Oskar Blues changed craft-brewing industry

LONGMONT — Not many founders and CEOs of booming companies are willing to admit that their company’s success is not part of a shrewd master plan.

But if Dale Katechis, founder and CEO of Oskar Blues Brewery LLC, were like most businessmen, he wouldn’t have founded what has become one of the nation’s most innovative microbreweries in a small mountain town, or changed the craft-brewing industry by distributing his product in aluminum cans.

Oskar Blues, best known to consumers for beers such as Dale’s Pale Ale and Old Chub, saw revenue grow 293 percent over the past two years, placing it No. 3 on the Boulder County Business Report’s Mercury 100 list of the fastest-growing companies in Boulder and Broomfield counties with more than $2 million in annual revenue.

The company reported revenue of nearly $17.5 million in 2010, up from $4.4 million in 2008.

Oskar Blues’ growth — along with the brewery and on-site tap room in Longmont and its two restaurants in Lyons and one restaurant in Longmont — has surprised its founder.

“I don’t think I could ever have dreamed this one up,” Katechis said.

The business was started in 1997 as a restaurant and juke joint in Lyons.

Oskar Blues didn’t begin brewing until 1999, and it didn’t have plans to take the craft brewing industry by storm.

The decision that made Oskar Blues famous also was something of an improvisation.

In November 2002, Oskar Blues began hand-canning Dale’s Pale Ale, becoming the first U.S. craft brewer to put its product in a container beer enthusiasts long associated with cheap, watery swill.

It was an attempt to get the beer more publicity and space on liquor store shelves, Katechis said, but brewers and enthusiasts soon realized cans offer a lot of advantages over bottles, including protecting the beer from light and oxygen and being easier to carry and enjoy during outdoor activities such as camping or hiking.

The innovation, which Oskar Blues’ cheekily dubbed “the Canned Beer Apocalypse,” has proved successful. Oskar Blues Brewery is the 49th-largest brewery in the country and the 36th-largest craft brewery based on sales volume.

And the beer inside is pretty good, too, judging by the awards Oskar Blues’ brews have won at beer festivals and raves from beer reviewers in the popular and specialty media.

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