Anti-Fracking Group Cries Foul, The Post Brewery Halts Beer Named After Hickenlooper
BOULDER, Colo. (AP/CBS4) - A Colorado brewery has discontinued a beer named for former Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper after an anti-fracking group threatened a boycott. The Daily Camera reports The Post Brewing Co. said in a statement Tuesday it would stop production and sales of the Hickenlooper American Ale.
East Boulder County United protested the Hickenlooper beer, citing Hickenlooper's support for the state's oil and gas industry.
The brewery has restaurants in Lafayette and Longmont -- cities that have been in disputes with industry.
Hickenlooper is running for the Democratic presidential nomination. The can art for the beer had showed the White House in front of a Colorado landscape.
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Dave Query of the Big Red F Restaurant Group which operates the brewery, wrote the following on Facebook on Tuesday:
The Post Brewing Company got its start in East Boulder County. Our roots are here, and some of our most fervent supporters are here as well. We love being a part of this community and we are extremely lucky to call it home. Protection of the environment and support of Colorado families and non-profits are top of mind in everything we've done in this company over the last three decades, and we have continued to set the pace locally in our many community efforts over the last five years since the Post opened in Lafayette. We are also very well aware that fracking and East County go together, quite frankly, like oil and water, and we hear you loud and clear that the topic is very fresh and extremely raw.
We aren't politicians. We are hardworking people who are trying to have some fun and make beer. We aimed to launch Hickenlooper Ale not as a political endorsement, but as a nod to a local guy and longtime friend makin' a run at the highest office in the land. It was with the best of intentions to support a non-polarizing charity like Take Note Colorado - and celebrate Colorado and craft beer, named after a guy who opened the first brewpub in Colorado. We made a mistake in that decision being wrapped around Colorado politics and we clearly, as members of the community, did not fully consider how the actions of some have affected others, whom are our neighbors. For that we apologize and have immediately discontinued our production of Hickenlooper Ale and will no longer offer it as of today.
(© Copyright 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
