Collaboration brings Oskar Blues to Indiana

In the world of craft beer, bottle collaborations are commonplace.  But what happens when two breweries, known for their production of canned beers, want to work together?  A can-laboration, of course!  In this case, the participating breweries are Indiana’s very own Sun King and Colorado canned-beer pioneers Oskar Blues.

The breweries will be releasing Chaka, an 8% Belgian-style ale that will be brewed in two batches featuring the same recipe. The first brew at Oskar Blues’ R&D facility in Lyons, Colorado, and then again at the Sun King brewery in Indianapolis.  The recipe has been formulated by Dave Colt and Dave Chichura with ingredients coming from their respective states - shagbark hickory syrup from Indiana and a Belgian pale malt from Colorado Malting. The brewing will take place early this spring, and the beer will be debuted at the Craft Brewers Conference, held in San Diego in May.  After the CBC debut, the breweries will release the beer in their respective markets.  Cans will be 16 oz. tallboys with art and brewery information specific to the brewery where the batch is brewed.

This project has been a major undertaking for both breweries, as well as the Ball Corporation, which supplies cans for both breweries.  Ball usually requires that an entire truckload of cans be purchased at a time, but they were able to work out a deal for a smaller run for the special release, allowing the recipe to be released in both locations.  

“It’s something that we’ve wanted to do because of the Oskar Blues/Sun King connection” says Clay Robinson, referring to the relationship that he and Dave Colt from Sun King and Dave Chichura from Oskar Blues have maintained since their beginnings in the industry.  Colt and Chichura met during Colt’s first brewing gig at the now closed Circle V Brewery in Indianapolis, where Chichura inquired about a brewing position. “He came in and was inquiring about the assistant brewing job,” said Colt. “He started quizzing me about different beer things that I wasn’t aware of, that I was still learning about.”   Shortly after, Chichura landed a position at Rock Bottom, where he met Robinson, and the trio have been friends since.  

Oskar Blues is a pioneer of the canned craft beer market and their beer is highly regarded, though not distributed in Indiana.  This will be the first brewing collaboration between Sun King and Oskar Blues, and the first brewery collaboration for Oskar Blues.

GABF Day 1 - Oskar Blues, Avery Brewing Company, Great Divide Brewing

The morning ritual in Denver during the Great American Beer Fest is a stop for Sams #3. This place is a local institution and has been featured on several prominent food shows with TV hosts that I dare not speak their name. In the high Denver altitude having a good base for a day of craft beer drinking is never more important. The effects of just even two beers in the mile high city make an incredible difference on the body. A greasy spoon before the day is a must, and Sams #3 is the base for a very successful day.

We met up with Bob Mack from World Class Beer and he graciously let us tag along with him for a day of brewery hopping before the first evening session. Our first stop was the original spot for Oskar Blues Brewing Company in Lyons, CO. I would say that most craft beer people are well acquainted with Oskar Blues. They have really made a big impact in the world of craft canned beer. They were certainly early adopters of craft can beer, and they were very successful with that model. The restaurant is set up like a tri-level house. You walk in the front door and go downstairs to the bottom bar, and then upstairs for more seating and the upstairs bar. The blues theme is always carried throughout the restaurant and the on the menu. I like when a place does unique beers just for the brewpub, and Oskar Blues didn’t disappoint. We had their Oktoberfest, Dale’s Deviant DIPA, and my personal favorite Honey Badger smoked porter. Here is what the brewery says about it:

“This nasty little ale is made with Crisp Maris Otter pale malt, Gambrinus Honey Malt, roasted barley, chocolate malt and dark crystal malt along with a heaping, meaty dose of Oskar Blues home smoked malt (no kidding; there's meat in it) and generously hopped with Columbus all the way through the boil. A huge dollop of Lyons Local Madhava Wildflower Honey at the end of the boil takes it up a notch.

Honey Badger don't care; he just drinks the s**t up. Your nose will be attacked with a plume of cherry wood while your palate is tsunamied with rich chocolatey-caramel flavors and campfire smoke. Served at locally at Oskar Blues Home Made Liquids & Solids (Longmont) and Grill & Brew (Lyons) with an OB Hops & Heifers Farm meat stick. About 6% ABV.

It was delicious. I love smoke beer, and this beer was really tasty. I am very happy to have gotten to try this one. If you haven’t seen the Honey Bader video it is worth a few minutes of your time.

Avery Brewing Company

Our next stop was in Boulder at Avery Brewing Company. Hopefully readers have had Avery beer, but they won’t be coming to Indiana anymore. They have contracted their distribution operations and have pulled out of Indiana recently. You can still find some of their bigger beers on the shelves around town though.

The first thing that struck me about Avery is their location. If you thought Three Floyd’s was in an industrial park they don’t hold a candle to what Avery has going on. Avery occupies multiple business fronts along the same line of warehousing buildings. I can’t imagine some of the logistical nightmares that happen. The bottling line and canning line for instance are not connected to the brewery, so beer has to be transported to each place for the canning and packing lines.

Avery was rocking yesterday while we were there. It was a very good time to see and hang out with so many beer lovers that were there getting oiled up before the first GABF session that night. Avery has a pretty large barrel program and they had several sours on tap in addition to several brew-pub only releases. Rod started that day with a wonderful sour called Eremita that had been aged in cabernet and zinfandel barrels. This was the type of sour that you can tell of the expertise of barrel aging and blending. Truly one of the best sours I’ve recently had. I started my day with Lilikoi Mahu. I *think* this was a Beglian Wit base with tons of passion fruit added to it. It is really hot in Denver right now, and I thought this beer was just about perfect for the day and time. I had been drinking all morning and this was refreshing, tart, and was a nice change of pace. We moved onto the barrel room and kept on having some one offs and interesting beers. We found an interesting story about how Avery is still in business. At one point they were close to bankruptcy and Adam Avery decided he was going to put out a beer that he enjoyed drinking, and he put out Hog Heaven barley wine. He thought it wouldn’t sell and put a pig flying on the label, but that was the beer that helped to resurrect the brewery into the business of today. I drank a little bit of Avery’s beers when they were in Indiana, but after my brewery visit I left feeling different about them. I hope they will return to Indiana in the future.

Great Divide

We headed back into Denver and stopped at Great Divide. Last year Great Divide didn’t have a very big tap room, but they have since expanded the tap room, and that is very much a very welcome addition to the tap room. The tap room was pouring all of their beers for very reasonable prices. All pints were $4 bucks and samples were $1 dollar. I am huge fan of their Belgo-Yeti that came out recently.

A big thanks to Bob Mack, Grant Curlow, and Bill Jackson for letting us tag along for the day.

Head for the Mountains of Oskar Blues - GABF Trip 08

We spent the early half of Monday driving through Rocky Mountain National Park in search of "The Mountains of Busch™", and found plenty of mountain views worthy of any ad campaign. But when we came out the other side of the park, instead of corporate beer monoliths, we found comfortable and unassuming Oskar Blues in Lyons, Co.


The beer is no longer brewed at the Lyons Grill and Brew, and in the case of the Ten Fidy Stout we were craving, it sounds like it may be a while before it's brewed again. Despite the initial disappointment of not finding what we were really after, our server's friendly and welcoming attitude quickly made up for it. We ordered an Old Chub Scottish Style Ale (reviewed KOTBR #45) and a Leroy (Brown) and settled in for a couple hours of local atmosphere, great food, and a beer surprise.


The unassuming nature of the place is what makes it so great. Despite rave reviews of their beers in media as big as the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, this could be your local. In fact, it is a local for some Lyons residents, and despite the availability of amazing homegrown beer, Oskar Blues has Budweiser on tap to keep some of the regulars happy.


But we hadn't driven all that way for Bud. We noticed shortly after we arrived that a tap was being changed out - they had put on a beer they've titled "Whiskey D*ck" (our server noted "I work for seventh graders. And it's pretty great") - their Dale's Pale Ale aged in whiskey barrels. This was a special brew for the GABF crowd, and I suspect it won't be long before rave reviews start pouring in on sites like Beer Advocate.

Our palates appeased, we settled our tab and then walked over to the merch counter where Gina spent a bunch more money grabbing a shirt and cans of everything available. If we can sit on them long enough (and canned beer should last quite a while) they'll be perfect for an drinking at IMS next season. I suspect they won't last that long, though.

Next up: A stop in Longmont at Left Hand on our way to Fort Collins.

KOTBR #45: If saying "Dale" or "Gordon" gives you a chubbie, you are either a fan of NASCAR or Oskar Blues...or both

I had mentioned in my beer diary that I had been gifted some delicious Oskar Blues beers and, being the greedy son-of-a-bitch that I am, kept them for myself. I drank them all. It was dishonorable for a knight.

But I didn't care. I was drunk. And happy.

But then I was able to obtain some more. And this time around, I decided to share with my fellow knights. Hopefully this will make amends for my previous greed. No longer will I feel the shame of being selfish. And some other dramatic phrases that you can fill in for yourself.

On with the reviews...

Dale's Pale Ale

Mike: Cloudy orangey-gold color, with a sweet malty nose, and a hint of fruit. A front-and-back beer - not a lot of middle to the flavor of this. Really smooth, hint o' hops, great balance, and a chewy hop aftertaste. Sweet, balanced, tasty. 3.25 Mugs - probably the highest score I'd give a pale ale.

Jim: Gold-amber color. Bready, biscuity nose with a big-ass citrusy hop back. Taste follows suit. This beer really sticks in the mouth with a strong hop aftertaste. Dry, not malty. Somewhat chewy. Pretty good for an American Pale Ale, but doesn't blow me away. 3.10 mugs.

Gina: Malty and lightly hopped nose turns into a lightly malty and highly hopped flavor that really hangs around in the back of the throat for a while. The persistently dry aftertaste was a downfall, I feel, but the full mouthfeel was pleasant. I thought it was a pretty good Pale Ale. 2.5 mugs.

Jason: I will only add that it had a stronger hop bite than I remembered. And that the smell and taste of the beer doesn't match up. But still good. 3.33 mugs.


Old Chub

Mike: Dark Brown/Red woody sort of color. Nose of straight-up chocolate milk. Front was smoky chocolate milk, a milky mouthfeel on the front. watery on the back, with a nice little kick. Notes say "right between 2% and skim". Not a particularly "big" beer, just really well done and drinkable. This beer would go very quickly at my house. 4.3 Mugs.

Jim: Mahogany color with substantial tan head. Brown sugar/molasses nose (just like the Cannonball Porter). Sugary chocolate flavor. Mouthfeel is surprisingly watery. I've had better Scottish Ales. Still, good quality suds. 3.10 mugs.

Gina: Malty aroma again, but also molasses and chocolate milk? (Thanks, Mike.) There's something about this that I like very much. It's has a little thinner mouthfeel than I might prefer, but I could still drink a lot of this. 3.55 mugs.

Jason: I found this to be sweeter the second time around. The sweetness started upfront, and then made its way all around. It now moves its way up on my Oskar Blues list, beating out Dale's Pale Ale. 3.5 mugs.

Gordon

Mike: Cloudy copper color with a sweet orange hoppy nose. Jumps the front of the tongue and works middle and back. Nice hop bite - we'd heard this compared to Dogfish Head 90 Minute, but I wouldn't go that far - Gordon doesn't have the fuller mouthfeel of 90 Minute, nor the same balance. 3.92 Mugs.

Jim: Beautiful red coloring. Metallic flowery nose with a citrus/pineapple back. Reminds me a lot of Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA, but without the sweet malty finish. Nice, hefty mouthfeel. Not an absolute stunner, but still close to top shelf stuff. 4.00 mugs.

Gina: Flowery, citrusy aroma. This also reminded me of DFH 90 and if we were picking between the two I would go with the latter. 3.75 mugs.

Jason: The sweet, hoppy smell makes me think of Gumballhead's aroma. It is not as malty as DFH90, and I say that as a good thing. The hops were able to come through. Since I like this as much, if not more, than Dogfish Head 90 minute, my score should reflect it: 5 mugs. How about that for throwing the curve?

Beer Diary #4 - Jason has the blues

The week of March 30th, 2008 at home

It's nice having neighbors. Especially neighbors who leave gifts on your front porch. Gifts like beer. Good beer. Actually, great beer. No reason to be sad, but I've got the blues.

Specifically, beer from Oskar Blues Grill and Brewery in Lyons, Colorado. Judge Sandy, who was recently (as in earlier today) featured at HBG as a guest reviewer, left me four beers on one of her weekend trips back home with the requirement that I have to write a review. Oh, and the four beers are in cans. Yeah, they can their beer. Awesome.

Before I talk about these beers, I want to painfully point out that this is another "fly-over" beer brand that has somehow made its way through Indiana to other points without actually leaving any beer for us to try. Having tried Oskar Blues' four distributed beers, they have made their way to the "Top 5 beer brands not in Indiana" list, which only exists in my head right now, but will most certainly be a future posting.

I guess not having Oskar Blues available in Indiana is enough reason to sing the blues.

But enough pining about what we don't have. Let me talk about the four beers that I consumed last week that now makes me a better person than the rest of you!

Dale's Pale Ale is the flagship beer of Oskar Blues. As you can see, it pours a cloudy gold/amber with a thick, bubbly white head. It has a clean smell with a bit of citrus, maybe some other spices. In spite of the thick head, it is not overly carbonated and has a nice hop/malt balance to it. Some caramel flavors meet up with the Centennial hops to create an enjoyable summertime beer. It is a very substantial American Pale Ale. It reaches #2 on my blues charts.
Old Chub is a funny ass name for a serious Scottish ale. It truly smells like a Scotsman. Not that I ever smelled a Scotsman before. I'd imagine he'd smell like a Scotch whiskey, which often is strong and peaty. And I mean this is a very complimentary way.

It is a dark, cloudy beer with a dark tan head. It has a smokey flavor with several layers of malts. Coffee, toffee, maybe some not-so-sweet chocolate. It was very complex. Even though it is their "malty beer", it still has a bit of a spice bite. Just enough hops to keep it interesting.

Personally, I'd pick a Dirty Bastard, a Robert the Bruce, or a handful of Scottish Ales from Scotland (of all places!). I find these beers to have a more straight forward, honest Scottish Ale flavor profile compared to the Old Chub. But if you stumble across this somewhere, pick it up. It's complexity in flavor may put it over the top in your books. Me, it ranks #3 on the blues chart.
Pardon my profanity as I say this: Holy. Fucking. Shit.

The Oskar Blues website describes Gordon as this: "...a hybrid version of strong ale, somewhere between an Imperial Red and a Double IPA. We make it with six different malts and three types of hops, then dry-hop it with a mutha lode of Amarillo hops."

It pours out looking like an Imperial Red. It tastes like a DIPA along the lines of a Dogfish Head 90. In both aroma and flavor, it has a mix of hops and malt. In comparison to DFH90, I'd say the mix in Gordon is slightly hoppier. Or less maltier. Or both. Whatever. It doesn't carry quite the amount of sweetness that you find with 2008 Hopslam though.

Judge Sandy agrees with my sentiment. About Gordon, she wrote "I think it is better than DFH 90 minute as it is less cloying on the body. 90 min just has too much residual sweetness for me."

It is number 1 on the blues chart and is now in the most desirable/most have it category. More desirable that Racer 5. One of my top five favorites at the moment. A 5 mugger in my book. And if I get a hold of a four pack (please Judge Sandy!), I'm going to attempt to split it with my fellow knights. If I don't drink them all first.
The TenFidy Russian Imperial Stout is my least favorite of the four Oskar Blues beers. Which based on the quality of the ones listed above isn't necessarily a bad thing. It is listed as having a 98 IBU rating, which I had a hard time finding under all the malts. Until this past winter, it was purely a seasonal beer. As a year round regular, it will certainly pass up Old Chub as the preferred beer of malt fans. It pours out like a black hole, sucking in light that approaches it. It has a dark, thick head. And it is chewy. And dangerous. 10% ABV. Look out.

Russian Imperial Stouts are not my favorite style, so I am probably not the best judge of TenFidy. But there are definitely better Russian Imperial Stouts out there. Like the Old Chub, I find the layering of flavors to be a bit overwhelming and would prefer a more straight forward version of this style.

Overall, though, Oskar Blues appears to be a quality and creative brewery. Should I get my hand on any or all of these varieties again, I'll hopefully have the will power to share these at a roundtable instead of hoarding them for myself.