Ska brewing co.

• Position: TO WATCH - Company overview - Brief article

SNAPSHOT: Ska is a microbrewery and distributorship in Durango that makes beer for local and national distribution.

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LEADERSHIP: David Thibodeau is president and co-founder.

WORK FORCE: The company has 27 full-time equivalent employees.

MARKET NICHE: Ska was the first craft brewery on Colorado's Western Slope to bottle its beer, and it bought the nation's second small-scale canning line available to small brewers and one of the first automated small-scale canning lines. Canned beers are now its fastest growing products.

SOLUTIONS: "Filters and a device that helps eliminate beer-spoiling air greatly increased the shelf life of our products and thus enabled us to begin wholesale distribution outside of Colorado."

GROWTH CURVE: After maintaining...