Odell Brewing invades North Dakota

By Chris Larson

cjlarson75@gmail.com

North Dakotans are nationally known for our appreciation of adult beverages. Despite our notoriety, we often get overlooked by nationally popular distillers and wineries.

It seems that craft breweries have noticed us, though, as we have been blessed with numerous breweries launching into the North Dakota market in the last two years.

Odell Brewing Company Regional Marketing Manager, Corland Egertson, explains why North Dakota will be the lucky 13th state Odell will be available in. “The surrounding markets have been so successful for us due to Colorado being such a great vacation destination for the upper Midwest. We've become closely related to great summer road trips and epic winter ski outings. By coming into the North Dakota market, we hope to help fans reminisce about a great Colorado adventure with a hoppy Double IPA, Odell Myrcenary, in their hands.”

The second packaging craft brewery to open in Colorado, and the first in Fort Collins, Odell was founded by three brothers in 1989 and has a rich and storied history. Like many brewery start-ups, Doug Odell would sell kegs of his beer and return empties using his old beat-up pickup. After numerous expansions and remodels over the years, they now have the capacity to brew more than 300,000 barrels per year to keep up with their ever-expanding footprint.

Throughout nearly thirty years of brewing, the awards and accolades Odell has received have been numerous and span many different styles of beer. Their IPA and Myrcenary Double IPA are considered by both critics and consumers as standouts and get 98 and 99 ratings on ratebeer in addition to several medals at various festivals including a Gold Medal from the Great American Beer Festival in 2007 for the IPA.

Perhaps one of their most notable awards came in 2015 when they were named Colorado's “Best Company to Work For.” They recently added a full time sustainability coordinator to achieve their goal of becoming a zero-landfill brewery by 2020 and to work with the City of Fort Collins on not only conserving water, which is essential in Colorado, but they are also working on revolutionizing the brewing industry by finding ways to treat wastewater with yeast and hops instead of chemicals.

The first packages they will be bringing to the local market include their IPA and Myrcenary Double IPA, 90 Schilling Ale (amber), Loose Leaf (session ale) and their newest year-round offering: Odell Drumroll, an American Pale Ale with the big juicy hop character that consumers are craving.

These beers will available in both cans and on draft at select locations and fans of Grapefruit and fresh hopped beers should gravitate towards their IPA, while those who prefer Pineapple and other tropical notes in an IPA should seek out their Myrcenary Double IPA. If IPAs aren't really your style, try their flagship beer, the 90 Schilling Ale, a delicious amber with a hint of nuttiness and a touch of apricot on the nose.

There will be a series of local “tap invasion” events to help celebrate their launch and introduce the local market to their beers, with a brewery representative on hand: Wednesday, September 14 from 5 to 8pm at ALL JL Beers locations, Thursday September 15th 5 to 8pm at Wurst, and Friday 5pm to 8pm at Zorbaz in Detroit Lakes.

The packages will begin arriving at local stores around the same time, depending on your favorite stores delivery date and they are excited about bringing some of their “cellar series” beers to the market during launch week.

Be on the hunt for their Meddler Oud Bruin (Sour Flemish Brown Ale) and other fun sour beers we should be seeing at tap invasions and in bottles at your favorite craft beer stores.