DENVER—After years of consumer requests, the beers of Utah’s original craft brewers, Wasatch and Squatters, are now available in Colorado. Colorado beer lovers can now purchase award-winning beers from Squatters (including IPA, Full Suspension, Chasing Tail and Hop Rising) and Wasatch (including Polygamy Porter, Devastator, Ghostrider and Apricot Hefeweizen).

“I’m a Colorado native,” says Dan Burick, Squatters and Wasatch head brewer and a 24-year veteran of the craft beer trade. “I’ve been taking our beers backpacking and fishing in the Colorado high country for years, and carrying them over the Rockies to the Great American Beer Festival since 1992 when we won our first GABF medal. Many beers and medals later, we’re finally responding to beer-lover demand and bringing our beers to my home state.”

Wasatch founder Greg Schirf says the move to Colorado also hinged on the state’s highly educated beer populace. “We were looking to expand our reach,” Schirf says. “So why not jump into one of the country’s savviest beer states? Especially when it’s right next door and people there have been drinking and asking for our beer for over 20 years. Now Coloradoans can enjoy their Polygamy legally.”

Since 1992, Squatters and Wasatch have won 17 World Beer Cup awards and 26 GABF medals. In 2010, Wasatch and Squatters Craft Beers (aka Utah Brewers Cooperative) was named Mid-Size Brewery of the Year by the Brewers Association. The two breweries were founded by fun-loving beer pioneers who literally helped write the rules for Utah craft beer.

Their award winning beers will be served at the Great American Beer Festival, October 10-12 at the Colorado Convention Center at booths M17 (Squatters) and M18 (Wasatch).

From Wasatch Beers –

• Polygamy Porter Nitro (4% ABV Brown Porter on Nitro) — A Gold and Silver Medal World Beer Cup winner, this dark, medium-bodied but super-drinkable ale has inviting chocolate and malt flavors that fade into a slightly dry, silky-smooth finish. DRAFT magazine rating: 94

• Devastator (8% ABV Double Bock) — This dark amber lager has a rich malty body and a creamy white head. Its strong bready aroma, tied in with a hint of caramel aroma and flavor, makes this beer deceptively smooth and delicious.

• Ghostrider (6% ABV White India Pale Ale) — A twist on a traditional American IPA, this brew uses extra-pale malted barley and wheat to keep the color very light (almost white – like a ghost). Quaffable and refreshing with a huge citrus note and a touch of coriander.

• Apricot Hefeweizen (4% ABV Apricot Hefeweizen) — A three-time North American Brewers Association winner, this traditional German-style unfiltered wheat beer is brewed with a hybridized Bavarian yeast that lends flavor notes of licorice, clove, and banana.

From Squatters Beers –

• Hop Rising (9% ABV Double India Pale Ale) — Strong and complex, this luscious beer uses hefty amounts of three different malts and three varieties of hops, including a hearty dose of dry hops. It’s brewed with two pounds of hops per barrel. The hop farmer on the beer’s label is award-winning Squatters brewmaster Jason Stock. Ratebeer.com rating: 96

• IPA (6.5% ABV American India Pale Ale) — This classic American IPA has a copper color, an intense hop aroma and a distinctly crisp bitterness on its finish. In its 16-year history it has been recognized with a World Beer Cup Gold Medal and four Great American Beer Festival medals.  DRAFT magazine rating: 95

• Full Suspension Pale Ale (4% ABV English Pale Ale) — This double-gold-winning Northwest style pale ale has great balance between the malty English barley and aromatic hops from Washington’s Yakima Valley. Unfiltered and dry-hopped.

• Chasing Tail Golden Ale (4% ABV English-style Summer Ale) — A two-time GABF medalist, this inviting golden ale is brewed with premium English barley and English Golding and Fuggles hops. The result is a superb session beer with subtle malts and delicate bitterness and aroma.

About Utah Brewers Cooperative

In 1986, Greg Schirf opened Utah’s first microbrewery, Wasatch Beers and Brewpub, in the resort town of Park City. A few years later, Jeff Polychronis and Peter Cole opened Squatters, Salt Lake’s original brewpub in 1989; they currently operate five restaurants. In 2000, Wasatch and Squatters merged their microbrewery operations for draft and bottle production, creating the Utah Brewers Cooperative. To date, Squatters and Wasatch beers have won 17 World Beer Cup Awards; a number surpassed by only three other U.S. craft brewers on the Brewers Association’s Top 50 list. Squatters and Wasatch bottled and draft beers are available in liquor stores, restaurants, clubs, hotels, resorts, grocery and convenience stores throughout Utah, Wyoming, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, South Dakota, North Dakota, Nebraska, Oregon, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Colorado. For more information, please visit www.squatters.com and www.wasatchbeers.com.