HomeMy WebLinkAboutNEW BELGIUM, 4TH FILING, PACKAGING HALL & BUCKINGHAM ST. - PDP & AMENDED ODP - 1-95F - MEDIA -4h, )ve, New Belgium Brewing Co. employee Dave Ponceby works Tuesday amid a new bottling line that can fill, label, case and pal-
� : , �e 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
< CON I INUED FROM 1C
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 $1 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 ]an-
guished.
Small regional brewers
throughout the country saw 12
percent growth in 2oo6. But
they remember sales surging be-
fore falling flat in the late 199os,
forecast in 2007
nrian 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 bust that drove some out of can't -miss business opportuni-
business, Gatza said. ty so all this easy money rolled
Yet most craft brewers have in for new brands which didn't
cause for optimism, Gatza said. have the foundation and quali-
In the 199os, "the industry ty," he said. " ... You haven't last -
overheated and was seen as a ed to this point if you aren't mak-
ing a great beer."
Staff writer Tom McGhee can
be reached at303-954-1671 or
tmcghee@ den verp os t com.
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 "environmentally
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 Rah million, 55,000-square-foot
bottling and packaging facility can fill
and cap 700 bottles a minute and pro-
duce up to 850,000 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 of bot-
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 i8 percent growth last
Year. It is expecting as much as iz per-
cent growth this year.
> See BREW on 6C
55r000 Square footage of New Belgium Brew-
ery's new bottling and packaging facility
700 Bottles that can be filled and capped per
minute in the new facility
850r000 Barrels of beer the plant can pro-
duce per year
437
AOO Barrels of beer New Belgium pro-
duced in 2006, an increase of 18 percent
12% 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