Ska Brewing builds out restaurant with ‘badass’ shipping containers

Patrons of the Ska Brewing Tasting Room, located at Ska’s World Headquarters building in Bodo Park, Colo., will soon have a new menu to consider while sampling Ska’s craft beer fresh from the source. The Container Restaurant, made from two repurposed shipping containers, is scheduled to open Aug. 5. The restaurant will feature a year-round menu — with food made from scratch and many ingredients sourced locally or in-state — to complement and enhance the beer tasting experience.

Matt Vincent, Ska co-founder and vice-president, has had his eye on using shipping containers since before the World Headquarters was built in 2008.

“Maybe because our old location had such limited space, we were always fascinated with the idea of creating more usable space with shipping containers,” Vincent said. “The idea of being able to repurpose things fits with our focus on sustainability. We already have solar tubes to light the warehouse, recycled denim for insulation, former bowling lanes for tables — creating a restaurant space by repurposing shipping containers was another way to reduce our footprint. And it’ll look badass.”

The restaurant also represents the evolution of eating at Ska Brewing World Headquarters. In recent years, Zia Taqueria had operated out of an Airstream trailer in Ska’s beer garden during the warmer months, but Zia recently opened its own location in Bodo Park and was no longer able to feed the brewery’s hungry customers on site. According to Dave Thibodeau, Ska president and co-founder, the food void simply had to be filled: “Our customers are here sampling world-class beers, and food has to be part of that experience.”

The menu features several items made with Ska beer, including a sandwich made with Sunnyside Farms pork shoulder and Steel Toe Stout barbecue sauce and a Steel Toe Stout brownie. The restaurant’s local, house-ground beef — finished on spent grain from the brewery — highlights the rewards of cooperation between local food producers.

Based in Durango, Colo., Ska Brewing was founded in 1995 and now produces over a dozen medal-winning beers including the Pinstripe Red Ale, True Blonde Ale and Steel Toe Stout. Four Ska beers are now widely available in cans: ESB Special Ale, True Blonde, Modus Hoperandi IPA and the summer seasonal Mexican Logger.