Dry Dock weighs anchor

Unexpected gold medal propels Aurora brewery to expansion plans

Roger Fillion, Rocky Mountain News

Wednesday, July 4, 2007

AURORA - Six months after opening a tiny brewery in the rear of an unremarkable strip mall here, Kevin DeLange pulled off a stunning upset in the beer world.

DeLange, who honed his skills as a home brewer, scored a gold medal at one of the brewing industry's most prestigious competitions: the 2006 World Beer Cup. He was honored for his extra special bitter, or ESB.

The World Beer Cup is held every two years. It attracts more than 500 brewers from 50-plus nations. Breweries range from upstart Dry Dock and other craft beer makers to global giants such as Anheuser-Busch Inc.

DeLange's Dry Dock Brewing Co. won top honors in the "special bitter or best bitter" category at the 2006 World Beer Cup, held in Seattle in April. The brewery, which is now mapping out expansion plans, beat 22 competitors.

"For a brewer that's been open six months to win a gold medal in the 'best bitter' category, that's pretty impressive," said Paul Gatza, director of the Brewers Association, the competition's sponsor.

Chris Black, whose Falling Rock Tap House in Denver serves Dry Dock's HMS Bounty Old Ale on tap, said the World Beer Cup "is really becoming the biggest award in the whole world of brewing."

The news stunned DeLange, now 33.

At the awards banquet in Seattle, he left before the ceremony ended because he had to catch a 5 a.m. plane to Denver the next day. The bronze and silver medal awards had been announced. DeLange figured a gold medal was out of the question.

He and a friend were just outside the main hotel banquet room when he heard the announcer break the news that his HMS Victory ESB had won the gold.

"My first reaction was: "Who stole our name!" DeLange recalled. "It was a huge shock."

Needless to say, the award shined a spotlight on little known Dry Dock Brewing, among Colorado's 90 craft beer makers and Aurora's only brewery.

Dry Dock - at the southwest corner of East Hampden Avenue and South Chambers Road in Aurora - attracts locals who can drink the beers on tap at the brewery. Customers also can take home a "growler" container of fresh beer.

Thanks to the gold medal, Dry Dock also gets about a half-dozen out-of-state visitors a week who seek out the award-winning brewery.

In addition, Dry Dock distributes its beer to area restaurants, including Old Chicago in Aurora.

Stacy Ethington, bar manager at the Old Chicago on East Iliff Avenue, said Dry Dock sales are "terrific."

"Part of it is being in Aurora," he said of Dry Dock's local appeal. "When people taste (the beers), they like them."

The Old Chicago sells Dry Dock's vanilla porter and the award-winning ESB.

Looking ahead, DeLange wants to move into a larger space within the next two years. His brewery's two fermentation tanks can't keep up with demand.

The brewery produces about seven barrels during each brewing session, or 217 gallons of beer. DeLange brews once every five days.

"We're at maximum capacity," DeLange said.

DeLange plans, however, to keep his brewery in Colorado's third-largest city. "There's nobody in Aurora that brews," noted DeLange, who opened the brewery with a partner hehas since bought out.

Ironically, DeLange's first brewing experience was not a positive one.

When he was a college student in Iowa, his mother gave him a home-brewing kit for his 21st birthday. That Christmas, he decided to brew a holiday beer for his family. It was a spicy, malty concoction that was high in alcohol.

Family members gave it a thumbs down.

"Everybody hated it because they were Coors and Budweiser drinkers," he recalled.

His family has since come around to his beers.

DeLange credits his wife, Michelle, an actuary who does pension consulting, with providing the financial support for his brewing. She is a co-owner of the brewery.

"My wife supports the two of us," he said.

DeLange adopted the nautical names for his brewery and beers to match his interest in sailing and nautical history.

He has a master's degree in history and once had visions of becoming a university professor. But he skipped that path because of what he saw as limited job opportunities.

He became an administrator at Denver's Westwood Institute of Technology before leaving to buy a home-brewing supply shop and later opening the brewery. The shop's profits go into the brewery.

Inside the 1,000-square-foot brewery, which sits adjacent to the home-brewing store, nautical paraphernalia abounds. The mast and sails from DeLange's old sailboat hang from the ceiling.

A copy of an old British newspaper trumpets Admiral Nelson's victory over a combined French and Spanish fleet at the 1805 Battle of Trafalgar. Nelson's ship, HMS Victory, is the namesake for Dry Dock's gold medal beer.

The award doesn't appear to have gone to DeLange's head. Sure, he has expansion plans. And while Dry Dock is Aurora's only brewery, DeLange is modest about his brewing establishment.

"We're really a little neighborhood brewery," he said.

But one with a World Beer Cup gold to its name.

Dry Dock Brewing Co.

• Where: 15110 E. Hampden Ave., Aurora

• Founded: October 2005

• Beers: H.M.S. Victory ESB, Urca Vanilla Porter, H.M.S. Bounty Old Ale, U.S.S. Enterprise IPA, Breakwater Pale Ale

• Awards: gold medal, 2006 World Beer Cup; two gold medals, 2006 Colorado State Fair

fillionr@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2467