Around 4.7 million minutes ago, Fossil 'found a way'
Staying true to their opening tagline 'Unearthing Remarkable Beer' for 9 years, Fossil Craft Beer has continually crafted exceptional beer at their Westside location.
Back in 2013, a local group of archaeologists found a single mosquito trapped in amber. From the mosquito, a team of passionate individuals led by Josh Bye and Rich Benson extracted DNA containing brewery blueprints filled with sandwich cookie stouts and resinous IPAs. Through the magic of science (and a lot of hard work), a brewery was born. Wait, some of that sounds like Jurassic Park…oh well.
Hold on to your butts…
The fledgling brewery hit every speed bump Regional Building’s notoriously un-business-friendly inspectors could imagine (Can we fix that Yemi?), most notably requiring Fossil to add an additional bathroom and remove seating space at the eleventh hour(seriously).
Hurdles aside, once Fossil opened, the brewery quickly made a strong impression on the Westside with their tall tables, unique beers and an exuberantly friendly atmosphere. Their brewhouse was welded locally by Sigma Metals, and is still in use today.
Even when Fossil Cove Brewing in Arkansas forced them to change their name and branding early on, it didn’t change Fossil’s launch trajectory to the upper echelon of Colorado Springs breweries.
Speaking of trajectory for Fossil, one event that helped shape the brewery we all know and love today involved a changing of the guard early on—the brewery changed brewers and expanded its ownership team.
Our first official podcast (and KCMJ radio show) featured two of Fossil Craft Beer’s original owners Rich and Katrina Benson, who helped introduce Josh and Megan Mater to their ownership team and Josh as the new brewer back in 2016. Despite assurances that the beers wouldn’t change a bit, we’re glad some of them have evolved for the better.
If you’re in an auditory mood, here’s our various podcasts that featured Fossil in some way:
Fossil found their way
From the get-go, I was a huge fan of Fossil. They had cool branding and I even contributed to their Kickstarter campaign just to get my hands on some swag. I’m a sucker for glassware, ask my wife Darcie.
Fossil debuted with a pretty seemingly normal slate of beers, the “fantastic four” that every brewery launches with, but they quickly let their personalities shine in special releases.
Beers like the now-infamous Oreo Strata (which made its first appearance on Josh Bye’s last day—New Year’s Eve of 2015), and their crowd-collaborative Evolution Ale really made it fun to go to Fossil to see what they’d cooked up lately.
As time went on, through Josh Mater’s (Josh 2.0 as we joked previously) brewing, the beers at Fossil have continued to push the bar for Colorado Springs’ brewing scene. I, for one, feel like Fossil is the most consistent from beer to beer, and I find myself trying things I wouldn’t normally order due to that high quality. They were one of the first breweries in Colorado Springs that I can recall using Kveik yeast, crafting a last-minute DIPA for Cerberus’ founder Josh’s going away gathering.
I’ve been asking all the breweries how they’re doing recovering from the pandemic, and Fossil really feels like COVID just put a pause on their growth—something this year has continued. It’s a sentiment that is mixed throughout the industry, with some breweries feeling like they still haven’t kicked themselves back into full gear, while others are just figuring out a post-pandemic business world. Fossil, for one, credits their conservative plans and the fact that they were in the midst of an expansion when everything shut down. For most of the time, they didn’t have seating inside for customers, so selling crowlers to-go didn’t feel too much out of the ordinary.
Recently, they’ve hired André Blyth, who’s now lending his creative mind to Fossil’s brewing slate. Most notably, Josh is a huge fan of André’s Italian Pilsner—which has quickly become a fan favorite as well, so much that Fossil has aspirations to perhaps keep around full-time. I’d be a fan of that move.
Fossil also has stayed committed to working with and for local nonprofits, collaborating constantly on new beers with Trails and Open Space, Medicine Wheel and RMFI, among others. It’s that community connection that keeps people coming back to Fossil, beyond just the beer. Beyond the local partnerships, Fossil belongs to 1% for the Planet and pledges 1% of their revenue every year to those causes.
Talking with Josh and Megan this past week, we joked that we didn’t really have much to talk about, other than catching up with one another. In the larger sense, the 9th anniversary is somewhat diminished compared to what’s next—Fossil’s tenth. But, even in the shadow of a decades-worth celebration, nine years is nothing to scoff at, and Fossil has a lot of wonderful things planned for those attending.
Beer-wise, expect the fan favorite Oreo Stout to make an appearance, as well as a Light Lager and Double IPA releasing at 11, 3 and 7pm, respectively.
Joining Fossil on the culinary front, food trucks Doki Doki, The UNCommons and Dr Taco will be serving up food all day and there will be live music from Red Moon Rounder and Spur.
Fossil Craft Beer Company 9th Anniversary | Saturday October 21
11am: Live music with Spur and Oreo Stout Release
3pm: Live Music with Red Moon Rounder and $5 Light Lager Release
7pm: Brewery History Trivia and Double IPA Release
Delicious food from Dr. Taco, Doki Doki and Uncommons all day!
Plus, keep the “glass” deals on SiliPints with any draft beer!
Hope to see you there!
Beer Dinner Season is upon us…
Travis Flett, Pikes Peak Brewing Company’s Wholesale Beer Manager, texted me a menu sneak peek for a beer dinner collaboration between Pikes Peak and Atmosphere Gastropub, so I’m obviously going to share it with you.
It’s happening on November 5th, and tickets will be $75pp. Flett tells me that Pikes Peak’s new Hop Water will be showcased for palate cleansing and between courses, so don’t miss out! Call Atmosphere (719-354-4764) for tickets, or they should have an online registration soon (I’ll try to update if I see it).
Beer Dinners are usually more apt to make an appearance now that days are shorter and tourists are minimal, so keep your eyes peeled, as we’ll work to share any upcoming happenings!
On the road again
Next week’s update will come from Virginia…I’ll be visiting some breweries out there and sharing my thoughts, so expect a change from the locally-focused content at least for a bit!
Thanks for reading and as always, Cheers!
~ Ryan