There’s nothing bland about the style of full-flavored beers produced by Colorado craft brewer Oskar Blues. And so it follows that subtlety plays no part in the towering sign at the brewer’s proposed new restaurant in Longmont.
Motorists on the busy Diagonal Highway between Boulder and Longmont soon will see a 39-foot-high depiction of a beer can painted on an old farm silo.
The eye-catching marketing gimmick has a bit of symbolism as well.
Lyons-based Oskar Blues Brewery in 2002 became the first U.S. microbrewer to can its own beers, including the Dale’s Pale Ale and Old Chub products. (Some craft brewers previously had used cans for beer made under contract by other producers at remote locations.)
With the brewery’s image closely tied to cans, owner Dale Katechis immediately recognized the marquee potential of the 68-year-old grain silo attached to the site of the $700,000 Oskar Blues Homemade Liquids & Solids brewpub, scheduled to open this summer.
City officials were not so enthusiastic, initially.
The beer-can sign was too tall and too wide to comply with Longmont’s sign code.
The brewer applied for a variance. The city planning department recommended that the variance be turned down, but the planning and zoning commission voted 7-0 to approve it.
“The planning commission seemed to like the idea,” city planner Ben Ortiz said. “There was kind of a nostalgia sentiment hearkening back to when products often were painted on silos.”
Nobody spoke for or against the sign at a city public hearing in June. A nonscientific online survey by the Longmont Times-Call showed 55 percent of readers like the beer-can plan.
After the planning commission approval, one resident expressed her disapproval in an e-mail to city officials.
“I’m in shock that we’ll have a beer can at the entrance to this beautiful city that I’ve fallen in love with,” Lori Mitchell wrote. “Now (Longmont is) represented by beer, just because of one company’s desire to advertise BIG.”
Restaurant general manager Anita Gray said feedback on the sign has been mixed but mostly positive.
“Some people weren’t thrilled about it,” she said. “But we think it’ll be done very tastefully.”
Steve Raabe: 303-954-1948 or sraabe@denverpost.com
