Boneyard Beer
By Mark Ewald, aka Shep
This time last year, all our lives were about to drastically change. We were hearing about the emergence of a scary virus that was spreading around the world and starting to reach us in the United States. I had just returned from a Maine Brewers Association event that turned out to be the last time I traveled out of the State for a looooong time. The Sheps had just launched the Stone Hut Pale Ale from Boreale at most of the ski resorts around the state. This beer was a fundraiser for Jake Burton’s Chill Foundation, an incredible cause that you should check out HERE. Indy and I were actually in the car on the way to the launch event at Burton HQ and then we got the call that the event had been cancelled out of caution of the spread of COVID 19.
On that particular Friday, it was announced that all the ski resorts would close on Sunday. This was an unfathomable thing, that our lives would be so affected by the virus that we would have to shut down the resorts. Quickly after that all sorts of indoor dining and drinking establishments would also be closed and we would all have to stay at home, as you all know and remember. Obviously, this had a profound effect on our business as we had an entire cooler full of hoppy kegs with no where to go.
After this craziness had settled in, I realized that our problems were pale in comparison to one of the Shepherds’ most beloved brands, Boneyard Beer, one of our breweries that was draft-ONLY. Talk about up shit’s creek without a paddle. They had an entire warehouse with thousands of full kegs with no where to go plus an entire brewery’s worth of full tanks. They had actually been holding on to some of our kegs, waiting to fill them & send them back to help us wrap up ski season. With ski season ending abruptly, we had no where to sell them. I immediately reached out to Boneyard after this realization that they had no where to sell any of their beer and let them know that we would do whatever we could to help out.
Boneyard quickly pivoted and purchased a canning line and was set to start canning some beers. In April, they reached out to see if we would be interested in a pre-order of cans and, seeing as how they’re some of our all time favorites, we ordered two pallets! Knowing that Boneyard owner Tony Lawrence had never planned to do packaged beer ever, I was especially pumped that he had decided to can! Wow times had changed.
But then, to pour salt in the wound, the ugly can shortage showed up and Boneyard couldn’t find any cans. The can companies started shorting even long term customers and were not accepting any new customers. Here Boneyard was, new canning line ready to roll, but they didn’t have the actual cans to fill. Then some of their buds stepped in and offered some of their own cans so Boneyard could get some beer out the door. Boneyard even started filling cans that were pre-printed with other brand’s labels. They put their own label over the pre-printed ones, just to start bringing in some revenue.
When Boneyard finally got some cans of their own, they couldn’t keep up with the demand, even in just OR! Boneyard RPM has been voted ‘The Best IPA Made In Oregon’ for many years in a row and the whole state was missing it. So Oregon drank up the entire production and little ol’ Vermont could’t get any. The tide has since turned and Boneyard finally has enough cans to finally share with us here in the Green Mountains. Hip Hip Hooray!
(Side note, and just a little perspective: VT is the only state east of Colorado to even get any of this incredible beer that people all over the country search for! Boneyard sells their beer to OR, WA, CA, CO and VT!!!! That is quite a geographical jump from CO to VT and it is a very big deal! The fact that we get any Boneyard Beer at all is a very cool and special thing!)
I’m super stoked to be able to share these awesome Bend, OR beers with you all, especially in cans.
Cheers to Boneyard, cheers to Boneyard beer in cans and cheers to a brighter future and getting back to some kind of normalcy!