Oskar Blues Brewery Expands Distribution to West Virginia and Arkansas
(Longmont, CO & Brevard, NC) — Oskar Blues Brewery is excited to announce a next round of 2015 state openings. West Virginia and Arkansas will bring the total number of states where Oskar Blues beer is sold to 44 plus the District of Columbia.
The recent completion of distribution agreements with these two states moves the brewery closer to providing thirsty beer drinkers across the United States with the opportunity to drink Dale’s Pale and the other Oskar Blues boundary-breaking beers. In both states, the brewery has selected wholesaler partners with statewide coverage.
The brewery is partnering with Arkansas Craft Alliance, which consists of four distributors: Arkansas Craft Distributors, Three Rivers Distributing, Three Lakes Distributing, and White River Beverage.
In West Virginia, the brewery is teaming up with a network of four distributors under one ownership group: Proud Eagle, Northern Eagle, Mountain Eagle, and Mountain State Beverage.
“Oskar Blues is very excited to get our full portfolio of beers rolling into our 43rd and 44th states with the addition of Arkansas and West Virgina, and we think these markets will be a great fit for us,” says Chris Russell, Oskar Blues business operations director. “Any two states that are called the Natural State and the Mountain State are certainly prime locations for our quality canned offerings–given the numerous outdoor activities that are so prevalent in both states. We look forward to getting our beer into the hands of outdoor enthusiasts and drinkers of great American craft beer in these two beautiful, recreation-centric states.”
Exact timing of the launches in both states is still being finalized but is targeted for the month of August and will include a combination of package and draft offerings with a heavy emphasis on CANNED craft brews. The liquid for the Arkansas market will be shipping out of the Colorado brewery, while the beer for West Virginia will come from just down the road in North Carolina. Stay tuned for details on the launch initiatives in both states as Oskar Blues and its new distributor partners finalize the dates for these two markets.
Oskar Blues plans to launch two more states before the end of 2015, which will bring the brewery’s total reach to 46 states in the US as well as Sweden, the United Kingdom, and Canada internationally. The brewery also has plans to expand to new export markets later in 2015 and early 2016.
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 releasing OLD CHUB NITRO as the first American NITRO craft beer-in-a-can and 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, Norway and the U.K. For more information and social media, visit http://www.oskarblues.
About The Arkansas Craft Alliance
The Arkansas Craft Alliance is a coordinated, statewide distribution network of beer wholesalers consisting of Arkansas Craft Distributors, LLC, Three Lakes Distributing Company, Three Rivers Distributing, LLC and White River Beverage Company, Inc.The Arkansas Craft Alliance is a brand building network and services the State of Arkansas through five warehouse locations across the State.
About Proud Eagle, Mountain Eagle, Northern Eagle, and Mountain State Beverage
Proud Eagle, Mountain Eagle, Northern Eagle, and Mountain State Beverage are operations owned and operated by Bill Rucker Jr. and Scott Parkes. The operations service customers statewide in West Virginia, and have evolved into the largest beer and wine distributorship in the state. The company operates six warehouses within West Virginia.
