Dry Dock Brewing – 2014 Year In Review Report

(AURORA, CO)— In 2014, Dry Dock Brewing Company achieved “Regional Brewery” status by producing more than 15,000 barrels of beer out of its two facilities in Aurora, Colorado. Last year Dry Dock opened a new tasting room, Canoe Room, at its North Dock production facility, released five new barrel-aged, large format beers in the Signature Series, took home a World Beer Cup® for its flagship Apricot Blonde Ale, and won two Great American Beer Festival® medals for Apricot Blonde and S.S. Minnow Mild Ale. Also of note, the brewery debuted Apricot Blonde in canned 12-packs and its Vanilla Porter in canned 6-packs, brewed a fresh hop ale with Colorado’s senators, won a 2014 Colorado Companies to Watch award, and received federal permission to print a beer label featuring the American flag on its Colorado Freedom Memorial Blonde Ale.

Here is Dry Dock Brewing Company’s 2014 Year In Review:

Production Numbers

• Dry Dock’s South Dock facility brewed more than 1500 barrels of beer in 2014, while the North Dock production facility brewed 15,000 barrels of Dry Dock and Steamworks Brewing’s beer (approximately 13,000 barrels of Dry Dock and 2,000 barrels of partner brewery Steamworks beer). Surpassing the 15,000 barrel mark qualifies Dry Dock as a Regional Brewery, which according to the Brewers Association is a brewery with an annual beer production of between 15,000 and 6,000,000 barrels.

More Milestones

• In April 2014, Dry Dock Brewing Company’s flagship Apricot Blonde Ale won a silver World Beer Cup® in the Fruit Beer Category.  

• Also in April, Dry Dock won a 2014 Colorado Companies to Watch award. The brewery was one of 50 Colorado companies to receive this award out of 1,200 nominees. To learn more, visit ColoradoCompaniesToWatch.org.

• In May 2014, Dry Dock bottled the Colorado Freedom Memorial Blonde Ale for the first time and to obtained approval from The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) to use the image of the American flag on the beer’s label. This American blonde ale was brewed to commemorate and support Aurora’s Colorado Freedom Memorial, with one dollar from every bomber sold donated to the Colorado Freedom Memorial Fund.

• In June 2014, Dry Dock debuted canned 12-packs of the Apricot Blonde.

• In fall of 2014, representatives of the Colorado State Senate helped the brewers at South Dock brew the Upper Chamber Fresh Hop Pale Ale for Hop The Vote 2014. Hop The Vote was a friendly brewing competition organized by the Colorado Brewers Guild in which GABF guests voted between Dry Dock’s Upper Chamber Fresh Hop Ale and the Representative Saison brewed by Denver Beer Co. in collaboration with Colorado’s House of Representatives. In the end, 894 votes were cast with 51.9 percent of the vote in favor of the Representative Saison.

• In September 2014, Dry Dock opened a new tasting room, Canoe Room, at its North Dock facility located at 2801 Tower Road Aurora, Colorado 80011. Available at Canoe Room are Dry Dock’s canned home fleet beers Apricot Blonde, Amber Ale, Hefeweizen, Hop Abomination, and Vanilla Porter, as well as four taps for rotating, seasonal beers. Canoe Room is open Thursdays from 2 to 7pm and Fridays and Saturdays from 12pm to 7pm.

• Also in October 2014, Dry Dock took home two Great American Beer Festival® medals— a bronze for Apricot Blonde in the American-Style Fruit Beer category and a bronze for S.S. Minnow Mild Ale in the English-Style Mild Ale category.

• In late 2014, Dry Dock debuted five new 22-ounce, whiskey barrel-aged beers. These new large format offerings— the Whiskey Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout, Whiskey Barrel-Aged Double Brown Ale, Whiskey Barrel-Aged Double Hazelnut Brown Ale, Whiskey Barrel-Aged Double Vanilla Porter, and the Whiskey Barrel-Aged Double Coffee Porter— joined Bligh’s Barleywine in the brewery’s Signature Series.

• In December 2014, Dry Dock released new canned 6-packs of Vanilla Porter. This beer is the fifth home fleet beer to join the brewery’s canned offerings.

ABOUT DRY DOCK BREWING CO.

Dry Dock Brewing Company was the first brewery in Aurora, Colorado that began as a small speakeasy-style bar next door to its sister business, The Brew Hut, at 15120 E. Hampden Avenue. To-date, it’s one of Colorado’s top producing breweries made possible by its second production and canning facility North Dock, the closest Colorado craft brewery to the airport. Dry Dock will celebrate its 10th anniversary in 2015.

Follow the company on Facebook at facebook.com/DryDockBrewing and on Instagram and Twitter @DryDockBrewing.

For photos or more information about Dry Dock’s 2014 Year in Review, contact Emily Hutto at [email protected].