HomeMy WebLinkAboutNEW BELGIUM BREWERY, 4TH FILING, PACKAGING HALL - FDP - 1-95G - MEDIA -Photos by Minn Brainerd 1hU-ill,, i
h. eve, New Belgium Brewing Co. employee Dave Ponceby works Tuesday amid a new bottling line that can fill, label, case and pal-
fcli: ce up to boo bottles of beer per minute. Below right, cases of the company's signature Fat Tire Amber Ale head for palletizing.
BREWERY:12 percent growth forecast in 2007
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The company, best known for
its Fat Tire Amber Ale, will add
Minnesota and Iowa to its distri-
bution list this summer, making
it available in 18 states, said
New Belgium spokesman Bryan
Simpson.
Fat Tire is one of the hottest
beer brands in the country and
has assumed cult status in some
places, said Paul Gatza, director
of the Brewers Association, a
Boulder -based trade group.
"This new bottling house will
allow them to satisfy a little
more demand and open up
some new markets in the North-
east, which is what they have
been thinking about," Gatza
said.
Other craft brewers also have
been expanding.
Denver's Flying Dog paid $1.4
million to buy a brewery in Fre-
derick, Md., out of receivership
last year, bringing the company
closer to Northeastern markets,
and Boulder -based Avery Brew-
ing Co. spent $t million for a
new bottling line.
Consumers have been drawn
to craft beers even as demand
for beer from industry heavy-
weights Anheuser-Busch, Mil-
ler and Molson Coors has lan-
guished.
Small regional brewers
throughout the country saw rz
percent growth in 20o6. But
they remember sales surging be-
fore falling flat in the late 19gos,
Brian Brainerd I The Denver Post
A robotic case palletizer nicknamed "Tetris" goes through its paces Tuesday at New Belgium
Brewing Co.'s new facility in Fort Collins. Other craft brewers also have been expanding.
a oust that drove some out of
business, Gatza said.
Yet most craft brewers have
cause for optimism, Gatza said.
In the 19gos, "the industry
overheated and was seen as a
can't -miss business opportuni-
ty so all this easy money rolled
in for new brands which didn't
have the foundation and quali-
ty,"he said. "... You haven't last-
ed to this point if you aren't mak-
ing a great beer."
Staff writer Tom McGhee can
he reached at303-954-i67, or
tmcghee@denverpost.com.
Y
CRAFT BEER HOPS
New Belgium Brewing's new plant adds capacity
The Fort Collins brewery, the third -largest craft brewer in the United
States, also is giving new meaning to green beer, with ,environmentall3i
aware practices such as using wind power and solar lighting.
By Tom McGhee
Denver Post Staff Writer
hese are heady days in the
craft -brew industry, and New
Belgium Brewing Co. is tak-
ing advantage with a new bot-
tling plant that almost doubles capacity.
The Fort Collins -based brewer began
bottling beer on the new high-tech line
three weeks ago and will hold a ribbon -
cutting for the facility Thursday.
The $26 million, 55,000-square-foot
bottling and packaging facility can fill
and cap Too bottles a minute and pro-
duce up to 85o,000 barrels a year.
New Belgium, which was the first U.S.
brewery to buy all its electricity from
wind power, has made a name for itself
by utilizing environmentally friendly
technologies.
The new bottling plant also uses
green technology.
Skylights, solar tubes and windows
serve as the primary light sources for day-
time illumination. Lighting controls opti-
mize the use of high -efficiency lights.
Water used to rinse the insides ofbot-
tles is reused.
The cooling system doesn't contain fre-
on, and cooling towers use technology to
treat water without chemicals.
"They are environmentally aware, and
that mirrors what their consumers feel as
well. It is actually a good marketing
piece," said Harry Schumacher, editor of
trade publication Beer Business Daily.
New Belgium is the third -largest craft
brewer in the country, after Boston
Beer Co. and Sierra Nevada Brewing.
The beermaker sold 437,40o barrels
and experienced 18 percent growth last
year. It is expecting as much as rz per-
cent growth this year.
> See BREW on 6C
59r000 Square footage of New Belgium Brew-
ery's new bottling and packaging facility
70O Bottles that can be filled and capped per
minute in the new facility
850r000 Barrels of beer the plant can pro-
duce per year
437AOO Barrels of beer New Belgium pro-
ducedd,irn 2006, an increase of 18 percent
1270 Expected growth for New Belgium in 2007
3 New Belgium's rank in the craft -brew market,
behind Boston Beer Co. and Sierra Nevada Brewing