Great canned beer? The term has been an oxymoron for craft beer lovers used to getting their full-flavored beers from bottles only. But in November of 2002, Oskar Blues Brewery (in tiny Lyons, Colorado, pop.1400) changed that by launching its “Canned Beer Apocalypse.”

The brewery began hand-canning its hoppy, assertive-but-elegant Dale’s Pale Ale on a table-top machine that sealed just one can at a time. The move made Oskar Blues the first US craft brewer to brew and can its own beer.

Why cans? “We thought the idea of our big, luscious pale ale in a can was hilarious,” recalls founder Dale Katechis. “And it made our beer immensely portable for outdoor enjoyment fun.” Katechis and his crew then discovered other bennies of aluminum cans. “Cans keep beer incredibly fresh by fully protecting it from light and oxygen.”

And unlike cans of old, the modern aluminum can is lined with a coating so beer and metal never touch. Cans are also easier to recycle, free of glass breakage issues, and less fuel-consuming to ship. (35% of the weight of a bottle of beer is the bottle itself.)

But it’s the beers inside of the Oskar Blues cans that have wowed beer experts and consumers. The many honors for Dale’s Pale Ale include Top American Pale Ale from the New York Times and World’s Best Canned Beer from Details magazine.

Honors for Oskar Blues’ Old Chub Scottish Style Ale — an 8% ABV, semi-sweet dark beer with luxurious flavors of coffee, chocolate and a kiss of smoke — include Top Rated Scottish Ale from Beeradvocate.com.

G’Knight is an imperial red ale (8.7% ABV) with an intense aroma, a rich middle of malts and hops, and a surprisingly comfy finish for a beer of its size. Its honors include a 2008 World Beer Cup medal, “Top 5 US Extreme Beers” from the New York Times and “Best in Show” at the 2009 International Canned Beer Festival.

The brewery’s new Mama’s Little Yella Pils is an all-malt pilsner (5.3% ABV) made with hearty amounts of pale malt, German specialty malts, and a blend of Bavarian hops.

“We’re in this to have fun and put some extra joy on the planet,” Katechis says. “We love the way people’s heads spin around after they try one of our four-dimensional canned beers. ‘That came out of a can?’ We hear it all the time.” Get more details at http://www.oskarblues.com

Dale’s Pale Ale: Pale Ale
America’s first hand-canned craft beer is a voluminously hopped mutha that delivers a hoppy nose, assertive-but-balanced flavors of pale malts and hops from start to finish. First canned in 2002, Dale’s Pale Ale is a hearty (6.5% and 65 IBUs), critically acclaimed trailblazer that has changed the way craft beer fiends perceive canned beer.

Old Chub: Scottish Style Ale
This jaw-dropping Scottish strong ale (8% ABV) is brewed with bodacious amounts of malted barley and specialty grains, and a dash of beechwood-smoked malt. Old Chub features a skim-milk mouthfeel, semi-sweet flavors of cocoa and coffee, and a kiss of smoke. A head-turning treat for malt heads and folks who think they don’t dig dark beer.
While Dale’s satisfies our hop addiction, Old Chub takes care of our deep affections for malt. The cola-colored beer (almost black) features a tan head, a creamy, skim-milk mouthfeel, and rich, semi-sweet flavors of caramel and chocolate throughout. The addition of smoked grains gives Old Chub a delicate kiss of smoke on the finish.

Old Chub is the beer equivalent of a lightly smoked single malt scotch, or your favorite dark chocolate. We call it Rocky Mountain Mutha’s Milk. People who tell us defiantly, “I don’t drink dark beer,” often fall deeply in love with Old Chub. We can’t blame them.

G’ Knight: Imperial Red Double
Our “Velvet M-80” is a hefty, dry hopped double-red ale with a nose full of aroma, a sticky mouthfeel, a malty middle and unctuous hop flavors. G’Knight sports a surprisingly sensuous finish for a beer of its size (8.7% ABV, 60 IBUs). It’s brewed in tribute to a fellow Colorado craft beer pioneer and Vietnam vet who died fighting a 2002 wild fire outside of our Lyons hometown.  For all the details behind this tribute follow this link to http://www.N3978Y.com. G’Mornin’.  G’Day.  G’Knight.

Mama’s Little Yella Pils: Traditional Pilsner
Oskar Blues’ newest beer is an uncompromising, small-batch version of the beer that made Pilsen, Czech Republic famous. Unlike mass market “pilsners” diluted with corn & rice, Mama’s is built with 100% pale malt, German specialty malts, and Bavarian hops. While it’s rich with Czeched-out flavor, its gentle hopping (35 IBUs) and low ABV (just 5.3%) make it a luxurious but low-dose (by Oskar Blues standards) refresher.

Ten Fidy: Imperial Stout
Ten FIDY Imperial Stout – This titanic, immensely viscous stout is loaded with inimitable flavors of chocolate-covered caramel and coffee and hide a hefty 98 IBUs underneath the smooth blanket of malt.  Ten FIDY (10.5% ABV) is made with enormous amounts of two-row malt, chocolate malt, roasted barley, flaked oats and hops. Ten FIDY is the ultimate celebration of dark malts and boundary-stretching beer.

Gubna: Imperial IPA
Emphasizing that complexity of character can arise from simple elements, this ale is made with 3 malts and 1 hop. Its light amber color and slightly spicy malt character are derived from the use of German Dark Munich Malt and Rye Malt respectively. North American 2-row barley combines with the other grains to lay the foundation for the hop onslaught to come. Summit hops are used exclusively in the boil for bitterness, flavor and aroma but it doesn’t end there. Post-fermentation dry hopping allows the 10% ABV monstrosity to gently coax the citrus rind and grapefruit aroma to join the 100 IBUs already present. This beer will greet you with a pungent citrus blast, provide a spicy yet round middle and finish with a brisk, clean bitterness.