Ska Brewing Company is a household name for many when it comes to craft beer (including the canned variety of course). They've been around for 15 years now, they distribute widely, and they certainly make some excellent products. Ska is currently undergoing a second expansion (including the recent installation of a second canning line) and we wanted to know a little bit more about that, as well as some other things, so we contacted Ska co-founder and President, Dave Thibodeau.

Dave is one of the three co-founder's of Ska and was generous enough to take time out of his day to share his answers to our questions. If you read carefully you'll certainly be excited by some of the things that Dave has to say. Cheers Dave!

Ska's ESB Special Ale won bronze at GABF this year

(CC) Ska became the second craft brewery to put their beer in cans when your Special ESB was canned in 2003. Did you guys ever foresee the day when so many other craft breweries would also be canning their beers?

(DT) Good Question—we had just bought a new bottling line when the can idea came along, so although we thought it was a great idea we were hesitant to cannibalize our bottle sales. This is where we have to hand it to Oskar Blues--They had the balls to just go for it, put what at the time was a fairly big sticky pale ale in cans, and tell the world! Had it been anyone else, I don’t think the canned craft beer curve would be nearly as steep. As soon as we saw what our Colorado brethren were doing, we had to go for it as well! I really think OB’s marketing efforts and Dale’s Pale Ale deserve much of the credit.

Euphoria Pale Ale in a can and on a board!

(CC) You guys partner with Venture Snowboards for your Euphoria Pale Ale, for the only brewing company/snowboard company partnership that I can think of. How exactly did all that come to be?

(DT) Well, we used to brew a special India Pale Ale for Purgatory Ski Area in the Winter, but they were going to close the main lodge (and the beer’s namesake) and we wanted to alter the recipe and make the beer a bit more broadly available. Venture is owned by Klem and Lisa Branner, a very cool couple with similar ideals as far as business, sustainability, and fun go, and we thought it would be a sweet partnership and we liked the idea that both of our products were “Hand-crafted in the Mighty San Juans.” Not only that, but they make high-end boards, and what company wouldn’t want their own custom limited board every year? Oh, and they LOVE good craft beer!

(CC) We love the labels and artwork on both Ska's bottles and cans. Who is the artist behind all those great graphics?

(DT) When we first started we wrote a comic book about our battle with Rotgutzen (www.rotgutzen.com) and their CEO, the hated and feared Pinstripe Red. Originally our friend Matt Rousseau (of Your Flesh Tattoo) came up with the Ska logo, the Pinstripe logo, and the True Blonde logo, and then we continued to play out the comic book piecemeal on our labels and packaging with the help of another artist, Dorn Roberts. Dorn has done everything for the last 14 years. You’ll notice that most of the labels and many of the beer names feature characters from the comic.

Ska currently cans four of their beers

(CC) Ska currently cans four of their beers. With the planned expansion in 2011, can we expect to see any new canned offerings in the near future?

(DT) You can, can. For the first time since we started making our summer seasonal Mexican Logger 10 years ago, we will not only be packaging it in cans, but we will be making it available in our markets outside of Durango. It’s a crisp, refreshing lager that the town of Durango has always loved to cram limes in and drink an extreme amount of. This spring we’re increasing our capacity 70% by adding outdoor fermenters, and therefore alleviating the pain for thirsty summer lager drinkers elsewhere in the universe. It’s still on the D.L., but in addition to the Mexican Logger, you’ll more than likely see a series of 4 new Ska cans in the next year!

"...in addition to the Mexican Logger, you’ll more than likely see a series of 4 new Ska cans in the next year!"

(CC) Are American craft beer drinkers ready for big beers in cans or will we continue to mainly see the more approachable/session brews being canned? 

(DT) I think they are ready, but at the same time I know my own tastes keep fluctuating—right now I’m not drinking nearly as many big beers as I have been for the last few years. I’m liking well-made sessionable beers. I tend to drink many beers, and I guess I’m in fill-the-recycling-bin-to-the-top mode right now. That being said, those 4 beers I mentioned in the question above certainly aren’t session beers!

(CC) Is Colorado king when it comes to canned craft beers?

(DT) I’d put us in “Pioneer” status, and royalty for sure. Yeah, yeah I think Colorado is King.

(CC) What beer(s) will be in your fridge this holiday season?

(DT) We’re fortunate in that we’re also a wholesaler in SW Colorado and we distribute a lot of our friend’s beers—Don’t tell them this, but we probably drink more of it than we sell! Anyhow, I’ve got a nice stash of limited and seasonal beers from them including Left Hand’s Fade to Black and Wake Up Dead, as well as Stone’s 10-10-10 Vertical Epic, Avery Old Jubilation and Bristol’s Winter Warlock. This sounds a bit counter to my “sessionable” beer kick I just referenced earlier, so to balance it out I’ll drink a lot of Ska Euphoria.

(CC) What is something people may not know about Ska Brewing Company?

(DT) We started back in 1995 because it seemed a better way to support our beer festival habit—we’d bring beer, get in for free, and get hotel rooms in exchange for the beer, and the rooms were a hell of a lot nicer than my car that I lived in that first year!

Ska Brewing Company Media Resources