This iconic brewery is a poster child for the industry, having gone through an evolution of ownership, beer recipes, and branding efforts throughout its many years.
I sat down with Boulder Beer Company President Jeff Brown and Brewmaster David Zuckerman, who gave me the lowdown on Boulder Beer’s history, its brief hiatus as Rockies Brewing, and trends they’ve noticed in the craft beer culture over the years.
Craft Beer & Brewing: Boulder Beer Company was started by homebrewers just one year after the American Homebrewers Association was formed. It seems that a driving force for small craft breweries in the United States has been homebrewing as a hobby.
Jeff Brown: Craft beer is driven by homebrewers having access to more flavorful styles of beer.
CB&B: What piqued your interest in craft beer?
David Zuckerman: I went to Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon. The first brewpub there was the McMennamins Hillsdale Pub. When I went there, I had my craft beer epiphany that in the morning someone got to show up and work in that little brewhouse and make beer. I thought that was really cool.
JB: I was in the restaurant business prior to coming to the brewery, and I developed a lot of multi-choice beer menus in the mid-1970s, when there wasn’t a lot of import beer to be found in Colorado. You really had to do the search; you had to go to specific distributors. I was drinking Boulder Beer back in 1980. I’m not a brewer by training; I’m a brewer by drinking.
CB&B: You both joined Boulder Beer Company in 1990. What was happening at the brewery at that time?
DZ: The first thing we did was clean up the process; we cleaned up the beers. That was the weak point in the operation in 1990. We needed to get back to the basics of making high-quality craft beer, and then tell the new story to the distributors and retailers, to build up confidence. That was a gradual progression.
JB: When we came on board the company was named Boulder Brewing Company. We felt we needed a larger feel, a greater reach than Boulder was giving us. We took the Rocky Mountains, and said let’s call it “Rockies Brewing Company.” It made us feel internally like we were larger than we really were—just a small little Boulder company. It was misguided marketing at the time. I’ll be the first to admit it. Several years ago we came to our senses and realized that Boulder had a little bit more cache than the Rockies.
CB&B: So other than a new name, what has changed for the company since?
JB: In 1990, there was not a lot of interest in distributing small volume, higher profit margin beers. It was really difficult to convince the distributors in the state to get behind craft beer, and now it’s sought after by every distributor. On the retail level, the retailers in Colorado have always been receptive to bring on small-produced craft beers.
DZ: The consumer palate has shifted tremendously since then. We started producing Buffalo Gold in 1991, and back then it was a big golden ale. You tell someone now that golden ale is a big style and they never believe it. We’ve seen the proliferation of high-alcohol beers—the pendulum has gone that far. . . . Eventually the pendulum swings back, too. People don’t want a 14 percent beer [anymore]; they want a 4 percent beer.
Boulder Beer Company is celebrating its anniversary with the release of the 35th Anniversary Imperial Black IPA, a 9.5 percent hop-forward ale balanced with roasted malt flavor. Read more about the beer.
Photos courtesy of Boulder Beer Company