Colorado- based Oskar Blues Brewery, the company that helped popularize craft beer in cans, is proud to announce a record- breaking year for 2016 as it shipped more than 200,000 barrels of beer, expanded its brewing operations, and earned bragging rights as its own Dale’s Pale Ale became the top selling craft beer six pack in the United States.
On the expansion front, 2016 was a banner year at Oskar Blues. The company opened a brand- new brewing facility in Austin, Texas and added a 21,000 square foot addition to its existing brewery in Brevard, North Carolina. With these two breweries plus the original Oskar Blues brewery in Colorado, the company now has potential capacity of 500,000 barrels. And speaking of expansion, Oskar Blues is now distributed in Montana, completing its reach to all 50 states. Internationally, Oskar Blues added Australia, the Netherlands, and Belgium to its foreign footprint, bringing its international distribution to nine markets.
Oskar Blues will always be remembered for popularizing cans as an alternative to glass and it continues to develop in this area, as evidenced by the expansion of its CROWLER® packaging. This is, in effect, an aluminum can version of a traditional glass growler and it ties in perfectly with Oskar Blues commitment to metal containers.
With beer, Oskar Blues innovation also marches forward. The company launched year- round beers BEERITO Amber Mexican Lager and Priscilla White Wit Wheat plus limited release cans of Passion Fruit Pinner IPA and Hotbox Coffee Porter. The brewery expanded its barrel- aging program, packaging its Barrel-aged Ten FIDY Imperial Stout in 19.2 ounce, single-serve cans and distributing them nationwide. In the Oscar Blues taprooms, craft beer fans have more barrel aged options than before, including limited releases of rum barrel-aged Death by Coconut, rum barrel-aged Ten FIDY and Java Ten FIDY. And in an industry breakthrough, Oskar Blues released Pinner Throwback IPA in a craft beer 16- pack, the first of its kind.
Aside from beer, Oskar Blues ramped up the growth with its auxiliary businesses, launching four new flavors of B. Stiff & Sons Old Fashioned Soda Pop and introducing the new Oskar Blues Fooderies concepts in its home market of Colorado. The expansion into food and soft drinks is notable, because it is something you don’t often see at craft breweries, at least not on a large scale. Plus, it expands the company’s markets overall, since these items can be enjoyed by everyone, regardless of age.
Oskar Blues business is about much more than brewing beer, selling soft drinks and food, and making profits. The company also has a nonprofit branch, the CAN’d Aid Foundation. The 2016 year was an excellent one for this nonprofit outfit, as it raised about $768,000 for charitable causes. Aside from cash, CAN’d Aid supported communities in other ways, too, building and donating nearly 600 bikes to underprivileged children, putting 100 musical instruments into children’s hands, recycling 155,000 lbs. of waste through its #CrushItCrusade, and donating 330,000 cans of drinking water to areas in need including Flint, Michigan during its water crisis.
The 2016 year was met with incredible achievements but Oskar Blues isn’t slowing down. For 2017, the company plans to expand its international presence further with distribution to Brazil and Japan. On the beer front, Oskar Blues has announced the limited release of Hotbox Coffee IPA cans in March and will launch a CANspiracy rare beer club at the North Carolina and Colorado Tasty Weasel Taprooms. The Oskar Blues Fooderies restaurant group is ready to bring more of its fresh food concept to the people of Colorado, with an expansion to Colorado Springs, bringing its total locations to nine. And the CAN’d Aid Foundation will continue its philanthropic efforts, bringing water to areas plagued by natural disasters and helping communities in need through its charitable efforts.
With so many notable accomplishments over the past year, Oskar Blues Brewery has proven once again what a business can do with the right commitment to the overall good of society. We at Great Beer Now look forward to another banner 2017 year for Oskar Blues Brewery as it continues to bring great beer and goodwill to America and the world.
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