MSU Brewing Students Unveil Veteran-Inspired 'JP8' Stout

By Jeff Todd

DENVER (CBS4) - Veterans Week has been a time honored tradition on the Auraria Campus, but this year the festivities included something new, a special beer brewed for the veterans who are also students.

"The veterans all have a similar background, and all the stories we share every day. We're just there for each other," said Chris Thibodeau, a Brewing Operations Program Student at Metro State University.

This week the organizations have worked to honor the 2,500 student veterans split between University of Colorado Denver, Community College of Denver and Metro State University of Denver.

On Wednesday a veteran-inspired stout was put into the taps at the Tivoli Brewing Company.

"As we were planning Veterans Day we came up with a plan to brew a beer for Veterans Day. We polled everybody, and they decided they wanted a stout, and then the vets named it JP8 Stout in reference to JP8 jet fuel used in the military," said Thibodeau.

He worked with the head brewer at Tivoli to create the stout. Student veterans were treated to a discounted price, and the event proved to be yet another bonding experience for the community.

"You get that comradery still; you're with like-minded people, people who have been through similar things," said David Wiebenga of having veteran specific events on campus. "I was looking forward to today just to try this beer. I actually really do like it."

"I don't think it's going to last very long. It's only about 12 or 13 gallons of it. It was a small batch, but it turned out very well," Thibodeau said.

Jeff Todd joined the CBS4 team in 2011 covering the Western Slope in the Mountain Newsroom. Since 2015 he's been working across the Front Range in the Denver Headquarters. Follow him on Twitter @CBS4Jeff.