30 Years of Ska Brewing

2025 marks 30 years of beer for Durango's Ska Brewing Company, and it's not waiting for the anniversary party in September to celebrate. You're watching "The Local News Network," brought to you by Serious Texas Bar-B-Q and Durango Gelato Coffee & Tea. I'm Connor Shreve. Ska Brewery is tapping nostalgia to help celebrate three decades in business. Each month the brewery releases a forgotten flagship.

You know, that's really reassuring, too. Just posting on social media, hey, you know, we're turning 30 all year long. We're going to bring back some of our flagships that we no longer make. You know, what are your favorites? And people just chime in with all kinds of memories. And, you know, you get tons of votes for certain beers and you're like, oh, God, I forgot about that beer. That was delicious. And so every first Friday of each month throughout this whole year, we're releasing another one of those.

Ska co-founder Dave Thibodeau is open to bringing back the classics permanently, depending on the response. He says 30 years has flown by.

You know, coming out with Mexican Logger, for example, that beer's been out for 25 years now. And that seems like we just did it, you know, we just started working on it. But it's weird and it's all relative. But, you know, some of those memories, they seem so distant, but most of it has just gone by in a flash. Like, it's been a quick 30 years.

Ska has navigated craft beer booms, slumps, an economic recession, and more. Thibodeau admits the beer landscape is different than when Ska first opened its doors in 1995.

It's saturated. You know, there's people that are here that shouldn't be, and it's not doing anything good for the industry necessarily, you know? But, at the same time, the bar has continued to be raised because of the brewers that have done a great job, you know, since getting into it.

He says he's continually inspired by craft brewers. Despite its growth into a nationally distributed brand, Thibodeau says Ska is still a community brewery at heart.

And then I think what really like, kind of brings it all whipping back together is when you just think about, you know, the community of Southwestern Colorado. If you kind of just look holistically at a 30-year period, you know, it's all been a lot of the same people. Obviously it's been a lot of support from the same people in the same communities.

You can try a new forgotten flagship beer release on the first Friday of every month. Tickets for Ska's 30th anniversary party go on sale at the end of March. Find more information about this and other stories at DurangoLocal.News. Thanks for watching this edition of "The Local News Network." I'm Connor Shreve.