New Belgium confronts culture shift as brewery goes national

Jacob Laxen
The Coloradoan
Bottles move on the bottling line for packaging at New Belgium Brewing on Wednesday, May 31, 2017.

Fat Tire made it to the backwoods of Maine this spring.

The arrival officially brought New Belgium Brewing to all 50 states.

Nationwide distribution is the latest accomplishment in the company's 26-year journey — from a Fort Collins basement to its current status as the country's fourth largest craft brewery that sells nearly 1 million barrels a year.

New Belgium staff toasted the national conquest at its recently renovated Fort Collins headquarters, which overlooks a grassy beer garden often filled with patrons playing yard games.

"For many of us older employees, it was an incredible experience to take a relatively small brewery with a limited (beer lineup) nationwide," said outgoing brewmaster Peter Bouckaert, who joined New Belgium in 1996.

The national footprint is a result of nearly a decade of planning by the employee-owned company. New Belgium, which currently employs 784 people, has expanded far beyond Belgian-style beers, updated its packaging, and launched an Asheville, North Carolina, brewery to more efficiently serve eastern states

The brewery's emergence as a national company has contributed to a local culture shift as well.

"The further away from home you get, the harder you have to work to make your brand relevant," said Bart Watson, the chief economist for the Brewers Association. 

Alonzo Chunn loads trucks with completed beer orders at New Belgium Brewing on Wednesday, May 31, 2017.

While New Belgium dominates area liquor store sales, some locals prefer to drink at the nearby Odell Brewing taproom. Odell, the country's 27th largest craft brewer, distributes to 14 states.

"It feels more local (at Odell)," said longtime resident and brewery patron Steve Foreman, while wearing a New Belgium hat. "New Belgium makes great beer, but they went across the country first. Odell stayed local longer."

New Belgium redesigned its beer lineup in 2017 to solidify its national standing. They introduced a rebranded hoppy beer line and a new golden ale stocked next to Mexican imports. A second Fat Tire flavor is due this summer. Other major additions are promised soon. 

More:New Belgium brewmaster Peter Bouckaert to leave, start small brewery

“All organizations evolve just like biological systems evolve,” said co-founder Kim Jordan, who serves as executive chair of the board of directors. 

And New Belgium must move forward without two key people.

Bouckaert will exit at the end of the year after 21 years as brewmaster. Former CEO Christine Perich stepped down in November 2016 after 17 years with the company.

Both are pursuing new beverage ventures. Bouckaert is set to launch a smaller Fort Collins brewery and Perich is now the CEO of Denver’s cold-pressed watermelon juice company with ties to Beyonce called WTRMLN WTR.

"The hardest thing is leaving the passion at New Belgium," Bouckaert said. "I’m really looking forward to the simplicity of (the new venture). Brewing on a small system ... and making beers that you don’t have to reproduce.”

For all of its national focus, New Belgium has also invested more than $10 million into Fort Collins projects the past two years.

There's the new beer garden, offices and a doctor's office for free employee use. There will be a New Belgium porch at the Colorado State University on-campus football stadium that opens this fall. And the brewery has partnered with CSU to create a lager beer.

The brewery's Fort Collins location has emerged as a regional tourist destination, hosting about 200,000 people on tours a year. Fort Collins gets New Belgium beers first and the brewery has taproom exclusives.

More:Fort Collins Brewery to close after sale to Canadian brewery

"Healthy competition raises the bar, and it has pushed New Belgium to be innovative and adapt," said Mat Dinsmore, who has run Wilbur's Total Beverage in Fort Collins since 2000. "Not only have (New Belgium) beers changed, but the company has itself."

 

Breaking from Belgian influences

A Belgian biking trip first inspired the concept of New Belgium. 

Jordan started the brewery with then-husband Jeff Lebesch as a side job in 1991 — Jordan was a social worker and Lebesch an electrical engineer. 

Belgian-style beers were rare in the U.S. at the time. The industry had almost-exclusively German and English influences. And U.S. craft brewers were making a combined 330,000 barrels a year in 1991. 

New Belgium's initial plan was to serve liquor stores with 22-ounce glass bottles since Fort Collins' other craft breweries at the time — Old Colorado Brewing, CooperSmith's Brewing and Odell Brewing — were exclusively supplying restaurants and bars. 

New Belgium debuted with Fat Tire and Abbey, both still flagship beers today. 

"We were babies when it came to understanding what would happen next," Jordan said.

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The brewery reported $150,000 in revenue during its first year. New Belgium moved out of the basement after 14 months, selling the original brewing equipment for cash. 

They ventured into other states, but initially pulled back from some locations around 1995. 

"There was no strategy other than that we were asked," Jordan said. "Pretty soon we rethought about how we were doing things."

More:Fort Collins Brewery to close after sale to Canadian brewery

New Belgium introduced Belgian-style sour beers to America in 2000. Then the brewery broke from its exclusive Belgian guidelines with the release of Ranger IPA in 2010.

“The decision took some soul searching to be sure,” Jordan said. “Every craft brewer is always trying to figure out the optimal portfolio configuration.”

Empty cans await their turn on the canning line at New Belgium Brewing on Wednesday, May 31, 2017.

The brewery updated its packaging with a more national approach in 2014 — ditching hand paintings by Jordan’s old Fort Collins neighbor Ann Fitch for logos created by San Francisco firm Hatch Design.

The decision to expand beyond the Belgian sphere was critical to the brewery's national expansion. IPA beers, including New Belgium's 2016 release Citradelic along with the new Voodoo Ranger series, now represent the company’s largest sales growth. 

Forbes estimated New Belgium's annual revenue was around $225 million in 2016.

"It is cool to see them grow and do more types of beer," said Todd Gates, a longtime patron of area craft breweries. "But there's also drawbacks, like if you want to go out and grab a beer at the brewery on a Friday night." 

No suds? A beer-hater's guide to booze in Fort Collins

 

New Belgium's next wave

Maine welcomed New Belgium in April with 32 launch events. Vermont, New Hampshire and Oklahoma welcomed the brewery in similar fashion earlier in the year.

“People already knew about a lot of their beers,” said Josh Blackdar of Maine's National Distributors Inc. “There was a lot of anticipation, even though it had never been here before.”

New Belgium joins Longmont’s Oskar Blues, Boston Beer Co.’s Sam Adams, California’s Sierra Nevada and Oregon’s Rogue ales among a handful of craft brands that have gone completely national with distribution.

A few others among the more than 5,000 U.S. breweries are inching closer to national distinction. But Watson said some major craft breweries are taking the opposite approach — pulling back from markets to focus on regional efforts.

"New Belgium has beers that play in every arena," Blackdar said. "As a distributor, you are always looking to add a brand with their portfolio and reputation."

Beer:McClellan's brewpub imports Scottish brewer

New Belgium's seasonal Pumpkick beer is served in the Fort Collins tasting room in 2016.

For example, Dayblazer Easygoing Ale launched this year. It's stocked in liquor stores next to major Mexican imports. Developing Dayblazer went through 39 names and 16 package designs because of trademark and marketing challenges. Lighter, session beers have recently trended throughout the craft beer industry.

There’s also a rebranded Voodoo Ranger hoppy beer line that’s up 48 percent in sales compared to its predecessors last year.

A Colorado-only golden lager called Old Aggie will debut in July in partnership with CSU.

“We had gaps in our portfolio,” said Ruairi Twomey, New Belgium’s vice president of marketing who was hired away from the Guinness and Smirnoff Ice parent company by Perich last year.

A second Fat Tire flavor is due in August — a Belgian White wheat beer with Seville orange peel. The beer style is similar to popular brands Blue Moon and Shock Top.

“The best brands always go back and recruit the next generation,” Twomey said. “Fat Tire was a true icon of craft beer. But today’s 24-year-old might not know that.”

Twomey also promises “two more big” beers will be added next year.

“We are only getting warmed up,” he said.

New beer flavors give New Belgium a better arsenal against stiff national competition. Of the country's five largest craft brewers, New Belgium was the only one to increase sales last year.

More:CSU, New Belgium team up for new beer

Along with a rapidly growing American beer scene, Budweiser parent company Anheuser-Busch InBev is investing millions into its acquired craft breweries. AB InBev, the world’s largest brewer, also has distinct advantages since it owns multiple distribution channels throughout the country.

Spreading resources and production to an Asheville brewery was essential to New Belgium’s nationwide viability. Sierra Nevada and Oskar Blues are other western-based brewers that have added eastern breweries.

Last year, Asheville produced about 20 percent of New Belgium’s total beer. The brewery has increased production each month since opening and currently makes six beers that are currently in the market — they are made with the same recipes but more air conditioning is required at the Asheville facility because of higher humidity.

New Belgium has about 130 Asheville employees who regularly video conference with Fort Collins staff.

“The number of surprises we face out here are going down,” said Asheville general manager Jay Richardson, a longtime New Belgium employee who moved from Fort Collins for the job.

“(The culture) feels like its own thing, but also feels like Fort Collins at the same time.”

Asheville hosted its first Tour de Fat in May — a costumed bike parade hosted by the brewery first made famous in Fort Collins.

"They didn't dress up as much as we see in Fort Collins," Jordan said. "But they will get the hang of it."

New Belgium is now adding new traditions to old ones. The brewery's next evolution will include a new CEO and brewmaster.

Follow Jacob Laxen on Twitter and Instagram @jacoblaxen

This story has a correction: Dayblazer Easygoing Ale is not brewed with corn chips.

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