Craft breweries and the ski and snowboard industries make fresh tracks together

Oskar Blues skis

4) Oskar Blues and Icelantic Skis will be partnering all winter on a series of promotions, including OB branded skis (see picture below), a collaboration beer that could be available publicly at some point, events during First Fridays in Denver and at the SIA show, and with the Brewski Bus, which will pick people up in Denver, lend them demo skis at a resort and take them to a bar or restaurant serving Oskar Blues beer. The Infamous Stringdusters and Protect Our Winters will also be involved.

5) The Dillon Dam Brewery ("I'd give my left ear for a DAM beer") has partnered with the Denver Art Museum (currently showing the exhibit Becoming van Gogh) this fall on DAM Gogh, a beer that both organizations are using to cross-promote their ties to Vincent van Gogh and to the initials D.A.M. The goal: "The beer is part of a larger promotional partnership between the two entities to reach the ski audience," according to the museum. "It used to be that Denver was just the place you flew into and then went to the mountains," adds DAM spokeswoman Ashley Pritchard. "But it has become a real world-class desination...We definitely want to capture some of those folks who are coming from out of state to go to the mountains." The beer is available only at the Rackhouse Pub in Denver and at the Dillon Dam Brewery in Dillon.

6) Elevation Beer Company in Poncha Springs is teaming up with nearby Monarch Mountain on a series of promotions. The first takes place on Friday, November 16, from 5 to 10 p.m. at the brewery. The ski season kickoff party -- sponsored by Monarch, Fortitude Skis and Native Eyewear, features live music, giveaways (including Native Eyewear and a Monarch Mountain Season Pass) and the grand prize: a custom pair of Elevation Propeller All Mountain ski's from Fortitude. Elevation and Monarch are also planning a Park & Ski at the brewery for people to carpool.

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