Longmont, CO.,— Oskar Blues has announced the launch of the Greater Minneapolis/St. Paul markets in the great state of Minnesota and will partner with the Original Gravity group of distributors consisting of Capitol Beverage Sales, Thorpe Distributing, College City Beverage and C&L Distributing.
“Ultimately, the OG group was a great fit for Oskar Blues and we’re confident in their ability to dig deep in their markets and effectively grow the full portfolio of OB brands for many years to come. The decision was not an easy one as there were several strong potential partners in the mix” says Oskar Blues Business Development Director Chris Russell.
The launch is targeted for late January and early February and will be kicked off at the Beer Dabbler Winter Carnival on January 25th. What better way to celebrate than sampling outside with 150 other brewers around, live music, gourmet food from local food trucks and carts, a homebrew contest, Silent Disco & attempt at the world’s largest snow ball fight.
The 10,000 Lakes Region is a great fit for Oskar Blues’ passion for the outdoors, music, craft beer & their line-up of complex craft beer-in-a-can. Oskar Blues will launch by building on and off premise distribution with the full line-up of craft CAN packages. Draft offerings are set to follow in the early spring of 2014.
The Minnesota launch follows additional 2013 Oskar Blues distribution in Central California and a new market launch in Indiana where Kroger is seeing increasing success with Oskar Blues brands. 2014 will see Oskar Blues increase distribution in a handful of new states including Idaho, Delaware, Kansas, Nevada and increased coverage in Southern Alabama.
About Oskar Blues Brewery
Founded as a brewpub by Dale Katechis in 1997, Oskar Blues Brewery launched the original craft beer-in-a-can with Dale’s Pale Ale 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 moved into a 35,000-square-foot facility in Longmont, ColoRADo. The brewery has since experienced explosive growth—packaging 59,000 barrels of beer in 2011 and 86,750 barrels in 2012. In December of 2012, Oskar Blues opened the doors to an additional brewery in Brevard, North Carolina. Together, the breweries packaged over 119,000 barrels of beer in 2013, distributing its trailblazing craft brews to 32 U.S. states.