Four Ounces To Creative Freedom; Ska Brewing Releases Limited Specialty Beers In 16oz. Cans

DURANGO, CO— Ska Brewing has even more beer for their customers— four ounces more to be exact. After twenty years of packaging its craft in aluminum, the brewery debuts 16oz. cans today. Skull Juice Juicy Double IPA and Prickly Pear Sour will be available in this new format in very limited quantities while supplies last, with more speciality releases to follow. 

When Ska first started canning in 2003, they were one of the first craft breweries in the country to can their liquid. Now with the implementation of the CanCollar® Corsair™ provided by WestRock, long awaited 16oz. 4-packs have become a reality. 

Skull Juice Juicy DIPA is a golden, tropical hazy hopped with Citra, Mosaic, and Idaho 7 hops. It boasts aromas of pineapple, guava, and orange. The can captures its barbaric and tropical vibes with a multi-toned tiling of the iconic Ska skeleton chewing on hops. 

Prickly Pear Sour Ale pours a beautiful reddish pink hue from the addition of real fruit added for fermentation. It’s a smooth-drinker with a noticeable tartness and a slightly melon sweetness. A bold, black and white graphic meets colorful cacti on this can’s groovy label. 

More surface area on these can means more room for creative design, so this new package format was a flex opportunity for Ska’s inspired Designer Cara Nosek. The new can artwork is a departure from Ska’s typical branding with the signature checkerboard stripe, while still including bold colors and comic book elements that the brewery is known for. 

Taste these fresh beers on tap at Ska Brewing’s World Headquarters in Durango today at 4pm, and find the new cans across Ska’s distribution footprint. Later this year, Ska will release more small-batch, experimental beers from their Mod pilot system in 16oz. can format. 

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 Mexican Logger, Modus Hoperandi, and Rue B. Soho. For information (a lot of it), more music, and a good time, visit www.skabrewing.com.

Pink Vapor Stew By Ska Brewing Is A 2023 Good Food Awards Winner

PORTLAND, OR– Ska Brewing Pink Vapor Stew was named a winner at the Good Food Awards ceremony on Friday, April 21. 2023 marks the second year that this beer has won this prestigious competition celebrating tasty, authentic, and responsibly made products.

Pink Vapor Stew was among 2,000 entries in the 2023 Good Food Awards. In January, the Good Food Foundation 501 (c) 3 announced it as one of 32 finalists in this year's beer category. Over the weekend, it joined 17 other beers in the winner’s circle. 

Inspired by smoothies and crafted with real fruits and vegetables, Pink Vapor Stew is a fan favorite— for its subtle tartness, tropical hop notes, and bright pink hue. It’s available year-round in 12oz. 6-packs across Ska’s 11-state distribution footprint, and in select international locations. 

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.

Smoothie-Inspired Pink Vapor Stew By Ska Brewing Named 2023 Good Food Award Finalist

SAN FRANCISCO, CA– Ska Brewing Pink Vapor Stew was named one of 32 finalists in the beer category of the 2023 Good Food Awards this week. 

Now in its twelfth year, The Good Food Awards celebrate the kind of food we all want to eat: tasty, authentic and responsible. This prestigious awards program was established by the Good Food Foundation 501 (c) 3, formerly known as Seedling Projects, in collaboration with a broad community of food crafters, grocers, chefs, food writers, activists and passionate food-lovers. 

Pink Vapor Stew is a beer inspired by good food– good smoothies to be specific. The recipe for this sour beer, brewed with beets, carrots, apples, and ginger, was crafted to mimic the flavors in Co-Founder and CEO Dave Thibodeau’s morning juice routine. “The ingredients we choose for all of our drinks matter,” he says. “The Good Food recognition for Pink Vapor Stew affirms our dedication to quality sourcing.”

Pink Vapor Stew won another Good Food Award in 2021, and receives frequent praise from esteemed beer and food media. Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine’s editors, who scored it a 91 in a blind tasting, say “an outrageously magenta color sets up wild expectations. The flavor is equal parts earthy, sweet, and acidic, with a balanced sourness that highlights the fruitier elements without seeming cliché. A subtle spice underpins it, offering structure but no bitterness.”

This 2023 announcement marks Pink Vapor Stew’s second Good Food Awards finalist distinction, and Ska’s third overall. True Blonde Ale was a finalist in 2019. 

Weighing in at 5% ABV and boasting a tropical medley of flavors balanced by Citra and Mandarina Bavaria hops, Pink Vapor Stew is available in 12oz. 6-packs across Ska’s 11-state distribution footprint, and overseas in select places too.

Media inquiring about Ska Brewing or their Good Food Awards history 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.

Purpose Brewing & Cellars Celebrates 2nd Anniversary with Weekend-Long Party August 3 and 4

FORT COLLINS, CO —Purpose Brewing & Cellars is pulling out all the stops for a weekend-long, two-year anniversary bash at the brewery (4025 S Mason St Unit C, Fort Collins, CO 80525) on Saturday, August 3 from 2 - 9 p.m. and Sunday August 4 from 2 - 7 p.m.

“I have been floored by the amount of interest and willingness of Fort Collins beer drinkers to explore the wealth of beer dimensions that we can still create,” says Peter Bouckaert, co-owner at Purpose Brewing. “It’s not lost on me that they expect a lot out of us, which is why we’ve continued to push the boundaries of beer making.” 

Live music will be provided by the eclectic, groovy tunes of JangleTHUMP on Saturday and the lyrical musings of CSU alum Nina Forsyth on Sunday. All weekend long, enjoy some of your favorite childhood games in oversized form including, Jenga, Bananagrams, Cup-Stack, Ring Toss and more. To celebrate two wonderful years in business, Purpose will be releasing brand new beers and some familiar favorites including their famed taco beer. Z Catering will provide a delicious menu for the weekend with food items that pair perfectly with the beer lineup for the weekend.

The midtown brewery, led by Frezi and Peter Bouckaert, former New Belgium Brewing brewmaster and storied sour beer maker, opened during the summer of 2017. Since then, the small but mighty brewery welcomed brewer Mike Hiatt, and has continued to elevate consumers’ palates near and far. From mushroom beers to barley wines, the brewery releases unique, rotating beers as well as an inspired Smoeltrekker sour every week. Smoeltrekker, which means “pulling a funny face” in Flemish is the brewery owners cheeky way of naming their sour beer program. Every sour is aptly named Smoeltrekker along with the barrel number in which the delicious liquid is housed. 

“Two years young and we have barely unfolded our creative potential,” said Bouckaert. “We have so many barrels behind our bar that are just waiting to share their story and put Fort Collins on the map for outstanding sour beers.” 

For more information about Purpose Brewing’s 2-Year Anniversary Party, contact Chea Franz at chea@radcraftbeer.com.

ABOUT PURPOSE BREWING & CELLARS

Purpose Brewing & Cellars is a small batch craft brewery that focuses on hand-crafted beers. We focus on three main ingredients: knowledge, experience and creativity and blend these ingredients with tools such as fruit, wood, barrels, spices and whatever else that draws our inspiration. Every weekend, we offer four or five unique beers that are different from week to week. We will always have a different barrel aged beer on tap, and most of the time, a delicious sour beer. Come in and say hello and try some of our tasty creations. For more information about Purpose Brewing & Cellars, visit PurposeBrewing.com.

Funkwerks Welcomes Spring with Provincial Series and Sour-themed Merch

FORT COLLINS, CO— Funkwerks celebrates Spring in full swing with an array of sour beers packed full of funk and fruit. Now available on draft and select packaging, Funkwerks’ Provincial series, an ongoing lineup of sour fruit beers, currently includes Apricot, Pineapple, Passion Fruit, and Raspberry Provincial— all of which are included in the breweries latest version of their in-house Sour Snack Pack flight.

Brewed utilizing a unique 24-hour warm souring technique using lactobacillus in the wort and featuring rotating fruit additions, Funkwerks’ Provincial series is part of the brewery’s Boutique Line and are available in bottles and draft in limited runs.

Raspberry Provincial is available year-round across the brewery’s 13 state distribution footprint in 6 packs of 12 oz. bottles and on draft. Raspberry Provincial was the beer to first kick off the series as a delicious creation that was truly a product of creativity, ingenuity, and luck. In the summer of 2013 Funkwerks took a test batch of their sessionable sour summer ale, Provincial, that didn’t quite hit gravity and decided to have some fun with it by adding a heavy dose of raspberries. The end result was so delicious, the brewery ended up brewing it year-round, to this day. This delightfully tart fruit beer is refreshing, with notes of lemon, bright raspberries, and a citrusy berry aroma which transitions to a subtly sweet and tart finish.

Passion Fruit Provincial is available on draft in the taproom and in very limited amounts outside of Colorado. In 12 oz. bottles it is only available in Funkwerks’ latest version of their variety 12 packs, Winky’s Snack Pack. This beer is full of tropical fruit flavors and bright aromatics. Beginning with the classic light, sessionable, sour ale, Funkwerks added fresh passion fruit to play off of their Belgian yeast’s naturally occurring fruity esters and contribute additional tartness. Transport yourself to sunny days and good times with this tropical, refreshing beer packed with notes of mango and tart citrus.

Apricot Provincial, available on draft at the brewery’s tasting room, is Funkwerks’ sessionable Belgian-style sour ale with a citrusy apricot aroma that transitions into a subtly sweet and tart finish.

Pineapple Provincial is now available in 6 packs of 12-ounce bottles across Colorado and on draft in select markets across Funkwerks’ distribution footprint including Colorado, Southern California, Minnesota, and Missouri. Good for more than just alliteration, Pineapple Provincial is a tart, light-bodied, tropical beer with notes of lemon zest and pineapple that give the apricot and raspberry variants of the Provincial series a run for their money.

The fun doesn’t stop at the liquid. For those who want more, Funkwerks has created a line of funky and sour bacteria-inspired merchandise available in the tasting room and online at Winky’s Warehouse online store at funkwerks.com, including:

Funky Water Bottles
Sour Fruit Goblet Glasses
Funky Bacteria Socks
Limited Edition Pocket Tees with patterned pocket
Funky Bandanas
Bottle Sweaters

For more information about Funkwerks or the Provincial Series, contact Emily Hutto at coop@radcraftbeer.com.

ABOUT FUNKWERKS

Founded in 2009 by brewers Gordon Schuck and Brad Lincoln, Funkwerks is a specialty craft brewery specializing in Saison, Sour, and Belgian-style craft beers made in their small brewery in Fort Collins, Colorado. The 2012 winner of the Small Brewery of the Year Award at the Great American Beer Festival. Find the brewery online at funkwerks.com.

Ska Brewing Cru D’Etat Back For Third Year

DURANGO, CO— Ska Brewing Cru D’Etat is now available at the brewery World Headquarters, and hitting the company’s twelve-state distribution footprint next week. 

A Belgian specialty ale, Cru d’Etat has a sweet, rum-like flavor that weighs in at 11.5% ABV. This tart and complex ale has aged in an old wine foeder for nearly two years, creating flavors of caramel and raisins with a hint of alcohol heat. This concoction will have you going wild in the streets. 

Ska releases Cru D’Etat every two years in rotation with Ska Face Barleywine-style Ale that comes out every other year. Grab one of the 500mL bottles while it lasts. 

Contact Emily Hutto at coop@radcraftbeer.com for more information about Ska Brewing’s Cru D’Etat or any of its seasonal, specialty beer releases. 

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 Sour Apple Gose Returns

DURANGO, CO— Ska Brewing’s Sour Apple Gose returns in cans for a second year. This tart, refreshing beer in Ska’s experimental Mod Project series is now available across their twelve-state distribution footprint while supplies last. 

The scent of sweet apple blossoms complements the soft honey notes and fresh lemon tartness in this sour beer that gets a zesty boost from the addition of Citra hops. Sour Apple Gose is 5.1% ABV and 11 IBU. 

Sour Apple Gose followed Pink Vapor Stew— a sour beer brewed with beets, carrots, ginger and apples— when Ska first rolled out the Mod Project in 2017. The project delivers assorted, seven-barrel-batches of blended and experimental offerings, with varying levels of tartness to complement the blend of local fruits used in producing them. 

“I’m excited to bring back my favorite of this series,” says Ska Brewing Sales & Marketing Director Kristen Muraro. “It’s perfect for holiday toasting.” 

Sour Apple Gose is available in 12 oz. cans and on draft in select locations in Colorado, Arizona, Southern California, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, and Utah. 

For more information about Ska Brewing or its Mod Project for experimental beers, 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 including Modus Hoperandi, Mexican Logger, Euphoria and Pinstripe. For information (a lot of it), music, and a good time, visit www.skabrewing.com.

Introducing Rockyard Brewing Gondolier Cherry Kriek in 22oz. Bombers

CASTLE ROCK, CO— Rockyard Brewing brings remnants of a medal-winning beer to life with their newly released Cherry Kriek-style sour ale, The Gondolier, now available in 22 oz. bombers in select locations on the Front Range.

Let The Gondolier bring a balance of sour and sweetness to your palate as it propels you through the familiar tastes of a golden sour base ale aged in cabernet wine barrels with tart red cherries.

Aged for 14 months in the same barrels as Rockyard’s 2017 GABF® Gold Medal winning Plum Creek Sour, The Gondolier is a bright, crisp, easy-drinking sour which finishes slightly sweet and pours with an alluring pinkish hue. The base was brewed with a mix of European pilsner and wheat malts with a touch of rolled oats and raw wheat. After primary fermentation with a saison yeast, it was transferred into cabernet wine barrels and topped off with nearly a pound of cherries per gallon of beer in each barrel.

“Our favorite attribute of the Gondolier is that even after 14 months aging on souring bacteria, it's not a pucker bomb,”says Rockyard Head Brewer Greg Fetzer. “We’d go so far as to say it’s a starter sour.”

The Gondolier label was designed by Denver artist Drew Button of D. Button Ink. It portrays a Venetian gondolier singing music notes resembling cherries. The character was created in reference to a time when Cherry Creek ran through Denver with the infrastructure designed to be navigable by gondola. Rockyard’s Artist, Drew Button put it best: “These boaters have distinct songs they sing as they cruise the canals to announce themselves to other boaters gliding down the narrow waterways. I have feeling this beer will leave you singing!”

The Gondolier is part of Rockyard’s Barrel Aged Series and will be available in 22 oz. bombers at select retail locations on the Front Range while supplies last..

For more information about The Gondolier and or Rockyard Brewing, contact Emily Hutto at coop@radcraftbeer.com.

ABOUT ROCKYARD BREWING

Rockyard is the longest running brewpub in Douglas Count​y, founded in 1999 by four Colorado-born siblings. Rockyard’s beers have won medals at many prestigious beer competitions including the Great American Beer Festival®, World Beer Cup® and the Colorado State Fair. Rockyard’s beer can be found in many retail locations and a handful of craft-centric bars and restaurants throughout Colorado’s Front Range. Find the brewery online at rockyard.com.

Ska Brewing Celebrates 23 Years in Business; Announces Brewery List for Anniversary Invitational

DURANGO, CO— Ska Brewing will celebrate its 23rd year in business this Saturday, September 8 with headliner Big D and the Kids Table as well as the Doped Up Dollies at its 23rd Anniversary Celebration and Brewer’s Invitational. 

The Bands

Big D and The Kids Table out of Boston will headline this annual celebration, with their sister band Doped Up Dollies opening. Both bands are playing in Durango for the first time. Learn more about them here.

The Beer

Ska will pour two anniversary beers at this celebration: MoSka Mule and the 2018 Barrel-Aged 23rd Anniversary Ale. MoSka Mule, which debuted in June in cans across Ska’s distribution footprint, is brewed with ginger and lime to create the flavors of a traditional Moscow Mule cocktail. Ska’s 23rd Anniversary Ale— Ska’s most sour beer yet— was aged on a single Sutcliffe Vineyards’ American Oak Red Wine Barrel and made exclusively for release at Ska’s World Headquarters in Durango. It will be available at the anniversary party and in 500mL bottles at Ska’s tasting room while supplies last. Proceeds for the 23rd Anniversary Ale will benefit La Plata Open Space Conservancy.

The Brewery Guests

More than 20 of Ska’s brewery friends will pour their beers at this event. Participating breweries include Animas Brewing Company, Avery Brewing Company, Brew Pub & Kitchen, Carver Brewing Company, Dark Sky Brewing, Dolores River Company, Elevation Beer Company, Great Divide Brewing Company, Huss Brewing Company, La Cumbre Brewing Company, Left Hand Brewing Company, Marble Brewery, Odell Brewing Company, O.H.S.O Brewery, Oskar Blues Brewery, Ouray Brewing, Pagosa Brewing, Ratio Beerworks, Riff Raff Brewing Company, Santa Fe Brewing Company, Steamworks Brewing Company, Stone Brewing, Telluride Brewing Company, Three Barrel Brewing Company, and Three Rivers Brewery.

For more information about Ska Brewing’s anniversary celebration or with any other media inquiries about the brewery, 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. Ska has long been a herald for sustainable brewing practices— its World Headquarters are wind-powered and earlier in 2018 Ska decked out its roof with 223 solar panels. For information, more music, and a good time, visit www.skabrewing.com.

Ska Brewing Releases Barrel-Aged Beers Series No. 1, Whiskey Sour

DURANGO, CO— Just in time for American Craft Beer Week, Ska Brewing debuts its new Barrel-Aged Beers Series with Whiskey Sour— a sour ale aged in rye whiskey barrels with orange and cherries to mimic the classic cocktail’s signature garnish. 

Whiskey Sour was brewed with pilsner malt, red wheat and Belma and Citra Hops. It was soured in the brewhouse before aging for six months in Woodford Reserve Rye Whiskey barrels. The result is much like the cocktail it emulates, with notes of whiskey and citrus that meld into oak and cherries creating an experience that is mildly tangy with subtle sweet bitterness. Whiskey Sour weighs in at 6.8% ABV and 10.9 total acidity (TA). 

“We had to be patient with a program like this,” says Ska Brewing Founder Dave Thibodeau. “Executing it well takes a lot of development, and then we have to let the beer take its time in the barrels… Fortunately we have all of our stainless-fermented beers to drink in the meantime.” 

Whiskey Sour will be available in 500 mL bottles at Ska’s World Headquarters in Durango, Colorado on Friday, May 18. Guests can reserve their bottles for an exclusive beer and food pairing that will take place from 5 to 7pm. $12.99 reserves your bottle at the table– get yours by emailing kira@skabrewing.com.

For more information about Whiskey Sour or any of the other shenanigans shakin’ at 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, Rue B. Soho and the Mod Project— beers with varying levels of tartness to complement the blend of local fruits used in producing them. For information (a lot of it), music, and a good time, visit www.skabrewing.com.

Sour Fest at Thirsty Monk in Asheville Returns For The 8th Year

photo by Colin Bridge

Sour Fest at Asheville-born Thirsty Monk, brewer of Belgian-Rooted Modern Ales and operator of world-recognized craft beer bars, is back for the eighth year March 12 to 16. This celebration of sour, wild and mixed fermentation ales from across the state, country, and the globe is Thirsty Monk’s first signature event of the year.

Sour Fest is a five-day tap takeover of sought-after sour beers at Thirsty Monk in Downtown Asheville and Biltmore Park locations. The beer list includes rare selections from Cascade Barrel House, New Belgium, Firestone Walker, Brouwerij Boon, Haw River Farmhouse Ales, Zebulon Artisan Ales, and so many more.

“I curate this tap lineup with multiple goals in mind,” says Thirsty’s Monk’s Beer Buyer and Marketing and Events Coordinator Joanna Postlethwaite. “I strive to bring together a collection of beers that explores the many flavors of sour beer— from tart, to fruit-forward, to complex and funky. I’m putting together the best examples I can find from breweries across the country and the world, as well as exceptional contributions from our talented neighboring breweries here in North Carolina.”

For a complete beer list or for more information about Thirsty Monk, contact Emily Hutto at coop@radcraftbeer.com.

ABOUT THIRSTY MONK

Thirsty Monk, founded in 2008, brews Belgian-Rooted Modern Ales and operates a family of well-recognized, craft beer destinations in Asheville, NC, Denver, CO, and Portland, OR. Find the company online at monkpub.com.