No, Ska Brewing Co. in Durango is not being sold to A&L Coors, Dave Thibodeau, Ska president and co-owner, said on Friday. Coors is, however, taking on distribution of Ska beer starting next week.
Thibodeau said the rumor Ska is being sold to Coors has been perpetuated for months, and it’s “driving me crazy.” But there is a reason he hasn’t addressed it.
“There's been quite a few times over the past few years that we have talked to people about some kind of change in ownership or partnership or sale or whatever,” he said. “And unfortunately, what comes along with that is I have to sign a nondisclosure agreement, and I'm under one right now.”
He said Coors will distribute Ska’s beer to Durango bars and restaurants, which are its primary market in addition to taphouses in Telluride. Ska’s in-house distributors will continue delivering beer to all 11 or so liquor stores in the city and any Durango bars and restaurants that carry Ska beer. The staff will just be driving different vehicles.
He added having Coors distribute makes sense because it has more resources than Ska. Customers will notice a new truck pull up and a new invoice from Coors when the product is delivered, but that’s about it.
“I can say with 100% certainty that Coors is not buying the brewery and that right now, it's not sold, and that's about all I'm allowed to say,” he said.
Thibodeau said he is not necessarily interested in selling Ska, but he and co-owners Bill Graham and Matt Vincent have never turned down a conversation about it.
“Over the last decade, there's been a lot of (craft beer) mergers and a lot of breweries working together to get creative. Some selling, some just merging; some switching production around,” he said.
He said Ska’s owners have had many conversations about the future of Ska and what the smartest moves for it would be. Those conversations have never led anywhere.
“Right now, Matt and Bill and I am still the sole owners of ska,” he said.
Ska is important to the community, he said, and he and his co-owners do the best to support the community – Durango, La Plata County and Southwest Colorado – that has always supported it.
“We just want to continue doing that. We love everything about having a business in Durango,” he said. “… I don't want to do anything that jeopardizes what Ska has always done and our position within the community, because it's just far too important.”
cburney@durangoherald.com
