Talbott’s Cider Company used to package its hard cider mimosas in colorful cans purchased for 12 cents each from a Westminster supplier. But a monthslong supply crunch has forced the Palisade cidery to get creative: Now, the cans come blank from Korea and are wrapped by hand in a waterproof label — more than doubling […]
Brewers Association
Posted inBusiness
As virtual GABF arrives, craft beer industry faces difficult moment confronting racism and pandemic
The craft beer industry — like much of America — is facing a reckoning on two levels right now: A pandemic ended more than a decade of growth well short of the industry’s goal to become 20% of the national beer market by 2020 and a racial justice movement highlighted craft brewing’s dominant white male […]
Posted inBusiness, Culture, Food and Restaurants
To make beer slushies and beer ice cream, one Colorado brewery is breaking all the rules
GREELEY — On a recent hot summer day at a brewery in an old warehouse perched along the railroad tracks, the drink of choice is pink, slushy and served with a Slurpee straw. Wiley Roots Brewing calls it a beer slushie. And if it doesn’t look or taste like a traditional beer, they don’t mind. […]
Posted inBusiness, COVID
Colorado’s craft beer industry is sobered as brewers predict mass closures if social distancing continues
The existential crisis in the Colorado beer world is palpable right now as an industry built on social gathering comes to realize that social distance is the new normal. As much as 15% of craft breweries expect to close by the end of the month if social distancing remains in place, according to a national […]
Posted inBusiness
Known for its whimsy, the craft beer world is newly focused on the basics: making good beer
If this week’s Great American Beer Festival — with its 800 breweries and 4,000 beers pouring — is a snapshot of the nation’s current craft beer industry, it’s a muddled image. A confluence of market forces is leading brewers to chase new trends and take risks that diminish the focus on quality and consistency that […]
Posted inNews
A guide to GABF 2019: What’s new, insider tips, and the can’t-miss breweries and events
It’s hard to describe the Great American Beer Festival to the uninitiated. It’s the Super Bowl of beer. It’s hop heaven. It’s a beer carnival. And so much more. Even as it faces more competition for attention — and slower ticket sales — GABF remains a zenith in the craft-beer world and a testament to […]
Posted inBusiness, Culture, Health
Colorado beer makers are expanding to cannabis beverages: “Down the road it could be as big as beer.”
DURANGO — The evening before its 24th anniversary party, Ska Brewing invited friends and brewers from across the country to celebrate with a toast as the sun set behind Perins Peak. The Durango brewery brought a special keg to the event held earlier this month: a pomegranate-flavored CBD seltzer set for release later this fall […]
Posted inBusiness, Health
To appeal to calorie-counting drinkers, Colorado’s craft brewers are taking new approaches
The beer list above the bar at the Thirsty Monk in Denver is a roster of classic Belgian styles: farmhouse, wit and tripel. One doesn’t fit: Monk Lite, a “low-calorie ale.” It’s not an actual style, but the labeling reflects one of the defining trends in the beer market today. More drinkers — particularly younger […]
Posted inBusiness
Behold, the almighty can is the new king of craft beer
Inside the brew house on the Metropolitan State University campus in Denver, brewing program students Kyle Warren and Chris Thibodeau offer a step-by-step demonstration on how to can beer. First, the cans are rinsed clean and purged with carbon dioxide. Next, beer fills the cans and foam cascades to the rim. Then, the cap is […]
Posted inBusiness, Coloradans
A Colorado icon and father of craft beer steps away. Here are Charlie Papazian’s parting words.
Forty years ago, when Charlie Papazian founded the American Homebrewers Association, the idea of a homebrewer in every neighborhood and a brewery in every town seemed unreal. Now, it’s essentially reality with more than 6,000 breweries in America — thanks, in large part, to Papazian. He founded the homebrewers association in 1978, launched the Great […]