity of craft beer is that Americans continue to gravitate towards locally grown and sourced food and beverages. Craft beer is a great example of this. There is something special about getting a freshly brewed beer from a tap, or from a bottle that was filled earlier that day. Chances are the beer was not only brewed locally, but included ingredients that were sourced locally as well.

Black & Tan from Brewery Rickoli in Wheat Ridge, CO

A few interesting facts:

  • Costco’s beer sales now make up 30% of all beer sales.
  • All but 2 states brewed more craft beer in 2012 than in 2011.
  • 27 of the top 50 craft breweries are located in California, New England, Oregon, or the Mid-Atlantic coast. Meaning most of the larger craft breweries are on either the East Cost or West Coast.
  • Colorado has 6 breweries that are listed in the top 50 craft breweries in the country.
  • Craft breweries are least dense in the South.

The story by The New Yorker includes a really cool map that can be sorted by many different criteria. You can sort the map to find out more about breweries in an individual state, how many breweries there are per 500,000 people, which breweries are growing the fastest, or many other other categories. Below are some facts that pertain to Colorado breweries, or to the craft beer industry in Colorado.

Colorado Beer Facts:

  • Two of the top 50 fastest growing craft breweries are Oskar Blues (#36) and Upslope Brewing Company (#41)
  • Breckenridge Brewery, Left Hand, New Belgium, Odell Brewing, Oskar Blues and rank in the top 50 largest craft breweries.
  • In 2012 Colorado had 151 craft breweries, ranking #3 of all states.
  • Total Colorado craft beer production was 1,291,711 barrels, ranking #3 of all states.
  • Total Colorado craft beer production went up 8.98%, ranking #41 of all states.
  • Colorado has 15 craft breweries for every 500,000 people, ranking #5 of all states.

Check out some of the great information available from the beer map on newyorker.com.
For even more information about the craft beer industry, check out the Brewer’s Association’s website

Coors Field ranked #1 baseball stadium for craft beer

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Coors Field

Coors Field is widely considered one of the nicest stadiums in Major League Baseball. The facilities are fan friendly, and the atmosphere at Coors Field is always fun for fans to enjoy a game. With a name referencing one of the largest breweries in the country, it is a bit ironic that Coors Field would be #1on a list of Top 10 Baseball Stadiums for craft beer. Welcome to Colorado, home to one of the nation’s largest breweries, as well as a mecca of smaller craft breweries.

Visitors of Coors Field can enjoy beers from New Belgium, Breckenridge Brewery, Oskar Blues, and Odell Brewing. Of course, one of the coolest parts of Coors Field’s beer offerings is that the Sandlot Brewery is located on site, and provides fresh Blue Moon from the tap. It is a sign of how the beer landscape is changing when a fan can visit Coors Field and get a beer from a craft brewery. Looking back 10-15 years ago fans were not able to order anything other than Coors or Coors Light at a Rockies game. While there are many fans that will always stick to Coors, there are a growing number of fans that want to enjoy a craft beer, and Coors Field offers a great opportunity to do so.

Coors Field Ranked #1 on FoxNews.com’s list of Top 10 Baseball Stadiums for Craft Beer.  FoxNews.com states “Several ballparks are featuring better and better beer — you just have to know where to find it. With that in mind, we explored Major League Baseball stadiums across the country to find the 10 best spots for beer.” Here are the rankings according to FoxNews.com:

#1 Coors Field – Denver, CO (Colorado Rockies)

#2 Miller Park – Milwaukee, WI (Milwaukee Brewers)

#3 Citi Field – Flushing, NY (New York Mets)

#4 Comerica Park – Detroit, MI (Detroit Tigers)

#5 Camden Yards – Baltimore, MD (Baltimore Orioles)

#6 Petco Park – San Diego, CA (San Diego Padres)

#7 PNC Park – Pittsburgh, PA (Pittsburgh Pirates)

#8 Citizens Bank Field – Philadelphia, PA (Philadelphia Phillies)

#9 AT&T Park – San Francisco, CA (San Francisco Giants)

#10 Safeco Field – Seattle, WA (Seattle Mariners)

Top 50 Craft Breweries List Includes 6 From Colorado

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On April 10, 2013 the Brewers Association released it’s annual list of the Top 50 Craft Brewing Companies in the U.S. The list for 2013 is based on sales volume totals from 2012. Six Colorado breweries made the list including; New Belgium Brewing Co., Oskar Blues Brewing Co., Craftworks Restaurants & Breweries Inc., Odell Brewing, Breckenridge Brewery and Left Hand Brewing Co. New Belgium came in on top of the list for Colorado breweries, and came in 3rd overall on the top 50 U.S Craft Breweries list.

Colorado Brewery Rankings in the Top 50 U.S. Craft Breweries:

  • New Belgium #3
  • Oskar Blues #27
  • Craftworks Restaurants & Breweries #32
  • Odell Brewing #33
  • Breckenridge Brewery #41
  • Left Hand #43

While six Colorado Breweries finished in the top 50 U.S Craft Breweries list, four of those breweries also came in the Top 50 Overall U.S. Breweries List. The four Colorado breweries in the top 50 overall include: New Belgium, Oskar Blues, Craftworks Restaurants & Breweries and Odell Brewing.

Colorado Brewery Rankings in the Top 50 U.S. Overall Breweries:

  • New Belgium #8
  • Oskar Blues #36
  • Craftworks Restaurants & Breweries #43
  • Odell Brewing #44

Overall, craft beer sales totaled 6% of all beer sales in the U.S. According to Paul Gatza, Director, Brewers Association. “Increasingly, beer lovers are turning to craft brewed beer from small and independent producers to satisfy their thirst for bold, innovative and flavor-forward beers.” With the continued growth and popularity of craft beer, the percentage of craft beer in the overall beer sales should rise each year.

Other interesting facts about the craft beer industry:

  • Craft brewers currently provide an estimated 108,440 jobs in the U.S., including serving staff in brewpubs.
  • Growth of the craft brewing industry in 2012 was 15% by volume and 17% by dollars compared to growth in 2011 of 13% by volume and 15% by dollars.
  • Craft brewers sold an estimated 13,235,917 barrels* of beer in 2012, up from 11,467,337 in 2011.
  • The craft brewing sales share in 2012 was 6.5% by volume and 10.2% by dollars.
  • As of March 18, 2013, the Brewers Association is aware of 409 brewery openings in 2012 (310 microbreweries and 99 brewpubs) and 43 brewery closings (18 microbreweries and 25 brewpubs).
  • 2,347 craft breweries operated for some or all of 2012, comprised of 1,132 brewpubs, 1,118 microbreweries and 97 regional craft breweries.

To view more statistics and information from the Brewers Association follow these links:
1) Top 50 Breweries List
2) Craft Beer Facts

The 2013 Breckenridge Spring Beer Festival was a great event!

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The 2013 Breckenridge Spring Beer Festival was held Saturday, April 6th in Downtown Breckenridge, CO. There was a lot of buzz as beer enthusiasts gathered to sample some of the best craft beer Colorado, and the United States has to offer. From big national brewers like Sam Adams and Sierra Nevada to smaller regional brewers like Palisade Brewery and San Luis Valley Brewing, the event provided visitors a chance to sample many different types of beer. Several Colorado favorites were available with AC Golden, Breckenridge Brewery, Great Divide, Left Hand, Odell and Oskar Blues providing their popular craft beers.

The atmosphere in Downtown Breckenridge was lively and fun as beer enthusiasts from all over gathered to sample a great mix of quality craft beers. The event catered to an audience of all ages, and many families came to enjoy the festival. Live music created a nice vibe as many participants danced in the street to the music of 7Horse, Mountain Standard Time, and Max Gomez. There is nothing quite like drinking a fresh beer, while listening to good music with the mountains above Breckenridge in the background!

 Breck Beer Fest (2) 4-6-13 Breck Beer Fest 4-6-13

Best Beers (in our opinion). Keep in mind that there were so many great beers available to taste, we didn’t even come close to trying all of them! To see a list of all brewers that participated in the event, click here.

  • Wheat: Pug Ryan’s Morningwood Wheat was outstanding. A smooth taste, with very subtle spiciness and a nice finish.
  • Stout: Left Hand’s Milk Stout was really tasty. The subtle taste of coffee, without being overpowering. The Milk Stout has a nice creamy/frosty finish and goes down really smooth.
  • Belgian: Avery’s White Rascal has a spicy, sweet and unique taste. As we overheard someone say “It tastes like Christmas!” While that is not how we would describe it, the saying actually works.
  • Lager: Colorado Native was our favorite lager of the day. A distinct malt flavor with some bitterness and an overall clean, crisp taste.
  • IPA: The Odell IPA was our first beer of the day, and just so happened to be our favorite IPA as well. Great hoppiness, with smooth, subtle hints of fruity finish.
  • Pilsner: The Oskar Blues Mama’s Little Yella Pils. This beer has a bit of a different flavor than most Pilsners. A rich, smooth and subtly hoppy beer with a nice finish.
  • Most Unique/Unusual: Breckeridge Brewery’s Roasted Habanero Lucky IPA. This crazy beer has a subtle kick from the habanero, but is not overpowering. It’s a creative twist on the IPA, and was unlike anything else we tried!   

We had a great time at the Breckenridge Spring Beer Festival! If you were unable to make it to the Spring edition, plan on making it to the Summer edition. The Breckenridge Summer Beer Festival will be held July 13, 2013. To find out more check out http://breckenridgebeerfestival.net/july/

Breckenridge Spring Beer Festival: April 6, 2013

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The Breckenridge Spring Beer Festival will be held in downtown Breckenridge, CO. on Saturday April 6th. This beer tasting event will feature over 30 craft brewers, many of them from Colorado! If you’ve never been to Breckenridge, this would be a great time to make your first trip. Breckenridge is an awesome mountain town and a great place to visit. To find out more about visiting Breckenridge, visit the Town of Breckenridge website: http://www.townofbreckenridge.com/.

With 30 craft brewers, and 100 unique brews to sample, the Breckenridge Spring Beer Festival will have craft beers of all kinds. The list of brewers on tap for the show is outstanding, and no doubt you will find one of your favorite Colorado brewers there.  Below is a list of all the brewers that will be part of the Breckenridge Spring Beer Festival:             * = Colorado Brewers

AC Golden Brewing Company* Kona Brewing
Alaskan Brewing Company Left Hand Brewing Company*
Avery Brewing Company* Oskar Blues Brewery*
Bonfire Brewing* Palisade Brewery*
Boulder Beer Company* Prost Brewery*
Boulevard Brewing Pug Ryans Brewery*
Breckenridge Brewery* Samuel Adams
Bristol Brewing Company* San Luis Valley Brewing Company*
Copper Kettle Brewing Company* Sapporo USA
Crabtree Brewing Company* Sierra Nevada
Crazy Mountain Brewing Company* SKA Brewing*
Deschutes Brewery Stone Brewing
Echo Brewing* Trinity Brewing Company*
FATE Brewing Company* Upslope Brewing Company*
Goose Island Widmer Brothers
Great Divide Brewing Company*  

The Breckenridge Spring Beer Festival will provide live music from three bands from 12:00-5:00PM. The headliner will be 7Horse, you can find out more about them here: http://www.7horsemusic.com/. There will also be food and retail vendors at the event. The Breckenridge Spring Beer Festival is sponsored by KSMT The Mountain.

To get tickets to the Breckenridge Spring Beer Festival, go to: http://breckenridgebeerfestival.net/april/event-info-2/