Our favorite blues, Oskar Blues hits West Virginia

This week, our dog days heat will certainly be chilled as Oskar Blues Brewery products hit the West Virginia market. West Virginia is among the final handful of states to get this popular brand.

The brewery will have a team on the ground here starting Monday, August 24, to support the launch. Oskar Blues reps will be working alongside sales teams from Mountain Eagle Distributing, Mountain State Beverage Co, Proud Eagle Distributing, and Northern Eagle Distributing.

In its initial go-round, only Oskar Blues core can line-up will be available. Introduction of Oskar Blues draft will begin in the next 30-60 days. Additional seasonal and year round brands will appear later this year.

Chris Russell, head of Oskar Blues business operations said they feel that WV is a great fit for the Oskar Blues brands due to the numerous outdoor activities that are so prevalent in the state.

“By being the leader in the craft can revolution since 2002,” he said, “it’s logical step for OB to be sold in a state that is all about recreation. The opening of the state fills out our east coast footprint as well.”

The brewery stated that once distributor agreements were completed in late May, the brewery quickly navigated its way through the state licensing process, obtaining its WVABCA license late last month.

WV market kick-off events scheduled

A number of kick-off events are scheduled through the coming week. First up on Monday, The Apothecary Ale House in Morgantown will conduct a launch party at 4:00 P.M.  On Tuesday in Charleston, Sam’s Uptown Cafe will host a “Welcome to WV Happy Hour” from 4:00 to 7:00 P.M.

The Huntington market will see its debut of Oskar Blues at The Summit Beer Station on Tuesday afternoon. Additional events will be announced.

Core brands coming first

In West Virginia, Oskar Blues will first introduce its year-round line-up of craft beer cans. This includes cans of Dale’s Pale Ale, Mama’s Little Yella Pils, and Pinner Throwback IPA in both regular 12-oz cans and 19.2-oz “Stovepipe” cans. Twelve-ounce cans of Old Chub Scotch Ale and the recently released Oskar Blues IPA will be available as well. Additionally, the Canundrum 12-pack, featuring four different Oskar Blues beers, will be available at retailers. Not every package and product on the above list will necessarily be available during launch week, but are all a part of the initial introduction over the next few weeks.

Oskar Blues kegs are expected to arrive next month with a full draft launch program in support of on-premise and growler sales. Additional seasonal and year-round brands, such as Ten FIDY, GUBNA, and Deviant Dales, will be introduced later in 2015. About 70 percent of Oskar Blues’ beer sales are cans and the rest is draft.

Brewed in Brevard, NC

Home-based in Colorado, Oskar Blues Brewery opened its East Coast  brewery in Brevard, NC, in December 2012. Brevard is 35 miles outside Asheville.

West Virginia receives its beer from the Brevard brewery, which is within a 6- or 7-hour drive of West Virginia distributor locations. This proximity to West Virginia means the beer arriving here will be ultra fresh, often hitting WV within a few days of canning.

With its North Carolina brewery pumping out beer, Oskar Blues beer sales have sky-rocketed—increasing by around 30 percent a year. The brewhouse has increased its brewing frequency to keep up with growing demand, which includes adding the West Virginia market this week.

Major expansion underway

With that kind of growth, it has not taken long for the Brevard facility to bump up against its max capacity. Earlier this summer, the brewery broke ground on a major expansion project, including a 17,000 square-foot brewery addition for fermentation tanks, a greatly expanded wastewater treatment building, and spent-grain silo. The project is targeted for completion during the next four to five months.

The Brevard brewery expects to produce 85,000 barrels of beer this year. When the brewery expansion is completed, capacity will  increase to 210,000 barrels. 

About Oskar Blues Brewery

Founded as a funky little brewpub by Dale Katechis in 1997, Oskar Blues Brewery launched the craft beer-in-a-can apocalypse in 2002, using a tabletop machine that sealed one can at a time. In 2008, the makers of the top-selling pale ale in ColoRADo, Dale’s Pale Ale, added a brewery in Longmont, ColoRADo. The brewery has since experienced explosive growth–from packaging 59,000 barrels of beer in 2011 to 149,000 barrels in 2014. In December 2012, Oskar Blues opened the doors to an expansion brewery in Brevard, North Carolina. Oskar Blues has continued craft can innovation by introducing the CROWLER as a canned off-premise growler alternative. The innovative, original canned craft brewery now distributes trail-blazing craft brews to 44 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., as well as parts of Canada, Sweden, and the U.K. For more information and social media visit http://www.oskarblues.com.

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