GABF Docks A Big Award In Aurora

Let me tell you a little story. It's a little long for a blog, but it is a story worth telling.


Once upon a time there were these two guys, Kevin DeLange (he's in the green shirt) and Kevin Kellogg. The two "Kevs" were quietly brewing little batches of beer in The Brew Hut, a small home brew shop they owned in Aurora, CO. The beer was good. It was so good their customers started telling them they ought to open a brewpub.


It's Alive!
In 2005, they did just that. They knocked a hole in the wall and took over the empty space next door. It was small. There was just room for a couple bar stools, 5 or 6 tables and a popcorn machine in the corner. They didn't care. They weren't there to impress the world. They just wanted a place where people could gather and enjoy their beer. Kevin grabbed the tap. With the "psssshst" of compressed air, Dry Dock Brewing was born.



They are brewing really good beer in Aurora.
It didn't take long for the word to get around. People were quaffing every gallon of beer the Dry Dock could brew. Kevin knew he needed help, so Bill Eye became head brewer and brought his love of rich, German lagers to the Dry Dock. (That's him in the brown shirt.) Two other guys, Jim Denier (right, wedged in the Boil Kettle) and Lachlan McLean (left, stuck in the Lauter Tun) signed on as assistant brewers. The four figured their beer was pretty good, so they entered a couple at the Colorado State fair. They won! They took some to Denver and won a couple of medals at the GABF, too.



Trouble on the Horizon
All of a sudden, Kevin discovered he had a problem. It was great that legions of brew lovers were packing the place, but his little brewpub was too small to handle it. Even with the fermenter running non-stop, they still could not keep up. So this summer, just four years after Kevin tapped the first keg, Dry Dock set sail. It dropped anchor at a big, new, spacious brew house, just a couple doors down from the old brew pub. It had everything a brewer could want, including a brand new brew system with bright, shiny kettles. One thing didn't change. Kevin, Bill, Jim and Lachlan were still brewing it right. Dry Dock's beer was as good as ever.



Hello World
Saturday, the beer world sat up and took notice. A huge cheer rocked the place when the Great American Beer Festival announced that nobody had a better small brewery than Kevin DeLange. Out of hundreds of choices from all over the country, Dry Dock Brewing was picked as the 2009 Small Brewing Company and Brewer of the Year.



Congratulations Kevin! You and Bill and Jim and Lachlan ought to be mighty proud of yourselves. Dry Dock crafts amazing beers and it is great that the largest beer gathering in America, The Great American Beer Festival, agrees.




----It's Almost "Hop Tip" Time----
I am putting the finishing touches on the next Hop Tips from the Rocky Mountain Brewing News. It's filled with October's events, festivals and new brew releases from all across the Rocky Mountain West. Watch for it to pop up in your email in the next couple of days. If you don't get "Hop Tips", click here to sign up. You don't want to miss any beer-vents this fall.