Rare Beer Saving Rare Fish

Rare Fish | Rare Beer. It doesn’t taste like trout—but in the case of Three Barrel Brewing’s latest craft-beer release, Trucha Grande, there’s certainly a juicy cutthroat swimming somewhere near the source. The Del Norte, Colorado-based brewery, located next door to good fishing on the Rio Grande, recently joined forces with event organizers at Rocky Mountain Flyathlon to produce ninety cases of the barrel-aged porter, with the goal to help raise awareness and cash for protecting native Rio Grande cutthroat. “Like with fishing and watersheds, in craft-beer making we have beersheds—the drainages where water is taken from to make beer,” says Flyathlon’s Andrew Todd. “Many of our native fish watersheds have local breweries nearby. This allows us to utilize the brewery and the co-located nature of where fish live to help support the species.” Three Barrel has sponsored Flyathlons—races of the run, fish, smash beers variety—for the past several years. And Flyathlon’s beer-friendly conservation fund has a history of supporting conservation partners such as Colorado Trout Unlimited and the Western Native Trout Initiative. To date, it has raised more than $100,000 for native trout projects. “People are investing in native trout, and we’re sending a powerful message to state fish managers that people want more opportunities to fish for them.” Twelve ounce bottles of Trucha Grande cost ten bucks. They're available now at booze shops throughout the greater Denver area.