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| Courtesy of Oskar Blues Brewery |
Longmont, CO, Brevard, NC & Austin, TX - Oskar Blues Brewery,
the innovators behind the craft beer-in-a-can apocalypse, finished 2016
strong eclipsing 200,000 barrels shipped with several significant
milestones achieved throughout the year including the addition of a
brewery in Austin, several new SKUs, expansion of its barrel-aging
program and the completion of its U.S. footprint. Flagship brew Dale's
Pale Ale became the bestselling craft can 6-pack in total U.S. Food.
In August of 2016, Oskar Blues' brewery and live music venue
opened its doors in Austin, TX while a 21,000 square foot expansion took
place in its Brevard, NC brewery raising the potential capacity amongst
all three breweries to 500,000 bbls and adding 43 jobs. The brand also
completed its 50 state U.S. footprint with distribution in Montana and
further expanded internationally with the addition of Australia, the
Netherlands, and Belgium, totaling nine international markets.
Oskar Blues continued to push innovation through new beer
offerings and packaging. The Can gROWLER (CROWLER®) from Ball
Corporation and Oskar Blues grew to over 1,000 installations to date.
Many of the last year's installations were due to new locations choosing
aluminum over glass for their growler choice and many established
locations discontinued offering glass growlers altogether. CROWLER® has
quickly shown how far cans have come and how beneficial the evolution
of CROWLER® cans are to the growler customer.
The brewery launched four new SKUs, including year-round
offerings BEERITO Amber Mexican Lager and Priscilla White Wit Wheat,
while launching limited release cans of Passion Fruit Pinner IPA and
Hotbox Coffee Porter. The expansion of its barrel-aging program resulted
in national distribution of Barrel-aged Ten FIDY Imperial Stout in 19.2
ounce, single-serve cans and limited taproom-only releases of rum
barrel-aged Death by Coconut, rum barrel-aged Ten FIDY and Java Ten
FIDY. The team at Oskar Blues didn't stop there, recently launching
Pinner Throwback IPA in new packaging - resulting in the first American
craft beer 16-pack**.
Ancillary brands also saw growth, including four new flavors of B. Stiff & Sons Old Fashioned Soda Pop and the launch of new Oskar Blues Fooderies
concepts in its home market of ColoRADo, which includes a
CHUBurger/Hotbox Roasters Café brick and mortar location in the RiNo
district of Denver.
Oskar Blues Holding Company, a strong group of craft brewers,
including Wasatch Brewery, Squatters Brewery and Perrin Brewing
furthered its mission to maintain symbiotic partnerships with
like-minded craft brewers across the country with the addition of
Tampa's Cigar City Brewing. While Dales Pale Ale is the bestselling
craft can 6-pack in the U.S., Cigar City has the number two spot, with
Jai Alai IPA. Oskar Blues Holdings grew collectively to nearly 350,000
barrels and is the number two overall craft can vendor and number 15
overall in total U.S. Food. That's a particularly good spot to be in,
as craft cans have been up 55% over the last 52 weeks.
Oskar Blues continued to spread do-goodery with its nonprofit arm, CAN'd Aid Foundation.
In 2016 alone, the organization raised $768,000, built & donated
nearly 600 bikes to underprivileged children, put 100 instruments in
budding musician's hands, recycled 155,000 lbs. of waste through its
#CrushItCrusade and donated 330,000 cans of drinking water to areas in
need including Flint, Michigan during its water crisis. Soul-founder of
Oskar Blues Dale Katechis founded CAN'd Aid in 2013 following the
Colorado flooding that devastated Oskar Blues Brewery's hometown in
Lyons, Colorado. To date, over $2.6 million has been raised to support
its efforts.
As for 2017, Oskar Blues has already set its sights on
further growth, celebrating the 20th year of what started as a funky
little brewpub in Lyons, CO in 1997. International markets to launch
distribution in include Brazil and Japan. The brew team, not to be
outdone by 2016, has announced the limited release of Hotbox Coffee IPA
cans in March as well as a CANspiracy rare beer club at the North
Carolina and Colorado Tasty Weasel Taprooms. The Oskar Blues Fooderies
restaurant group has already announced a Colorado Springs, CO location
that will expand its footprint to over nine locations in 2017. - stay
tuned for more details at www.oskarblues.com.
**Data Source & Set IRI Data, 2016 52 WEEKS TTL US FOOD.
About Oskar Blues Brewery
Founded by Dale Katechis in 1997 in Lyons, Colorado, Oskar
Blues Brewery launched the craft beer-in-a-can apocalypse with
hand-canned, flagship brew Dale's Pale Ale. Today, Oskar Blues is one
of the fastest growing breweries in the country and operates breweries
in Longmont, Colorado and Brevard, North Carolina, while eclipsing
200,000 barrels in 2016. The original canned craft brewery continues
push innovation with the opening of its Austin, TX brewery and creations
like The Crowler and Hotbox Coffee Roasters. Oskar Blues is available
in all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., parts of Canada, Puerto Rico,
Sweden, Spain, Chile, the Netherlands, Belgium, the U.K. and Australia.
In 2013, Oskar Blues founder Dale Katechis founded the CAN'd Aid Foundation,
a 501(c)(3) nonprofit public charity that offers grassroots grants to
those making a difference in the areas of community, the environment,
music, and more. CAN'd Aid's "do-goodery" has raised $2.6 million in
four focused areas:
- Towns - building strong communities
- Tunes - for your eyeholes and earholes
- Treads + Trails - get outside and get after it
- Love Yur Mama - save the blue marble
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