Tony Kiss

tkiss@gannett.com

The Oskar Blues Brewery is famous for turning out such beers as Dale's Pale Ale and Old Chub Scotch Ale. But now,they're rolling out a line of craft soft drinks.

B. Stiff & Sons Old Fashioned Soda Pop will be widely sold starting April 1 around Sout Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Wyoming and Colorado in both independent retailers and large grocery stores, Oskar Blues spokesman Chad Melis said. The drinks will also be sold at the brewery's Tasty Weasel Taprooms including the Oskar Blues brewery in Brevard, he said.

The drinks are named for Brian Stiff, a Colorado brewery friend and father of two, who died unexpectedly in 2012. Oskar Blues has been making a root beer under the B.Stiff brand for about a decade. But now it will be joined by new flavors: Ginger Beer, Orange Cream, Cream Soda and tart Black Cherry. The drinks are sweetened with cane sugar and have 150 calories per 12 ounce can, Melis said. They are gluten and caffeine free. The root beer has been wildly popular in Colorado, Melis said. It is that state's top-selling root beer, he said.

They are being made in Colorado, where Oskar Blues has its original brewing operation. "We would be very excited if the demand was there to expand production to Brevard and to Austin (Texas, where Oskar Blues is opening a new brewery in April)," Melis said.

Oskar Blues got into the soft drink business to strengthen its community ties, he said. The company's Colorado restaurants are very family-friendly, he said. And the company wanted to provide financial support for Stiff's family. A portion of the sales continue to go to them, he said.

While not as large as the craft brewing industry, craft sodas continue to find new customers. In Western North Carolina, the Waynesville Soda Jerks company turns out a line of boutique soft drinks in Haywood County. The Heinzelmannchen Brewery in Sylva makes both root beer and birch beer, along with a line of ales. In South Carolina, Blenheim Bottlers turns out a spicy ginger ale sold in the Carolinas, around the Southeast and elsewhere.