{"id":26691,"date":"2024-07-05T20:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-06T02:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/durango-breweries-release-new-craft-beer-honoring-50-years-of-the-colorado-trail\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T23:44:04","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T05:44:04","slug":"durango-breweries-release-new-craft-beer-honoring-50-years-of-the-colorado-trail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/durango-breweries-release-new-craft-beer-honoring-50-years-of-the-colorado-trail\/","title":{"rendered":"Durango breweries release new craft beer honoring 50 years of the Colorado Trail"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Amanda
Amanda Knorr with Ska Brewing pours a Colorado Trail beer on June 27 at Ska World Headquarters. Durango breweries celebrated the trail\u2019s 50th anniversary with a new specialty craft beer. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Durango breweries celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Colorado Trail by brewing a specialty craft beer.<\/p>\n

Ska, Steamworks Brewing, Anarchy, Carver, Animas and High Trestle brewing companies banded together to produce the Hit the Trail Pale Ale.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe always like to support what we can with the Colorado Trail,\u201d said Ska Marketing Director Kristen Muraro. \u201cA lot of people finish hiking the trail and come by the breweries in town to have a beer and celebrate after they\u2019ve completed the trail.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Colorado Trail was first conceived by the Roundup Riders of the Rockies in 1973. It was formally connected in 1988. Since then, it\u2019s become one of Colorado\u2019s popular attractions, as hikers will trek<\/p>\n

\"Anarchy
Anarchy Brewing Co. owner Matty Sullivan works on the Hit the Trail Pale Ale. (Courtesy of Ska Brewing Co.)<\/span>Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

from Denver to Durango by foot (or bike) and vice versa.<\/p>\n

According to the Colorado Trail Foundation<\/a>, about 500 people complete the 486-mile trail each year, often to enjoy a cold brew at one of Durango\u2019s breweries.<\/p>\n

This is the first time the breweries have collaborated on this scale since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of the philanthropic arm of Durango\u2019s brewing community, called the Bootlegger\u2019s Society, the group felt it was an opportunity to help the Colorado Trail Foundation.<\/p>\n

Twenty percent of all proceeds from each beer sale goes toward the Colorado Trail Foundation. The nonprofit organization employs four full-time employees, with the mission of educating people about the trail.<\/p>\n

The beer will be sold on tap at all participating breweries for what will likely be two weeks, Muraro said. It will not be available for wholesale purchase.<\/p>\n

She said specialty brews tend to do well in Durango.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of our limited release beers are very popular,\u201d she said. \u201c \u2026 People love trying something that they can\u2019t have all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carver Brewing Co. head brewer Patrick Jose said it\u2019s been a success so far after its June 28 launch.<\/p>\n

Jose said the brew was developed by a brewery in Salida, but participating breweries were able to choose how the beer was finished, giving each a slightly different flavor.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody uses different varietals for dry hopping,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Here
Here is a glass of the Colorado Trail specialty craft beer, seen on June 27 at Ska World Headquarters. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

He said it takes about six to seven hours to brew the beer and then about 2\u00bd weeks for the yeast to ferment.<\/p>\n

Carver Brewing Co. has historically participated in the Colorado Trail fun, offering a free beer to those who have successfully finished the trail.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year, we gave over 600 pints away for free, so I think we got almost every single one of them as a result,\u201d Jose said. \u201cWe\u2019ve always had kind of a special relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n

The beer will likely be available for another two weeks and possibly through the end of the month, depending on its popularity.<\/p>\n

\u201cSteamworks has a couple more kegs,\u201d he said. \u201cBut it could be two to three weeks there, and I know Anarchy has a little bit more than that.\u201d<\/p>\n

tbrown@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Trail pale ale now available at participating places<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26692,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[431,582,950,28],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-26691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-business-general","tag-craft-beer","tag-durango","tag-headlines"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26691"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26691\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79442,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26691\/revisions\/79442"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26691"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=26691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}