From Dad & Dude’s:
(Aurora, Colorado) – Dad & Dude’s Breweria, one of Colorado’s smallest brewpubs,
enjoyed an impressive amount of annual growth and brewing progress in 2014.
The company’s total beer production for 2014 was 1,016 barrels, a 116% increase over
its 2013 production of 470 barrels.
That production included over 300 barrels of an expanded list of extra-small-batch,
draft-only beer handcrafted on the brewpub’s 1.5-barrel “nano” system. Despite this tiny
system and heavy on-site demand from its customers, the brewpub made 10 year-round
beers, 14 seasonals and one-off beers, and 8 barrel-aged beers.
Dad & Dude’s 2014 production also included about 700 barrels of the company’s canned
flagship beer -- Dank IPA – and two new canned beers, Leaves of Lemongrass Wit and
Ryeot Red Ale. The three canned beers were sold in fourpacks of 16-oz cans in over
300 retail accounts along the Front Range are and across the state.
The brewery’s dramatic increase in production and beer variety was led by Brian
Connery, Dad & Dude’s Director of Brewing Operations. A former brewer for Dogfish
Head who also worked at New Belgium and Boulder Beer, Connery joined Dad & Dude’s
at the beginning of 2014.
“Last year we produced a large number of beer styles,” Connery says, “and a much
larger amount of beer. But we also achieved our goals of improving our quality and our
procedures, and hitting those goals made everything else possible. It allowed us the
freedom to experiment and branch out more.”
“In 2014,” Connery says, “we also introduced a nitro program, a weekly oaked-beer
program, and expanded our number of barrel-aged beers from one to eight. Instead of a
one seasonal beer for each season, we made four.”
To celebrate its 2014 progress and start 2015 with a bang, Dad & Dude’s is releasing a
trio of new, ultra-limited-release, 22-oz bottled beers at its brewpub. There are only 72
bottles of each of these beers, which were produced in 3-barrel batches.
Lion Heart Barley Wine is a Dad & Dude’s “303 Series” beer made entirely with
Colorado ingredients including malt from Colorado Malting Company and Cascade hops
from Rising Sun Hop Farm. It’s a UK/USA hybrid barley wine fermented with an English
ale yeast. It is 12% ABV and sells for $12/bottle.
Bourbon-Barrel-Aged Lionheart Barley Wine is a special version of Lionheart aged
for 3 months in a Heaven Hill bourbon barrel. It features notes of bourbon and oak to
complement Lionheart’s rich malt and hop flavors. It is 13% ABV and $18/ bottle.
The third bottle release is Zinful, a beer/wine hybrid made with red zinfandel and
cabernet grape juices, blackberry puree and Belgian pale malts. The beer was then
aged in a red wine barrel for 4 months. It is 9% ABV and $18/bottle.
In 2014 Dad & Dude’s also solidified an alternating proprietorship with Rockyard Brewing
Company (Castle Rock, CO) that enabled the brewery to increase production of canned
Dank IPA and add cans of Leaves of Lemongrass Wit and Ryeot Red Ale.
“This was our most successful year for our packaged beers,” says Mason “Dude”
Hembree. “We’ve found many more beer lovers who appreciate our artful beers and our
zero-pretensions approach to overthrowing the beer status quo.”
“We were also able to get past some hiccups of the past two years,” he adds, “while
landing some nice accolades that attest to our emphasis on making world-class beer.”
Dank IPA earned a silver medal (American style IPA category) in the 2014 New York
International Beer Competition, and a silver medal in the same category of the 2014
World Beer Championships. Ryeot and Leaves of Lemongrass both won bronze medals
in the 2014 World Beer Championsips.
“This year,” says Thomas “Dad” Hembree, “our pub welcomed a lot more people like
us, people who crave small-batch beer, gourmet pizza and the community focus of our
place. They helped us make our dreams come true and we’re very thankful for them.”
Republic National Distributing Company distributes Dude’s Brews in Colorado.
The breweria is located at 6730 S Cornerstar Way in the Cornerstar Shopping Center
near the intersection of Arapahoe Road and highway C-470.
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