No need to get the blues over Oskar Blues Brewery

The newest Texas beers to hit the market aren’t actually new at all.

Oskar Blues Brewery of Colorado continues its expansion efforts as its Austin brewery is open to the public and cans of its beers with “AUSTIN, TEXAS” printed on the bottom part of the can will start hitting store shelves soon.

For fans of local beer, it can be a perplexing question as to how to feel about an out-of-state brewer crashing the party and opening a satellite location in a city already flush with craft breweries.

Backcountry Brewery, also from Colorado, did something similar earlier this year by purchasing the foundering Firewheel Brewing in Rowlett and opening a Texas location of its own. Backcountry’s approach was a bit different. Still small and independent, Backcountry took over an old location, equipment and all, and even purchased Firewheel’s Facebook page to expand its Texas audience more quickly.

Oskar Blues, by contrast, enters Texas in a much bigger way. As the 14th largest craft brewery in the U.S. in 2015, this its third location to go with the original in Longmont, Colo., and its first expansion in Brevard, N.C., in 2012.

At least partially responsible for Oskar Blues ramped-up expansion efforts is an infusion of money from Boston-based private equity firm Fireman Capital Partners last year.

With brewery acquisition being such a hot topic these days, some craft-beer purists might throw a skeptical gaze at Oskar Blues. Selling a portion of the business for a cash injection has become more common, and some view the approach that Oskar Blues took as more palatable than selling a majority stake to MillerCoors or Anheuser-Busch.

Truth be told, the majority of beer drinkers don’t care either way. If the product’s quality remains high and it continues to be available and affordable, they’ll keep drinking it.

Regardless of the debate about its place in the state’s brewing community, Oskar Blues produces top-notch beers that will continue to be a hit.

Dale’s Pale Ale is its flagship and owner Dale Katechis’ namesake beer. Oskar Blues loves hops, and Dale’s is an illustration of that.

Dale’s is called a pale ale but it’s about as ratcheted up the hop scale as a pale ale can be. Many might think it’s an IPA, and with the amount of hops used in it, it’s pretty darn close. The added malt in the bill helps balance it just inside the IPA spectrum and knocks down some of the piney hop character. Barely.

Look for Dale’s and many other of the brewery’s beers to become even more common throughout the state in the coming years. Oskar Blues is here to stay, like it or not.

Quick sips

Can’d Opening: The new Oskar Blues Brewery is hosting a grand-opening bash Sept. 17 in Austin. Starting at noon, advance tickets are $15, which includes a commemorative glass, two beers and live music throughout the day. oskarblues.com

Saucers go sour: The Flying Saucer in Addison and Lake Flying Saucer in Garland are hosting sour-beer events Saturday. Featuring rare beer tappings and special bottle releases, if you’re into sour beers, these are worth checking out. beerknurd.com

This story was originally published September 6, 2016 at 11:48 PM with the headline "No need to get the blues over Oskar Blues Brewery."