Under Threat, Lafayette's Post Brewing Drops Hickenlooper Ale

BOULDER, CO -- One Lafayette brewery learned this week that beer and politics don't always mix. Lafayette's Post Brewing announced on Tuesday that it will discontinue its new Hickenlooper Ale after anti-fracking activist group East Boulder County United threatened a boycott, citing the former governor and 2020 presidential candidate's history with the oil and gas industry.

"Both Lafayette and Longmont, Colorado, where The Post has two restaurants, have been at the center of the fight against oil and gas drilling for years," wrote the group in a statement late last week. Citing lawsuits from the Colorado Oil and Gas Association that the cities faced after attempts to restrict fracking locally, the group continued: "Hickenlooper consistently supported the oil and gas industry over his own constituents."

Longmont was sued by the state after an attempt to ban fracking in 2012, and Lafayette had its own voter-approved ban on oil and gas development thrown out two years later.

On Tuesday, Post Brewing responded to the threat, discontinuing the beer and issuing a public statement on Facebook.

"We aren't politicians. We are hardworking people who are trying to have some fun and make beer," wrote owner Dave Query in his statement. "We aimed to launch Hickenlooper Ale not as a political endorsement, but as a nod to a local guy and longtime friend makin' a run at the highest office in the land."

"We made a mistake in that decision being wrapped around Colorado politics and we clearly, as members of the community, did not fully consider how the actions of some have affected others, whom are our neighbors. For that we apologize and have immediately discontinued our production of Hickenlooper Ale and will no longer offer it as of today."