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Our Beer At Oskar Blues, we dig bodacious beer. We carefully craft our robust brews in small (20-barrel) batches with loads of the best ingredients. The results are 4-dimensional beers with layers of flavor, beers far removed from the mainstream, designed for beer adventurers.   
In 2002 we became the first US microbrewery to brew and can its own beer. We started hand canning our beer two cans at a time, on a small table-top machine.
But then we discovered that the belief that cans impart flavor to beer is a myth. The modern-day aluminum can and its lid are lined with a water-based coating, so the beer and the can never touch. Cans, we discovered, are actually good for beer. Cans keep beer especially fresh by fully protecting it from light and oxygen. Our cans also hold extremely low amounts of dissolved oxygen, so our beer stays especially fresh for longer. Cans are also easier to recycle and less fuel-consuming to ship.
"We're in this," says our man Dale, "to have fun and put some extra joy on the planet. We love the way people's heads spin around after they try one of our monster canned beers. 'That came out of a can?' We hear it all the time."
Our uncanny efforts have also allowed us to enjoy some head-spinning excitement. Since we began canning, our beers have won loads of honors and accolades and we've grown by over 800%. We're now the largest-producing brewpub in the United States (hooray!) and our scrappy little outfit is one of the most talked about craft breweries in America. It features a merengue-like head, a copper color, and a hoppy nose, thanks to a big post-boil addition of Centennial hops. To complement its hoppy first impression, Dale's also sports a rich middle of malts and hops, and a bracing finish. Dale's is 6.5% alcohol by volume, and features 65 International Bittering Units. We think of it as the perfect, everyday beer for hopheads like us. Dale's Pale Ale's rich flavor has helped us make many new fans, and its numerous honors have helped us kick huge holes in the misconceptions regarding cans. Here are just a few of the many honors our beloved Dale's Pale Ale has landed:
Here are a few raves for Dale's Pale Ale from beer friends at Ratebeer.com and Beeradvocate.com: "Holy Cow! A great beer from a can!" "I like this a lot and found it to be a fantastic pale ale. So much for hating beer in a can." "It's absolutely wonderful…My favorite beer." "I sure am glad I finally ditched my prejudice against beer in cans (thanks entirely to Oskar Blues!)…Excellent brew.
While Dale's satisfies our hop addiction, Old Chub takes care of our deep affections for malt. The cola-colored beer (almost black) features a tan head, a creamy, skim-milk mouthfeel, and rich, semi-sweet flavors of caramel and chocolate throughout. The addition of smoked grains gives Old Chub a delicate kiss of smoke on the finish. Old Chub is the beer equivalent of a lightly smoked single malt scotch, or your favorite dark chocolate. We call it Rocky Mountain Mutha's Milk. People who tell us defiantly, "I don't drink dark beer," often fall deeply in love with Old Chub. We can't blame them. Here are some of the mighty honors for Old Chub Scottish Style Ale:
Here are a few glowing reviews from Beeradvocate.com and Ratebeer.com beer nuts who've flipped for Old Chub: "I guess I didn't expect much from a beer in a can. But, wow-- when you crack it open, you immediately get a whiff of that peaty, smoky aroma characteristic of good scottish ales." "Lots of caramel, a bit of chocolate, roasted malts, smoke…and a nice creamy mouthfeel. Beer this good shouldn't come from a can. I like it." "...some smokey and sweet chocolate aromas. Flavor was smokey (light peat?) sweet chocolate malts with molasses and brown sugar in the mix. Body was heavy-moderate with light to medium carbonation. Yum." "Very full initial taste of caramel, toffee and chocolate. Slightly smokey followup. Very smooth, silky, almost luxurious mouthfeel. Summary: A hugely rich, full, hearty--& above all TASTY beer. DO NOT be put off by the can. Most excellent."
It features a gooey, resiny aroma and a luscious mouthfeel. Gordon is brewed with dash of chocolate malt in it, to round out its load of hops and balance the beer. The result is an assertive yet exceptionally smooth version of strong beer. We brew Gordon in tribute to the late Gordon Knight. In addition to opening some of Colorado’s first microbreweries, Knight was a Vietnam vet, grade-A citizen, and huge promoter of craft beer. He lost his life in 2002 while fighting a wild fire outside of Lyons, Colorado. Originally our winter seasonal beer, it has become a cult favorite of extreme-beer lovers, so we now brew occasional batches of Gordon throughout the year. Released in bottles in 2003 and 2004, Gordon is now sold in four packs of hand-labeled cans and on draft in select markets. Gordon has landed big praise from some serious places, including:
A few testimonials about the power of Gordon: "I could smell the hop oil from 14" away. Wow. Oily and thick with citrusy bitter hop body. Quite the hop monster." - Ratebeer.com "This beer friggin' rocked, and it was in a can. It was like the most mellow friggin IPA ever. Mind blowing really....Aroma a wonderful blend of hoplicousness and malt... really tasty and so damn smooth." Ratebeer.com "Wonderfully fruity and hoppy nose with prominent aromas of stewed peaches, strawberry pie, candy citrus hops, and more juicy ripe fruit. Phenomenal." - Beeradvocate.com "The smell is all hops and it's bold as all outdoors. The taste was more balanced than the smell insinuated. Yes, there's plenty of hop flavor but the malt is definitely there easing the bitterness to "non hop-head loving" levels, making this DIPA one smooth son of a gun..." - Beeradvocate.com
It's the beer equivalent of decadently rich milkshake made with malted-milk balls and Heaven’s best chocolate ice cream. Ten FIDY is about 10% ABV and is made with enormous amounts of two-row malts, chocolate malts, roasted barley, flaked oats and hops. Its huge-but-comforting flavors hide a whopping 98 IBUs that are deftly tucked underneath the beer’s mountains of malty goodness. Ten FIDY is the ultimate Rocky Mountain winter warmer, and further proof of the creative muscle of our beloved brewing staff. Look for fourpacks of Ten FIDY in select beer stores in Colorado. Out of state? We hope to send a few cases to a few of our other states in early '08. Here's a sampling of the mighty praise heaped on Ten FIDY:
This big tasting brew is only available in the brewpub. Very smooth and balanced with a deep clear brown color. Lightly hopped, 5% ABV.
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Dale's Pale Ale is our flagship beer and America's first hand-canned craft beer. It's an assertive but deftly balanced beer (somewhere between an American pale ale and an India Pale Ale) brewed with hefty amounts of European malts and American hops.
Old Chub is a Scottish strong ale brewed with hearty amounts of seven different malts, including crystal and chocolate malts, and a smidge of US and UK hops. Old Chub also gets a dash of beechwood-smoked grains imported from Bamburg, Germany, home of the world's greatest smoked beers. Old Chub is 8% alcohol by volume.
Gordon is 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 is 8.7% alcohol by volume, and has 85 International Bittering Units.
Ten FIDY Imperial Stout - Now (11-21-07) available in cans, our winter seasonal beer is immensely viscous and loaded with neck-deep flavors of chocolate, malt, coffee, cocoa and oats.
