Red Truck Beer Company

“Colorado is the center of craft beer in the United States, and we are really excited about being part of the community down there.” These are the words of Red Truck Beer Company general manager Jim Dodds regarding his Canadian-based company moving their entire operation from Vancouver to picturesque Fort Collins, Colorado.

Red Truck Beer was originally founded in 2005 by Canadian businessman Mark James in British Columbia and is best known for its vintage red trucks and its Truck Stop restaurant and brewery. The very first vintage red truck (a 1949 Dodge) that Red Truck Beer used was endearingly named Old Weird Harold and Mark James himself drove it to deliver his company’s unique beers to minor league baseball games on a regular basis.

Since 2005, Red Truck Beer has grown in popularity for its simple beermaking craft and dedication to natural flavors. Though they built a fanbase in their native Canada, in 2018, Red Truck Beer made the decision to not just expand to Northern Colorado and the Fort Collins area, but they are also shutting down their operation in Vancouver altogether. Red Truck Beer plans to duplicate its concept and branding that made it successful in Canada when they open in Fort Collins.

A large part of Red Truck Beer’s success has come from one of their slogans and the follow through of that slogan in: ‘We bleed red, but think green.’ Red Truck Beer founder Mark James has never been shy about telling beer lovers that his primary ingredient is ‘Mother Nature’ in crafting delicious and smooth beers. Because of this, Red Truck Beer is committed to recycling, providing spent grain to local farms in an effort to feed animals, and disposing of other byproducts in a proper and responsible manner. Red Truck Beer takes pride in working with local governments to ensure that their wastewater is pH neutralized and that their carbon footprint is as small as possible.

Tours & Events

When Red Truck Beer was located in Vancouver, they regularly held concerts at their Truck Stop location featuring both local and national musicians and artists. Red Truck Beer plans to continue this type of event planning at their new Truck Stop location in Fort Collins, which looks to be a perfect marriage for beer lovers and concert goers.

What’s on tap?

As many breweries throughout Northern Colorado churn out new beer after new beer with interesting marketing labels and chic brew names, Red Truck Beer primarily focuses on three beers in Fort Collins, their Red Truck Lager, Red Truck Ale, and Red Truck IPA. As Red Truck Beer’s website states, ‘We don’t crank out billions of bottles of our beer. We’ll take quality over quantity every day of the week.’ Red Truck Beer did release one seasonal beer, the Red Truck Golden Ale during the Spring which garnered several awards once received. Regarding Red Truck Beer’s three classic brews, they also received plenty of awards in Canada prior to the company’s move to Northern Colorado.