Crisp, Cold Pale By Ska Brewing Hits Shelves Year-Round

DURANGO, CO— Ska Brewing combined the best of all the beer worlds in their latest release, Cold Pale. This incredibly crushable Pale Ale is crisp and refreshing, and now available year-round. 

“Pale Ale is my litmus test when I go to a brewery,” says Ska Brewing Co-Founder and CEO Dave Thibodeau, “so when we went to create a mainstay Pale Ale at Ska, especially because we don’t already have this style available all year, we did a lot of research and development to get the hop profile exactly where we wanted it to be. A lot of people appreciate hops but don’t want a super bitter beer, and they also don’t want a 6 to 8% IPA all the time. At Ska we like to have more than one beer in a sitting, so it seemed natural to make something more drinkable.” 

The result is Cold Pale— subtle enough for people who prefer lagers over hoppy beers, and unique in hop profile to satiate those who do. 

This new style category of Cold IPA and Pale Ale is brewed with lager yeast strains at cold temperatures. They’re crisp like lagers with much less ester-y aroma that’s produced by ale yeast. Cold Pale is the result of years of experimentation with hopping schedules— from kettle to early fermentation to dry hopping. Ska’s brewing team added Tettnang and Columbus hops as early fermentation additions that through biotransformation yield melon and grape flavors and aromas that these spicy, citrus-y hops wouldn’t typically produce with ale yeast. It’s then dry hopped with classic C hops (Cascade, Chinook, and Centennial) that layer on pine and fresh citrus notes. It’s a crispy, easy drinker that weighs in at 5.5 percent ABV. 

Cold Pale joins Ska’s canned beer lineup this fall alongside Ska’s new Mexican-style Cold IPA, another lager yeast fermented ale recipe made with the same Mexico City-sourced yeast strain as Mexican Logger as well as agave and flaked blue maize. 

Cold Pale is available in canned 6-packs across Ska’s national distribution footprint, and on tap now at the brewery World Headquarters in Durango, Colorado. This beer will also be added to a revamped winter mix pack that also includes Euphoria Pale Ale, Modus Hoperandi, and Ska Lager. 

Media inquiring about Ska’s biotransformation research, Cold Pale and IPA experimentation, and any other Ska beers that pique their interest 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 and Fort Lewis College Debut Skyhawk Single Hop Sultana IPA To Showcase Hop Research

DURANGO, CO— After months of hop research and experimentation, Ska Brewing and the Fort Lewis College Chemistry Department are pleased to present Skyhawk Single Hop Sultana IPA just in time for graduation weekend. 

Articulate detail was taken to choose the hop in the Skyhawk Single Hop Sultana IPA. This IPA is the product of undergraduate research on hop biotransformation, using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry analysis. It’s a full-bodied, luscious IPA rich with huge tropical notes of pineapple and mango that weighs in at 6.50% ABV. 

This collaboration seeks to understand how different hops alter the taste and aroma of beer, reducing the dependency on trial and error, and wasted hops. “We’ve been really excited about this research because it furthers our analytical view of hop varieties, transcending a deeper understanding of how hops perform in the brewing process beyond just flavors and aromas in the resulting beer,” says Ska Brewing Brewmaster Steve Breezley. “This is knowledge we can only gain through trials that we’re thrilled to have Fort Lewis as a partner for.” 

“I really appreciate the environmental science perspective on this project because that is really the end goal,” says Callie A. Cole, PhD  Associate Professor at Fort Lewis College Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry. “By developing these methods with Ska Brewing, we are hoping to ultimately have a positive environmental impact by increasing the efficiency of hopped beer production and reducing the demand on hops. It’s why people will fund this research. It’s a strong motivation for Ska to be involved as well as other breweries to be interested in this data.” 

Skyhawk Single Hop Sultana IPA will tap on Fort Lewis’ 2022 commencement day, Saturday May 14, at Ska Brewing at 11am. The beer will be on draft only while supplies last.

Contact Emily Hutto at hutto@radcraftbeer.com for more information about this research partnership and the resulting beer. 

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 skabrewing.com.

ABOUT FORT LEWIS COLLEGE

As the Four Corners’ stronghold of academic excellence, Fort Lewis College blends small class sizes, engaged faculty, and unparalleled research opportunities to help students earn college degrees and chase dreams. Guided by real-world experiences and a bountiful landscape, our students develop critical thinking and communication skills to fuel further studies or rewarding careers. A broad range of subjects and diverse student body weave cross-cultural knowledge throughout signature programs focused on environmental studies, education, the health sciences, creative arts, and business administration. Find an education to live by at FLC.