When it came time to honor a friend lost to suicide, the people at Ska Brewing Co. did what they do best – brewed a beer in her honor.
Melissa Dunn, 33, died in December, and the “family” at Ska was particularly hard hit by her death because Dunn had worked there for 2½ years.
“I don’t think that girl had a bad bone in her body,” said Kristen Maruro, Ska’s marketing manager, at the time of Dunn’s death. “Her smile and her laughter were super contagious. We had customers who would come in just because they knew she was working, and she was so welcoming.”
Bittersweet, a ginger pale ale, will be tapped at 5 p.m. Wednesday. Dunn helped create the beer last summer when she was working at Ska, and the brewers have recreated it in a pilot batch for a fundraiser. Monies raised from the beer and an accompanying silent auction will go toward the bench in the Durango Dog Park that Dunn’s family wants to erect in her memory.
Dunn was a regular at the park with her canine companion Sprocket.
The supply of Bittersweet is limited.
abutler@durangoherald.com
If you go
Ska Brewing Co. will launch its beer honoring former employee Melissa Dunn, who died by suicide in December, at 5 p.m. Wednesday in its Tasting Room, 225 Girard St., in Bodo Industrial Park. Pints are $4 because it is a fundraiser.