Kevin Paquette, brewer at Dry Dock, preparing the first batch of Keep Colorado LocALE. photo credit: Colin Bridge
Breweries from across Colorado are producing a special brew to focus attention on protecting local businesses. And you’ll be able to taste it yourself at the Ale House at Amato’s and Dry Dock’s South Dock Brewery.
Keep Colorado Local breweries will produce their version of the Keep Colorado LocALE, a pale ale brewed with Colorado-grown ingredients. The recipe for this beer was written by Dry Dock’s South Dock Head Brewer Tim Evon, who included malts from Colorado Malting Company in the first batch. During fresh-hop season, Dry Dock will fresh hop the beer with hops from a Colorado hop farm. This beer is a bright, citrusy, and fruity pale ale with a hoppy nose and a sweet malt backbone. Its grapefruit and pine-forward aroma comes from the use of Chinook and Cascade hops.
ABOUT KEEP COLORADO LOCAL
Breweries, distillers, and wine-makers from across the state have teamed up with Colorado’s locally owner liquor stores to form Keep Colorado Local, a campaign focused on protecting our local economy, public safety, and Colorado’s excellent craft culture. Out-of-state corporations want to change our local liquor laws to allow alcohol sales in chain stores. Keep Colorado Local is focused on informing the public on how this would hurt our local economy, public safety, and craft culture.
This effort was launched in March with an event at Argonaut’s Wine and Spirits in downtown Denver. More than 100 people from Colorado’s craft industries and independent liquor stores turned out for the event, and the coalition represents more than 1,000 locally owned businesses throughout Colorado.
Not long after launching Keep Colorado Local in March, members of this coalition realized that they had a very non-traditional communications tool at their disposal: beer. And that’s how the Keep Colorado LocALE was born.
MORE ABOUT THE KEEP COLORADO LOCALE
Multiple breweries from Aurora, Breckenridge, Denver, Durango, Fort Collins, Lakewood, Nederland and Lone Tree will be brewing Keep Colorado LocALE in coming months, and this group will grow as breweries are able to fit the Keep Colorado LocALE into their brewing schedules.
Each brewery is encouraged to use Colorado-grown ingredients and add their own twists to the recipe, which is available to any Colorado brewery or homebrewer.
Later this year, homebrewers will be challenged to brew their version of the Keep Colorado LocALE, again using local ingredients, ideally fresh hops, and a Colorado twist. We will provide the recipe to homebrewers and host a homebrew competition.