Aurora’s first and biggest craft brewery will celebrate 10 years in business Saturday, Oct. 24, with some brews that even Dry Dock Brewing Co. staff haven’t sampled in years.
The party is set for 2 p.m Saturday at North Dock near Interstate 70 and Tower Road. Tickets are $35. As of Friday afternoon, tickets were still available. For more, visit drydockbrewing.com.
The tap list for the party includes some of Dry Dock’s rarer offerings, including Bligh’s Barleywines from about 2012 to 2014, and they’ll also be pouring some of their barrel-aged beers straight from the barrels.
Kevin DeLange, the company’s founder, said he is especially looking forward to some of those older Bligh’s. While he has a few bottles of 2012 saved, he hasn’t cracked into them in years.
“It was really good I just didn’t save enough,” he said.
Tomorrow will also mark the first time the crew has tapped a barrel-aged beer straight from the barrel instead of putting it in a keg and carbonating it first. The brews could be flat because they won’t have added carbonation yet, but DeLange said he is looking forward to trying a few straight from the barrel.
The brewery started with DeLange making beer at home and eventually expanded to a tiny tasting room in the back of the Brew Hut home-brew supply store. From there, it has grown to one of the 15 biggest brewers in the state, with a massive canning and production facility at North Dock and a spacious tasting room and facility at South Dock near East Hampden Avenue and South Chambers Road.
DeLange said he hasn’t really had time to sit back and think about the growth, but when he does it’s a bit hard to believe.
“I could’ve envisioned what we have at South Dock, but never could have imagined being the size we are today,” he said Friday as he and his staff geared up for the party.
Also on Saturday, Two22Brew is hosting a silent auction at the brewery, 4550 S. Reservoir Road, Centennial, with proceeds benefiting the 7/20 Memorial Foundation.
The event will include food trucks, beer, face painting and a photo booth. The silent auction runs from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m.
At Mu Brewery, owner Nathan Flatland said the East Colfax Avenue beer maker has released their Blumpkin spiced pumpkin brew and their Sour Cherries.
And at Coda Brewing Co., bottles of the Covalent Double IPA were released Friday.