BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- You may not be able to go home again. But your beer can.

Dale's Pale Ale, a popular craft beer from Colorado that will hit store shelves in Birmingham next week, has deep roots in Alabama. The beer's namesake Dale Katechis and his brother Chris, owners of Oskar Blues Brewery, grew up in Florence and Huntsville. And Dale brewed his very first pale ale when he was a student at Auburn University. They still have family scattered about the state, including big brother Kevin, owner of Birmingham-based Advanced Skin Technology, maker of Green Cream skin cream.

Located in Lyons, Colo., not far from Boulder, Oskar Blues has signed a deal with Birmingham Beverage Co., which will distribute a number of its beers here, including Dale's, Old Chub, G'Knight Imperial Red, Mama's Little Yella Pils and Gubna, among others.

Matt Kilpatrick, specialty and imports manager for Birmingham Beverage, said the beers likely will reach grocery store shelves and bar coolers on Wednesday.

Chris, in a conversation this week, said they would have moved faster to enter the Birmingham market after the passage of the Free the Hops Act if not for their own limited production capacity. The brewery is growing as quickly as it can -- it expects to produce a record 95,000 barrels this year -- and its beer is available in 25 states. But demand still exceeds supply.

"As soon as we brew it, it's gone," he said.

A second brewery planned for Brevard, N.C., should help, he said. A building already has been chosen for that facility, which will add 40,000 barrels a year to production.

The Katechis brothers actually had a very small hand in getting the Free the Hops law passed, Chris said. When Denver hosted the Democratic National Convention in 2007, they met with the Alabama delegation and lobbied for it.

"We told delegates that people were driving to the state line to buy good beer," he said. "We told them 'you're losing money.'"

That law, which cleared the way for the sale of so-called "high gravity" beers, is widely credited for Birmingham's burgeoning craft brewing industry.

Regardless of the timing, they're pleased to be sending their beer home, Chris said.

"It's our home state. It's where we're from," he said. "We're very excited."

This item appeared in The Insider, a weekly column in The Birmingham News.