Some of you could give a shit, I personally think an expanded market is a good thing. Fat Tire is a popular entry level craft brand that locals will gobble - up and will hopefully introduce the average beer drinker to explore more local craft brews.
If you click on the image above you'll notice that New Belgium has produced a special label for the Utah market, the red banner above reads, "Sharing beers & boarders with the Beehive State". I'm sure Fat Tire is just the beginning of a long love affair with we locals and New Belgium Brewing.
If I sound like I'm an NB cheerleader, read some of my older rants on NB's subbing of Utah. I defiantly didn't pull any punches & I'm sure there are a few people in Fort Collins that think I'm quite a dick. I'll own that, I'm just happy we're all on the same page now.
I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge RedRock Brewing. Their relationship with NB over the years was integral part in getting the wheels greased.
By the way, thanks to everyone who made it out to the Big Ass Summer Solstice Beer Pow-wow. What a great time! I'll throw some photos up on the Utah Beer Facebook Page in the coming days.
Cheers!
15 comments:
Any word as to when we might see these in the liquor stores? I've never been a giant Fat Tire fan (although I think many here LOVE it) but I am a huge of Ranger IPA and hope to see that here. Good news all around!
I was always told that NB would not distribute to Utah because the beer would need to be pasteurized, which would destroy the flavor.
Many of their beers are pasteurized now. Their version of Paardebloem is one.
I'm psyched for these. La Folie is pretty damned tasty from what I can remember of it. Anytime we can get more variety it's a good thing. And a big name brand like NB might attract other breweries into town.
I've been told that the main reason is that Utah liquor stores can't sell the beer, because we don't store anything in coolers.
Will this mean that the stores are going to fork over the money to upgrade all locations? Or will this be a specialized one or two store only until the idea of selling beer cold instead of room temperature.
Fat Tire is one of my favorite beers, and NB has a great deal of brews offered.
Angie, until a couple of years ago, the DABC stored all beer in their unrefrigerated warehouse. High alcohol beer consumption has been skyrocketing in the state and it no longer has the room, but the beer distributors do and their facilities are refrigerated. That probably one of the main reasons.
I've laughed at NB's supposed comment that they wouldn't distribute to Utah because of the lack of refrigeration. I've been in Colorado and seen plenty of NB un-refrigerated in stores.
I hope that NB's decision encourages Odell Brewing to also distribute out here. That would be a nice win!
Though 1554 and Lips Of Faith are awesome, I too would rather have Odells!
DABC claims they have no record of New Belgium products being submitted for evaluation (yet).
Please also ship 1554 :)
its about time. This will free up some money on my trips to CO and ID for more of the local stuff. Thank you NB.
Perhaps Stone will see the need to distribute to UT now that NB has taken the step....
You can buy NB beers at Costco in Pocatello -- and they're just sitting out on the floor without any refrigeration.
This is great news! I love a lot of the NB offerings. I hope we get a variety and not just the flagships.
Greetings UT! One clarification- NBB does allow beer to be warm-stored for a period of time (brand-dependent). After that time we require it to be refrigerated. Keep an eye out for those best-buy dates at the UT state-owned liquor stores (or any store, for that matter), and do your fellow beer geeks a favor- tell us if there you see one out of date!!! We want you to have the best product possible. Cheers!!
Post a Comment