If you’re a dedicated craft beer drinker, you’ll probably recognize the names of Adam Avery, Sam Calagione, maybe even Ken Grossman. But what about the names: Fred Eckhardt? Bert Grant? Joseph Owades? All are the hands and minds behind the craft beer movement, but only the first group is still with us. Eckhardt, Grant, Owades, they’ve all passed on. And though their names still appear in beer history texts, as it is with the dead, the farther we get from their lineage, the further their legacy fades from our mind.
In some respects, that’s true for Gordon Knight, Boulder County’s pioneering brewer. Then again, Knight’s legacy lives on in the brewery he founded and the connections he forged. And if you ever need proof, head down to your favorite liquor store and pick up a sixpack of G’Knight Imperial Red IPA from Oskar Blues Brewery — a big, sticky, piney hop bomb tempered by sweet malt and bolstered by palate-cleansing bitterness. It’s Oskar Blues’ tribute to Knight. “A bold, simple way to represent a guy who lived that way,” says owner Dale Katechis.
Released in 2005, G’Knight was originally named Gordon until Gordon Biersch issued a cease-and-desist, prompting Oskar Blues to change the name to G’Knight. But, as Katechis explains, the name change is just as good: “Drink two or three of them in a row, and you’ll go g’night.”
Brewer by trade, pilot by identity, Knight was a decorated Vietnam vet who continued to fly helicopters when he returned to the States. And Knight was flying on July 30, 2002, fighting the Big Elk Fire northwest of Lyons, when his helicopter crashed, killing him in the process. He was 52.
G’Knight isn’t the only beer you’ll find with Knight connections in Boulder County. Over at Twisted Pine Brewing Company, Hoppy Knight Black IPA still graces the brewery’s extensive tap list — a beer brewed for Twisted Pine’s 15th anniversary and in honor of its founder.
Twisted Pine was the second of three breweries Knight opened. His first, High Country Brewery, opened in Boulder in 1993, moved to Estes Park in 1994, and was sold to Ed Grueff and renamed Estes Park Brewery. In 1995, Knight opened up Twisted Pine in a small space on Valmont Road, just east of the train tracks. That’s where Bob Baile first met Knight.
Also a brewer, Baile was running Peak to Peak Brewing out of his garage in Rollinsville. Knight was looking to sell Twisted Pine and Baile was looking to buy.
“[Knight] was never really good at establishing breweries,” Baile recounts. “He liked to start breweries.”
Baile bought Twisted Pine in ’96, merged the two breweries and kept the Twisted Pine name.
Now located in a much larger facility on Walnut Street, Baile keeps the spirit of Knight alive, especially with Hoppy Knight, a black IPA featuring roasty malts mingling with resinous and piney hops — balanced, complex and clean, just like Knight.
“We’ve always followed his philosophy,” Baile says. “Play it close to the vest and put out the best product you can.”
