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Blue Moon Celebrates 20th Under Real Blue Moon

Those with a penchant for The Old Farmer's Almanac or astronomy will know that on Friday, July 31, there will be a blue moon. No, the moon won't be blue (unless there are  atmospheric conditions conducive to it); it will be the second full moon in one month. 

That's good timing for the MillerCoors craft brew unit by that name, as it will celebrate its 20th year on this planet this month. The Golden, Colo.-based brewer, now under MillerCoors’ five-year-old craft beer division, Tenth and Blake, will host 750 celebrations around the country on that auspicious night. 

The events will be timed so that at 10 pm local at each location there will be an official toast. In Denver that night, Blue Moon will host four rooftop concerts culminating with a larger concert at Coors Field, where Blue Moon’s SandLot Brewery is located, featuring electronica group Big Data, per the company.  

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At the SandLot event and other Blue Moon-hosted parties around the country, the brewer will also tap a limited-volume Blue Moon 20th Anniversary Ale. 

The company kicked off the 20th anniversary events on July 1 with a campaign around a special-edition packaging of Belgian White 12-packs featuring the artwork of 20 emerging artists. The campaign for the Blue Moon Artist Series includes social media, special events, sampling and PR elements this month and next. 

People can vote for a favorite label on the brewer's Facebook page. Blue Moon says the fan vote will select the top 10 artists, who will then be judged by a panel that will determine one grand prize label artist winner. He or she gets $20,000 (a grand for every year Blue Moon has been extant) to fund their work. 

The genesis of Blue Moon was Peter Coors’ footing brewmaster Keith Villa’s bill to go to Belgium in 1994 to get an advanced brewing degree. He came back with a yen to start a craft brew under Coors’ roof. 

Villa, who is still chief brewer, will be opening a new brewery this year in the Mile High City.

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