The Ska boys, seen here circa 2005, celebrate 18 years of beers with the English Beat this Saturday.

Ska turns legal, primitive rock party and more beer

by Chris Aaland

I go way back with Dave Thibodeau and Bill Graham … back to 1983, when we were sophomores at Wheat Ridge High School. Their senior quotes in our school yearbook, “The Agrarian,” said something to the effect of starting their own brewery and taking over the world.

Less than a decade later, Dave, Bill and Matt Vincent launched Ska Brewing in 1995. They haven’t quite overtaken Rotgutzen – the tasteless, mass-produced, corporate swill that masquerades as beer. 

The lemmings will always drink their Bud, Coors and Miller while listening to Taylor Swift, Maroon 5 and Kenny Chesney. But craft brewers – we’re lucky to have five in our little utopia – and their aficionados march to a different drummer.

For 18 years, Ska Brewing has concocted adventurous ales straight from the heart. All the while, they’ve done it with their ear trained to offbeat sounds. At Ska’s 18th Anniversary Party and Brewers Invitational, they’ve pulled out all the stops: namely, booking the English Beat to headline the bash. If you were smart enough to buy in advance, you’ll also get to see the California Celts and the 2 Tone Lizard Kings, sample suds from 25 of Ska’s closest brewery friends and even get a commemorative tasting glass. If you didn’t buy early, shame on you. This one sold out last month.

But let’s get back to our trip down Memory Lane. Shared passions for brewskies and beats reconnected Dave and me four years after graduation. The original Skinny’s hired both of us to work in their kitchen during the summer of 1990. We quickly rose through the ranks and ran the kitchen after a month. One weekend, we drove up to Denver to catch the Beat Farmers at Herman’s Hideaway – an epic show with a brutal mosh pit. The 5-foot-nothing Thibodeau was at risk of being trampled like the 18-inch Stonehenge in Spinal Tap. I solved the problem by hoisting him atop my back and letting him ride piggyback through the first set.

A few weeks later, Dave and I were prepping the Skinny’s lunch special when we heard dreaded dead air on KDUR. A quick drive up the hill in my 1977 Toyota Corolla wagon, and we’d barricaded ourselves in the studios and pirated the airwaves. The DJ in question who didn’t show? Dave’s ex-girlfriend. We spun an eclectic set that included Faith No More, AC/DC, Rapeman, King Missile, the Police, Elvis Costello, the Beatles, the Dice Clay remix of Sinead O’Connor’s “Nothing Compares to You,” loads of Metallica and some song by Dave Rave & His Male Slave called “Kill the Animals.” I still pull out my old cassette of the show when I’m blue.

Dave explained the connection between music and beer to me over lunch at the brewery’s fine new restaurant, “The Container,” last week. (Try “The Dave,” a jerk-veggie sandwich that’s irreverent, innovative and intense.)

“Obviously, we’re called Ska,” he said. “We started home brewing in high school when we really started getting into music. The English Beat was one of the first ska bands we’d heard. Obviously it’s not just Bill and Matt and I. The brewers have their music, the tasting room has their music, packaging has their music. That energy is part of the character of the brewery and the beer. I don’t think anybody’s beer would be good without music.”

Throughout its history, Ska has turned it up a notch by bringing great music to town to play their tasting rooms and parking lots.

“Our third anniversary party was at the San Juan Room,” Thibodeau waxed.  “Bringing bands to town was kind of a big part of what we did. Congo Shock, Warsaw and Sturgeon General all played. Another band on Moon Records showed up – the Skoidats. At one point there were 25 people on stage. It was one of the craziest parties I’ve been to.”

More recently, Ska anniversaries have included Bad Manners, the Toasters, Reel Big Fish and the Supersuckers.

“Our checkered motif comes from the two-tone motif of ska,” he said. “Bad Manners and the English Beat were two of the first to use this.  It’s kind of exciting to meet some of the people who were our total music heroes 25 years ago.”

This year’s fiesta features the release of Hoperation Ivy, Ska’s popular wet-hopped beer. Only available in bombers and kegs across Colorado, Ivy features hops from Highwire Hop Farms in Paonia.

Don’t want to fight the crowds at the Ska anniversary shindig? The Moetones and Papa Otis play a twin bill at 5:30 p.m. on Sat., Sept. 7 at the Balcony. “We’re calling it a primitive rock party,” said Papa Otis drummer Steve Mendias.

Steamworks’ Firkin Friday taps a keg of Maple Nut Brown Ale at 3 p.m. Friday. According to brewer Spencer Roper, they started with two beers this time – the popular Lizard Head Red and Backside Stout as the base beers – then added some extra malt and maple syrup.

If you’re heading out to Montezuma County, the 15th annual Harvest Beer Festival takes place from 5-9 p.m. Saturday in Parque de Vida in Cortez. The $30 admission gets you unlimited tastings from eight breweries, live music from the Beautiful Loser Society, a kids’ tent and more. Free shuttles deliver revelers to and from Dolores and Mancos. Buy tickets online at www.montezumaland.org and save five bucks.

Let’s hit it and quit! KSUT Public Radio is channeling its inner Godfather of Soul in its fall membership drive, which runs from Monday to Saturday, Sept. 9-14. (In full disclosure, I am the new membership manager at KSUT.) The kicker? Once the station nets $75,000, it’ll stop on-air fundraising immediately and return to its regular programming. Pledge online at www.ksut.org or by calling 563-0255. Pledge early and you could win VIP passes and camping to Telluride Blues & Brews.

This week’s Top Shelf list features a brewer’s dozen of Dave Thibodeau’s favorite albums.

•         The Beatles – “The White Album”

•         Pixies – “Surfer Rosa”

•         Minor Threat – “Out of Step”

•         The Clash – “London Calling”

•         Jane’s Addiction – “Nothing’s Shocking”

•         Operation Ivy – “Operation Ivy”

•         Bauhaus – “In the Flat Field”

•         Madness – “One Step Beyond”

•         New Order – “Power, Corruption & Lies”

•         Bob Marley – “Catch a Fire”

•         “The Harder They Come” soundtrack

•         English Beat – “Just Can’t Stop It”

•         The Police – “Outlandos d’Amour”

Black air and seven seas and rotten through? Email me at chrisa@gobrainstorm.net.