Ska Brewing Reports 2022 Impact; Previews New Sustainability Initiatives

Photo of Ska’s xeriscaped beer garden courtesy The Brewtography Project

DURANGO, CO— Ska Brewing is coming off of a dynamic year in business engaged in the craft beer, music, art, biking, and local Southwest Colorado communities in which it is ingrained— with even bigger plans to support its community with sustainability initiatives in 2023. 

Here is Ska Brewing’s 2022 Year In Review.

BEER

In 2022, Ska Brewing brewed approximately 25,000 BBL of beer that was served on tap at the brewery World Headquarters and distributed nationwide. Ska’s distribution footprint grew to 11 states last year with the addition of Wyoming in the fall.

Ska debuted several new canned beers last year, such as the new age Checkered Future IPA that brought together old school hops and new brewing techniques; Raspberry Blonde Ale that gave a fresh take on a classic style; the Faceplant Lager brewed with Tailwind Nutrition electrolytes; and the Peppermint Bark Stout crafted with Animas Chocolate Company peppermint bark. The brewery also brought back famed mainstays Mexican Logger, Oktoberfest, Euphoria Pale Ale, and Mexican Lager Style Dark. 

Up next in Ska’s canned beer lineup is The Ska Lager, a snappy, crisp, bright, and easy-drinking at only 4.8% ABV. This new no-nonsense offering will hit shelves in March. 

MUSIC 

Ska Brewing was born out of an affinity for music, which the brewery continues to stoke by hosting Ska, punk, and other relevant bands of all shapes and sizes to play at the brewery. The legendary third wave Ska group Hepcat and opener Rude Girl Revue traveled to Durango to perform an epic show at Ska’s 27th Anniversary Party and Brewer’s Invitational. 

SOUTHWEST COLORADO 

Ska was a proud supporter of many events that took place in its hometown Durango, Colorado— including Durango’s annual winter festival Snowdown, the 50th anniversary of The Iron Horse Bicycle Classic, the Durango Independent Film Festival, Animas River Days, Downtown 4th of July Celebration, Singlespeed Cyclocross World Championships, Thirsty 13 and many more.

Ska partnered with Fort Lewis College on multiple efforts, including a hop biotransformation research project that yielded the Skyhawk Single Hop IPA; and a hard seltzer branding deep dive with the Fennell-Saegert Student Marketing Agency.

Each year, Ska donates upwards of $50,000 in product, money and time to nonprofits organizations such as La Plata Open Space Conservancy, Manna Soup Kitchen, Fort Lewis College, United Way, KSUT, KDUR, Women’s Resource Center, LaPlata County Humane Society, and Trails 2000, among many others.

Ska Distributing continued to serve the Southwest Colorado market by bringing craft beer brands to the area from across the state and beyond, including new auditions to the portfolio: Bruz Beers and Weldwerks Brewing Co. 

COMMUNITY

Outside of its hometown, Ska engaged with the beer community at large through collaborations with Living The Dream Brewing in Littleton, Colorado and Manhattan Brewing in Manhattan, Kansas. 

Beyond beer and music, Ska is passionate about art— especially art that showcases Ska music. During the Ska anniversary weekend in September, Ska hosted San Diego-based artist Nan Coffey for an art show that brewery visitors can still peruse on the second floor of the building. 

Beyond beer, music, and art, Ska is passionate about biking. The brewery was a sponsor for Rides & Vibes in Grand Junction, the Fruita Fat Tire Festival, and 12 Hours Mesa Verde, among others. This year, Ska is stoked to be the official beer of the Session Series, Triple Bypass, Salida76, and Beti Bike Bash by Team Evergreen Cycling. 

SUSTAINABILITY 

Ska has long committed to reducing waste and developing brewery and distribution systems that minimize its carbon footprint— from recycled jeans in the walls as insulation and reused bowling alley wood as tables, to solar panels, solar lighting, wind energy credits, and recycling of all cardboard, paper, plastic, glass and metal waste. Ska was one of the first craft breweries in the country to package its beer in infinitely recyclable aluminum cans, and now has many packaging systems in place to further conserve resources, including Ionized air rinse instead of water rinsing and an efficient, on-demand, de-aerated water system. These are just a few of Ska’s sustainability programs that the brewery is constantly improving upon.

In 2023, Ska is pleased to continue these efforts alongside the implementation of two sizable and unprecedented sustainability initiatives. The brewery is installing a machine that will allow for the transition of all can collars from plastic to paperboard, making Ska one of the first breweries ever to utilize this equipment in the move away from plastic packaging materials. 

Secondly, Durango’s Table To Farm Compost will now be the recipient of all of Ska’s spent grain. This transition from cattle feed and landfill to compost will reduce methane emissions and align with Ska’s commitment to local partnerships. 

Ska will publish more information about these efforts in coming weeks. 

Media inquiring about Ska Brewing can contact Emily Hutto at hutto@radcraftbeer.com. 

ABOUT SKA BREWING

Based in Durango, Colorado, Ska Brewing was founded in 1995 and produces more than a dozen award-winning beers fueled with Ska music, and lots of it. Pioneers in the canned craft beer movement, Ska Brewing is known for an array of styles in 12 oz cans that include True Blonde, Modus Hoperandi and Rue B. Soho. For information, music, and a good time, visit www.skabrewing.com.

Ska Brewing Releases Mexican Logger Cans for the 2021 Season

DURANGO, CO— Ska Brewing kicks off its 22nd Mexican Logger season on March 23 with a fundraiser for Durango’s Community Emergency Relief Fund (CERF) for COVID-19 relief. Cans of the brewery’s famous craft lager will be available at the brewery World Headquarters and across Ska’s markets next week. 

This clean, easy drinking lager has become a warm weather staple in Durango where Ska first produced Mexican Logger on draft and in 12 oz bottles in 1999. Although it is still a summer seasonal offering 22 years later, it has become one of the brewery’s flagship beers, and most anticipated releases. 

“The key ingredient in this beer is and always has been a very crisp, clean yeast strain,” says Ska Brewing Co-Founder and CEO Dave Thibodeau. “We use a strain specifically from Mexico City that helps keep drinkability at the forefront with the malts and the hops hanging in the background.” 

To support social distancing during the 2021 Mexican Logger release, Ska is celebrating all week and encouraging reservations at its World Headquarters. A $20 donation reserves your table and includes two pints of Mexican Logger.

Mexican Logger will tap at Ska Street Brewstillery in Boulder on Wednesday, March 24.

Find Mexican Logger across Ska’s markets on draft and in canned 12-ounce 6-packs throughout spring and summer. Earlier this year, Ska Brewing released the Mexican-style Lager Dark that is available when Mexican Logger is not. 

Contact Emily Hutto at hutto@radcraftbeer.com to learn more about the lager program at Ska Brewing. 

ABOUT SKA BREWING

Based in Durango, Colorado, Ska Brewing was founded in 1995 and produces more than a dozen award- winning beers fueled with Ska music, and lots of it. Pioneers in the canned craft beer movement, Ska Brewing is known for an array of styles in 12 oz cans that include Mexican Logger, Modus Hoperandi, and Rue B. Soho. For information (a lot of it), more music, and a good time, visit www.skabrewing.com.

Ska Brewing Celebrates 20th Year of Mexican Logger

DURANGO, CO— The always anticipated release of Ska Brewing Mexican Logger is possibly premature with Purgatory Mountain under 10 feet of snow, but here regardless. For twenty years now, this beer’s release has served as Durango’s unofficial kickoff into springtime. 

Mexican Logger was Ska’s first session beer when the recipe debuted in 1999. It became Colorado’s first craft lager in a can in 2011, and then won back-to-back Great American Beer Festival® awards in the International Style Pilsner category in 2015 and 2016.

Ska Mexican Logger is crisp, clean, and refreshing — made for hot afternoons with a side of lime. The beer is a crushable 5 percent ABV, and brewed with a lager yeast strain from Mexico City. That same yeast strain now ferments Ska’s Rue B. Soho Grapefruit Lager as well.  

Find Mexican Logger on tap and available to-go at Ska Brewing on Wednesday, March 20. Durango-based “Western garage” band Lawn Chair Kings will serenade the tasting room with skank-inducing rock-country-punk hybrid tunes at 5pm. 

Mexican Logger will be available through spring and summer in canned 6-packs across Colorado, Arizona, Southern California, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Utah.

For more information about Ska Brewing or its beloved Mexican Logger, contact Emily Hutto at coop@radcraftbeer.com. 

ABOUT SKA BREWING

Based in Durango, Colorado, Ska Brewing was founded in 1995 and produces more than a dozen award-winning beers fueled with Ska music, and lots of it. Pioneers in the canned craft beer movement, Ska Brewing is known for an array of styles in 12 oz cans that include Mexican Logger, Modus Hoperandi, and Rue B. Soho. For information (a lot of it), more music, and a good time, visit www.skabrewing.com.

Ska Brewing Releases Official Beer of 41st Annual Durango Snowdown

DURANGO, CO— Ska Brewing has teamed up with Snowdown, Durango’s premier winter celebration, to create a sure-fire cure to your cabin fever. Snowdown Comic Excelsior-Style Amber Lager will be available in the Durango area on draft and in limited 6-packs of 12 oz. cans beginning Friday, January 4. 

The Beer

Snowdown Comic Can was brewed to celebrate and commemorate the 41st Annual Snowdown and coincide with the 2019 theme, A Comic Con Snowdown. An amber lager packed with roasted, malty sweetness— Snowdown Comic Can is expertly balanced with a dry bitterness from just the right touch of noble and citrus hop aromas and weighs in at sessionable 5.3% ABV and 28 IBUs.

Snowdown Comic Excelsior-Style Amber Lager will be released on draft and in cans at Ska’s Durango World Headquarters on Friday, January 4 at 5pm. Guests can buy two cans for $5 at this event, which will also feature special giveaways. Capes are encouraged.

The Celebration

Durango has been hosting a Snowdown celebration each winter for over 40 years. More that 100 events and activities are crammed into a 5-day window (January 30- February 3). Beard growing contests, joke off, hot wing eating contest, beer plunge, outhouse stuffing and a light parade are all on the agenda. The festival spreads across town, with many local businesses hosting celebrations and events.

For more information on Snowdown Comic Can and Ska Brewing contact Emily Hutto at coop@radcraftbeer.com.

ABOUT SKA BREWING

Based in Durango, Colorado, Ska Brewing was founded in 1995 and produces more than a dozen award-winning beers fueled with Ska music, and lots of it. Pioneers in the canned craft beer movement, Ska Brewing is known for an array of styles in 12 oz cans that include Mexican Logger, Modus Hoperandi, and Rue B. Soho. For information (a lot of it), more music, and a good time, visit www.skabrewing.com.

Ska Brewing Gets Oktoberfest Act Together; Rolls Out German-Style Lager in Cans

DURANGO, CO—  Twenty years ago a friend told Ska Brewing’s founder Dave Thibodeau that Ska music was simply Polka gone bad. “It was a zinger,” he says, “And I had no comeback until now.” 

That comeback is Oktoberfest Lager in a can. The brewery will release its German-Style Lager in canned 6-packs for the first time at its World Headquarters this Friday August 3. The beer will be available seasonally, encouraging skanking at Oktoberfest celebrations across Ska’s distribution footprint while supplies last. 

Ska’s Oktoberfest is crafted with 100 percent German-sourced Munich and Vienna malts that impart nutty, bready, toasty flavors, all balanced by Noble hops. It finishes clean and crisp. 

This beer’s label sports the Headless Horseman (a Ska-themed skull-less cowboy, really) with a traditional blue and white checkerboard Bavarian flag as the backdrop.

“We appreciate and respect good, clean lagers because we know the care that goes into fermenting them,” Thibodeau says. Home to one of the country’s first craft lagers in a can, Ska’s brewing team crafts its seasonal Mexican Logger in warmer months and craves it all winter long. "This year we’re stepping up our seasonal lager game with this traditional Oktoberfest,” he adds.

On Friday, The Container Restaurant at Ska Brewing’s World Headquarters will serve house pretzels with Rude Boy Lager mustard, Pinstripe Red Ale brats, and house sauerkraut. Pints of the new Oktoberfest Lager will cost $3 each. 

Six-packs of 12-ounce cans of Oktoberfest will be available across Ska’s distribution footprint beginning next week and seasonally while supplies last. 

For more information about Ska’s new canned Oktoberfest, contact Emily Hutto at coop@radcraftbeer.com.

ABOUT SKA BREWING

Based in Durango, Colorado, Ska Brewing was founded in 1995 and produces more than a dozen award-winning beers fueled with Ska music, and lots of it. Pioneers in the canned craft beer movement, Ska Brewing is known for an array of styles in 12 oz cans that include Mexican Logger, Modus Hoperandi, and Rue B. Soho. For information, music, and a good time, visit www.skabrewing.com.

Ska Brewing Releases Rue B. Soho Grapefruit Lager

DURANGO, CO— Ska Brewing is excited to announce the release of Rue B. Soho, a refreshing lager brewed with cascade hops and grapefruit (5.1% ABV). Rue B. Soho, Ska’s first new release of 2018, marks the only 2018 release for Ska that will be distributed throughout all of their markets.

“This beer has seen enormous success in our tasting room this past year,” says Kristen Muraro, director of sales and marketing at Ska. “It would be nothing short of selfish not to share it with the world, or at least our friends in the 10 other states we’re distributed in."

With Rue B. Soho, Ska is building off the success of the brewery’s other popular lagers, including their award-winning Mexican Logger which shares the same yeast. Muraro said the uber-clean lager strain is the secret to showcasing the Ruby Red citrus and the classic grapefruit character of Cascade hops.

At first your nose is treated to the aroma of bright and crisp citrus, followed by a tart and light taste of grapefruit juice and carbonation on your tongue. It’s lightly acidulated, and at only 20 IBUs, it is incredibly refreshing.

Rue B. Soho will be available in 12 oz and 6-pack cans. 

To stay up-to-date on more of these kick ass developments going on at Ska, contact Emily Hutto at coop@radcraftbeer.com.

ABOUT SKA BREWING

Based in Durango, Colorado, Ska Brewing was founded in 1995 and produces more than a dozen award-winning beers.  Pioneers in the canned craft beer movement, Ska Brewing is known for an array of styles in 12 oz cans including Modus Hoperandi, Mexican Logger, Euphoria and Pinstripe.  For information (a lot of it), music, and a good time, visit www.skabrewing.com. Plug in to the latest updates, beer releases and shenanigans at facebook.com/skabrewing and twitter.com/skabrewing.