When it comes to company culture, Oskar Blues Brewery doesn’t take itself too seriously. However, if you’re talking innovation, work ethic and philanthropy—not to mention world-class beer—Oskar Blues is all business.
It didn’t take long for folks in Western North Carolina to realize this, after watching Colorado-based Oskar Blues take an abandoned manufacturing facility in Brevard, N.C., and transform it into the largest brewery in the region in a staggering three months. Having moved into the 30,000 square-foot building in September 2012, Oskar Blues Founder and Owner Dale Katechis, in typical fashion, boldly assured that his East Coast sister brewery would be up and running by 12/12/12.
“Oskar Blues achieved something that, really, nobody thought they could achieve,” said Parker Platt, vice president and co-owner of Platt Architecture, the general contractor for the Oskar Blues project, as well as the construction of the new Twin Leaf Brewery in nearby Asheville, N.C. “We were glad to be a part of that, but without their belief that they could do it, it wouldn’t have happened. I told certain people in the community what we were going to do and they laughed at me and said it was impossible.”
It wasn’t. Having secured their final permit that morning, and with Katechis personally hosing down the floors to prepare for a private soft opening of the Tasty Weasel Taproom that afternoon, the Oskar Blues crew mashed in for the maiden run of Dale’s Pale Ale and it’s been full steam ahead ever since.
Just like at the Oskar Blues facilities in Lyons and Longmont, Colo., there’s always something fun going on at the North Carolina brewery. And, of course, plenty of cutting-edge beer.
In addition to producing and serving, Oskar Blues’ core brands—Dale’s Pale Ale, Mama’s Little Yella Pils, Old Chub Scotch Ale, Deviant Dale’s IPA, G’Knight Imperial Red IPA, Ten Fidy Imperial Stout and GUBNA Imperial IPA—the Brevard plant also cranks out a bevy of specialty brews, including a First Anniversary IPA in December 2o13 that featured local ingredients. Among them was water collected from the base of Looking Glass Falls, the iconic waterfall just up the road from the brewery in Pisgah National Forest.
While the layout of Brevard’s mezzanine-level tasting room is a bit different than the one at the Longmont production facility, the feel is very much the same with live music several days a week, games on the spacious patio overlooking the Blue Ridge Mountains and plenty of special events that benefit local charities.
Every week is Tasty Tuesday, featuring a different beer brewed on Oskar Blues’ 15-gallon homebrew pilot set-up–I recently tried a honey-lavender pilsener. And just like its Colorado sibling, the Brevard Tasty Weasel hosts Firkin Friday with a smorgasbord of funky cask recipes.
Oskar Blues has also been a leader in collaborations, creating brews with nearby Asheville Brewing Co., Wicked Weed Brewing and Burial Beer Co. in Asheville, neighbor Brevard Brewing, and most recently, a Citra and Mosaic-hopped summer IPA brewed with nationally-renowned Thirsty Monk pub for Asheville Beer Week in May.
Oskar Blues REEB Ranch
The Oskar Blues Brevard facility seems to grow with every visit. The two dozen 200-barrel fermenters and another five 100s that glisten beneath the taproom are projected to yield 80,000 barrels of beer this year. Other than the Sierra Nevada plant in Mills River, N.C., which has now begun producing packaged beer, the Brevard facility is by far the largest craft brewer in the state, currently employing 45 people.
Besides beer, Oskar Blues also loves cycling, and each Wednesday evening a group ride departs from the brewery. A bike path starts right off the Oskar Blues parking lot, and connects to some sweet singletrack in Pisgah Forest where Oskar Blues’ customers, employees and Katechis himself often ride.
And there’s more. In March, Katechis purchased a 145-acre farm eight miles from the brewery in neighboring Henderson County, just a stone’s throw from the area’s other mountain-biking mecca, DuPont State Recreational Forest. It will be the site of the Oskar Blues REEB Ranch, a bike farm named after Oskar Blues’ line of manufactured mountain bikes (REEB is beer spelled backwards).
While other future uses could include a working cattle and hop farm similar to the Oskar Blues Hops and Heifers Farm in Longmont, the REEB ranch will be a haven for mountain bikers and will ultimately include various bike park features.
Meanwhile, the brewery continues to jump on as a sponsor for numerous cycling races and other outdoor events in the area. Oskar Blues also provides free transportation from the brewery to Asheville Tourists’ baseball games for the minor league club’s Thirsty Thursdays each week, via the familiar red Oskar Blues trolley bus seen throughout the Colorado front range.
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