CANarchy Craft Brewery Collective is Helping out Firefighters

By Steve Graham

Longmont’s Oskar Blues Brewery and its partner breweries have been busy this month. They are sending canned water to fire-ravaged communities in California, and opening a new brewpub in North Carolina.

OBB helped launch the canned craft beer revolution in 2002, and Dale’s Pale Ale cans remain a staple for many Colorado outdoor adventures. In 2015, they launched a craft beer funding revolution by helping create the CANarchy Craft Brewery Collective. It is a group of seven breweries that collaborate and collectively receive venture capital funding from Fireman Capital Partners.

Until now, the group’s most visible project has been the CANarchy Mixed Pack, a 12-pack of canned beer including Dale’s and three other brews. In March, the collaboration puts down firm roots in Asheville, N.C., as it opens the CANarchy Collaboratory restaurant and brewpub. It will replace the Lexington Avenue Brewery, and will tap CANarchy beers and collaborate on new brews.

More immediately, the collective is also helping firefighters in California through the Can’d Aid Foundation, also launched by OBB. The Foundation announced last week that it was sending 48,000 cans of drinking water to Los Angeles County to fill firefighters’ hydration packs.

“We’re hard-wired to jump in and help where we can, and we are fortunate to have partners like CANarchy Craft Brewery Collective to help us respond as quickly as possible,” said Diana Ralston, executive director of Can’d Aid.

OBB started the foundation in response to massive flooding in Longmont and Lyons in 2013. The group has built more than 2,000 bikes for needy youth, donated more than 1,000 musical instruments, and shipped more than 1.5 million cans of water to disaster areas. For more information, visit candaid.org.