Exhibit celebrates local beer culture

The Boulder History Museum's newest exhibit traces the storied past of beer brewing in Boulder and provides visitors with plenty of mouth-watering information about Boulder's imbibing tradition.

"Beer! Boulder's History on Tap" explores how the City's brewing life came to be, navigated Prohibition, and now has a future brighter than ever. The two-room exhibit is packed with historical goodies - including some Coors brewing brand porcelain dishes that were sold to help carry the company through Prohibition - and interactive accounts of Boulder's beer pioneers, rebels and crafters, from Boulder's first brewery in 1867, to today's vibrant beer culture.

The exhibit celebrates the City's brewing tradition as a social, cultural and economic boon, and compares a pre-prohibition era of nascent brewing with the current social and cultural climate which continues to support and encourage local and home brewing. When Boulder's prohibitive laws lifted in the mid-1960s, the craft brew scene began bubbling over. It may be hard to imagine a dry Boulder, and this exhibit educates visitors about who Boulderites have to thank for a wet county.

The exhibit chronicles over 150 years of beer in Boulder with some recorded oral history, a video featuring pioneering home brewer Charlie Papazian, a Beer 101 display, and a "six pack" of beer barrels featuring six local breweries. At the end of the exhibit, visitors can vote for their favorite type of beer by placing a sticker on a graph, anywhere from light and hoppy to porters and stouts.

Marketing Director for the Museum, Susan Linde, said it took Curator of Exhibits, Julie Schumaker, and her team 12 months to create the show, from conception to the final exhibit. The research and design for the exhibit has paid off.

Since opening March 1, Linde said the exhibit has been well received and is anticipating increased turn out over spring and summer until the exhibit closes on October 27.