A Peregrine Paradigm
OCC Brewing is celebrating their second birthday this Sunday with live music, a silent disco and beer releases. We talked with their crew about the changes and lessons they've learned along the way.
par·a·digm
/ˈperəˌdīm/
noun
a typical example or pattern of something; a model.
"OCC Brewing is a paradigm for restaurant breweries in Colorado Springs"
In two short years, OCC Brewing has become a paradigm for restaurant breweries in Old Colorado City, holding down the central part of Colorado Ave. After pivoting at opening to a more pandemic-friendly menu, they’ve proved the restaurant brewery model works and works well, if you can stomach it.
We had the chance to sit down with the OCC crew — head brewer Kyle Stevens, Chef Malikei Hetherington, as well as Owners Dan and Clair Ramos — to chat about their past two years, and look to the future. If you don’t get the Peregrine reference, birds are ever-prevalent at OCC as both Dan and Claire are wildlife biologists—plus it almost was OCC’s name…almost!
When asked about opening a restaurant brewery, owner Dan Ramos had this to say:
“I think the hardest part is embracing the restaurant model and being able to say, all right, let's put someone behind the kitchen that can crank out really good things and match what you're putting out, beer wise. But I am a numbers guy and I feel like my financial projections going into the whole project were pretty spot on. That said, coming out of COVID, it’s a brand new world. And so I've talked to Jay Gust and other restaurateurs around town and they're like, yeah, you're kind of lucky in some ways, because all the stuff that used to work for us doesn't work now.
So everybody's trying to figure out, what this new paradigm? So I'm just kind of figuring it out. But how do you run a successful restaurant? And that's what we are first. I mean, obviously we're a brewery, but we're a restaurant.” - Dan Ramos, OCC Brewing
Read the entire interview with their team here: https://www.focusonthe.beer/beer/occ-brewing-a-peregrine-paradigm
Crafting an Impactful IPA
It’s no big secret that the most abundant ingredient in beer is water, and the Fountain Creek Brewshed Alliance is a group of breweries and local authorities who help bring awareness to clean water initiates around the Pikes Peak region. On September 12, the breweries will release their collaborative brew—the Impactful IPA— and $1 from every pint sold will go to the Fountain Creek Watershed!
Representatives from many of the 17 local area breweries and restaurants gathered at Phantom Canyon to brew the IPA.
Make sure to head out on September 12 to support the watershed and these breweries! More info here: https://www.facebook.com/events/160548933733154/
Headin’ South(west)
In just a few short weeks, we’ll be taking a short road trip to Durango for Ska Brewing’s Anniversary party. It’s been part of our fall event schedule since 2007, so why stop now? Along the way, we’re hoping to stop in and chat with various breweries in small towns, so look for a recap and some features on those stops.
Upcoming Featured Events
August 27: OCC Brewing 2nd Anniversary
August 29: PikeRide Revolution Beer Release at Cerberus & meet the new Pike Ride ED Party
September 30: Octoberfest at Red Swing Brewhouse
Want to get your beer release, job listing, event or other special announcement into our newsletter? Email ryan@focusonthe.beer with a link and we’ll try to include it!