Oskar Blues Releases Throwback 15-Pack To Celebrate 20 Years Of Dale’s Pale Ale

When Oskar Blues Brewery first packaged the voluminously hopped Dale’s Pale Ale into an aluminum can twenty years ago, the beer world changed in a single moment. To mark the anniversary of the original-craft-beer-in-a-can’s first run down a canning line, Oskar Blues is releasing the Dale’s Pale Ale Throwback 15-Pack for a limited time nationwide. The 15-pack includes all three legendary can designs from twenty years of cracking open Dale’s. This includes the original can from that fateful November day in 2002 when a brewpub in Lyons, Colorado sent shockwaves through craft beer.

For over half a century, the American beer world was divided along packaging lines – cans were for domestic, mass-produced lagers and glass bottles were for craft beer. It took a funky brewpub thriving on the outdoor lifestyle in Lyons, Colorado called Oskar Blues to crush the status quo. Packaging a hopped up mutha of a pale ale into a can sparked a craft can revolution that continues today. Dale’s Pale Ale is known across the world as the beer that started it all, paving the way for many beers to come. Throughout its twenty year run, this trailblazing beer has only sported three can designs and the limited-edition Throwback 15-Pack includes them all: 

• The Original (2002-2004): The can that started it all. The exact origin of this hand-drawn artwork remains mysterious. It features major natural landmarks viewable from the brewery’s original hometown of Lyons, ColoRADo – two 14,000+ ft Rocky Mountain peaks (Longs Peak and Meeker Peak) and the St. Vrain River. The stonework is a callback to the exterior of the Oskar Blues Brewpub. 
   
• The Classic (2004-2019): The longest running can design for Dale’s Pale Ale. The direction from brewery founder Dale Katechis was simple – make it look like a red, white and blue football helmet. Certain elements are carried forward from the original design (the oval, the typeface, the mountains) but the bold colors, stars and stripes, and clean lines give it a distinctly AmeriCAN look.
   
• The FNG (2020-2022): The latest evolution of Dale’s Pale Ale can design. Debuting in 2020, this art is stripped down and no nonsense. The oval remains but an even cleaner, bolder typeface improves the legibility of the brand. The brewery logo was updated and is centered on a ‘championship belt’ of stars and stripes at the bottom. 

To celebrate this momentous 20th CANiversary, Oskar Blues is hosting parties at their Longmont, Colo. and Brevard, N. Carolina taprooms. The N. Carolina location is celebrating twenty years of Dale’s and also ten years since the opening of that second Oskar Blues Brewery location on December 12, 2012.