Tag Archives: New Belgium

Snowmass Mammoth Fest: June 13-15, 2014

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Snowmass-Mammoth-FestThe Snowmass Mammoth Fest, formerly Snowmass Chili Pepper & Brew Fest, returns for its 11th year on June 13-15, 2014 in collaboration with Snowmass Tourism. Tickets are on sale now.

The Colorado summer festival season kicks off in Snowmass Village at this year’s Snowmass Mammoth Fest. Snowmass Mammoth Fest is proud to announce that Chris Robinson Brotherhood, and Leftover Salmon, will headline the event this summer. Additional musical artists include Xavier Rudd, Les Claypool’s Duo De Twang, The Motet, Nathaniel Rateliff, Bonerama, Houndmouth, Royal Southern Brotherhood, Wheeler Brothers, The London Souls, Miner, and local DJs Berkel Beats, and Echo Da Funk.

Snowmass Mammoth Fest will include great music and food, but don’t forget about the brews! Come celebrate the Grand Tasting on Saturday, June 14th from 2:00pm to 5:00pm in the festival grounds where 25+ breweries will participate with over 50 different beers. Come sample some tasty brews from your favorite breweries on Saturday afternoon while listening to great music in Snowmass Town Park.

Mammoth-Fest-Brewery-ListThere are options of staying in a local hotel near the event, or you can camp at the event. Snowmass Mammoth Fest is coming up pretty soon, so be sure to check out avialability at local hotels here. Snowmass Mammoth Fest is a unique opportunity to be able to camp out at a festival with great music, food, and of course, craft beer. If you’re more interested in camping, check out the options here.

Snowmass Mammoth Fest – June 13-15, 2014
Snowmass Town Park
2835 Brush Creek Road
Snowmass Village, CO 81615

2013 Top 50 Craft Breweries List: Includes 6 From Colorado

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CBP13_Top_50_ BreweriesThe Brewers Association recently released their list of the 2013 Top 50 Craft Breweries in the U.S. For the 2nd year in a row, 6 Colorado breweries are on the list. The 6 on the list include; New Belgium, Oskar Blues, Odell, Left Hand, Rock Bottom & Breckenridge. These 6 are the same as last year, but a few of them have moved spots on the list from 2012. Left Hand Brewing Co. made the biggest jump, moving up 5 spots from #43 to #38. Oskar Blues moved up 3 spots from #27 to #24. On the other end of the spectrum, Craftworks Restaurants & Breweries (Rock Bottom) dropped 7 spots from #32 to #39.

6 Colorado Breweries listed in the top 50 Craft Breweries in the U.S.

  • New Belgium Brewing Co: #3 (no change from 2012)
  • Oskar Blues Brewery: #24 (up 3 spots from 2013)
  • Odell Brewing Co: #34 (down 1 spot from 2012)
  • Left Hand Brewing Co: #38 (up 5 spots from 2012)
  • Craftworks Restaurants & Breweries (Rock Bottom): #39 (down 7 spots from 2012)
  • Breckenridge Brewery: #40 (up 1 spot from 2012)

Of the 6 Colorado Breweries listed in the top 50 Craft Breweries, 4 of them are also listed in the top 50 overall brewery list!

4 Colorado Breweries listed in the top 50 overall:

  • New Belgium Brewing Co: #8 (no change from 2012)
  • Oskar Blues Brewery: #33 (up 3 spots from 2012)
  • Odell Brewing Co: #44 (no change from 2012)
  • Left Hand Brewing Co: #50 (1st time on the list!)

2013-Top-50-Brewery-List

Beer Mapping: The rise of Craft Beer

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The New Yorker recently ran a story about the rise of craft beer in the United States. There are currently 2,360 American craft breweries, and the number is steadily rising each year. The flavors, styles and unique characteristics of craft beer play a major part in the rise in craft beer. Another major reason for the popularity of craft beer is that Americans continue to gravitate towards locally grown and sourced food and beverages. Craft beer is a great example of this. There is something special about getting a freshly brewed beer from a tap, or from a bottle that was filled earlier that day. Chances are the beer was not only brewed locally, but included ingredients that were sourced locally as well.

Black & Tan from Brewery Rickoli in Wheat Ridge, CO

A few interesting facts:

  • Costco’s beer sales now make up 30% of all beer sales.
  • All but 2 states brewed more craft beer in 2012 than in 2011.
  • 27 of the top 50 craft breweries are located in California, New England, Oregon, or the Mid-Atlantic coast. Meaning most of the larger craft breweries are on either the East Cost or West Coast.
  • Colorado has 6 breweries that are listed in the top 50 craft breweries in the country.
  • Craft breweries are least dense in the South.

The story by The New Yorker includes a really cool map that can be sorted by many different criteria. You can sort the map to find out more about breweries in an individual state, how many breweries there are per 500,000 people, which breweries are growing the fastest, or many other other categories. Below are some facts that pertain to Colorado breweries, or to the craft beer industry in Colorado.

Colorado Beer Facts:

  • Two of the top 50 fastest growing craft breweries are Oskar Blues (#36) and Upslope Brewing Company (#41)
  • Breckenridge Brewery, Left Hand, New Belgium, Odell Brewing, Oskar Blues and rank in the top 50 largest craft breweries.
  • In 2012 Colorado had 151 craft breweries, ranking #3 of all states.
  • Total Colorado craft beer production was 1,291,711 barrels, ranking #3 of all states.
  • Total Colorado craft beer production went up 8.98%, ranking #41 of all states.
  • Colorado has 15 craft breweries for every 500,000 people, ranking #5 of all states.

Check out some of the great information available from the beer map on newyorker.com.
For even more information about the craft beer industry, check out the Brewer’s Association’s website

New Belgium announces Asheville Brewery will be delayed

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New Belgium Logo

New Belgium Brewing Company, the maker of Fat Tire, recently announced that plans for their new Asheville, NC. location have been pushed back. The news is not actually bad for New Belgium. The reason they pushed back opening the new Asheville facility, is that they recently added capacity to their Fort Collins brewery, and can meet their estimated projected sales through 2015. The change in plans for New Belgium will push the opening of the new facility back about 8 months.

According to the Fort Collins Coloradoan, earlier this month New Belgium was finishing up a 140,000-barrel expansion that will allow the company to keep expanding distribution. With 70,000 barrels of capacity recently added, the Fort Collins brewery can produce up to 920,000 barrels a year, which will take New Belgium through 2015 sales projections,  according to Jay Richardson, General Manager of the Asheville facility. Thanks to the increase in production in Fort Collins, New Belgium is now planning to open the Asheville, NC. location in late 2015, or early 2016.

While this news is surprising, it is not as big of a deal as originally thought. With the increased capacity in Fort Collins, New Belgium will not miss a beat in keeping up with growing sales. There will certainly be some dissapointed craft beer lovers on the east coast that have been waiting for the opportunity to get a fresh pour of Fat Tire.

Top 50 Craft Breweries List Includes 6 From Colorado

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On April 10, 2013 the Brewers Association released it’s annual list of the Top 50 Craft Brewing Companies in the U.S. The list for 2013 is based on sales volume totals from 2012. Six Colorado breweries made the list including; New Belgium Brewing Co., Oskar Blues Brewing Co., Craftworks Restaurants & Breweries Inc., Odell Brewing, Breckenridge Brewery and Left Hand Brewing Co. New Belgium came in on top of the list for Colorado breweries, and came in 3rd overall on the top 50 U.S Craft Breweries list.

Colorado Brewery Rankings in the Top 50 U.S. Craft Breweries:

  • New Belgium #3
  • Oskar Blues #27
  • Craftworks Restaurants & Breweries #32
  • Odell Brewing #33
  • Breckenridge Brewery #41
  • Left Hand #43

While six Colorado Breweries finished in the top 50 U.S Craft Breweries list, four of those breweries also came in the Top 50 Overall U.S. Breweries List. The four Colorado breweries in the top 50 overall include: New Belgium, Oskar Blues, Craftworks Restaurants & Breweries and Odell Brewing.

Colorado Brewery Rankings in the Top 50 U.S. Overall Breweries:

  • New Belgium #8
  • Oskar Blues #36
  • Craftworks Restaurants & Breweries #43
  • Odell Brewing #44

Overall, craft beer sales totaled 6% of all beer sales in the U.S. According to Paul Gatza, Director, Brewers Association. “Increasingly, beer lovers are turning to craft brewed beer from small and independent producers to satisfy their thirst for bold, innovative and flavor-forward beers.” With the continued growth and popularity of craft beer, the percentage of craft beer in the overall beer sales should rise each year.

Other interesting facts about the craft beer industry:

  • Craft brewers currently provide an estimated 108,440 jobs in the U.S., including serving staff in brewpubs.
  • Growth of the craft brewing industry in 2012 was 15% by volume and 17% by dollars compared to growth in 2011 of 13% by volume and 15% by dollars.
  • Craft brewers sold an estimated 13,235,917 barrels* of beer in 2012, up from 11,467,337 in 2011.
  • The craft brewing sales share in 2012 was 6.5% by volume and 10.2% by dollars.
  • As of March 18, 2013, the Brewers Association is aware of 409 brewery openings in 2012 (310 microbreweries and 99 brewpubs) and 43 brewery closings (18 microbreweries and 25 brewpubs).
  • 2,347 craft breweries operated for some or all of 2012, comprised of 1,132 brewpubs, 1,118 microbreweries and 97 regional craft breweries.

To view more statistics and information from the Brewers Association follow these links:
1) Top 50 Breweries List
2) Craft Beer Facts

‘Beer Geeks’ TV Show to film breweries in Colorado

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Beer Geeks TV Logo

Beer Geeks is a nationally syndicated television show that will air a 22 episode season, starting in September 2013. The creators of the show partnered with the creators and producers of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives and host Michael Ferguson, Director of Brewing Operations for BJ’s restaurants. Beer Geeks will bring viewers inside breweries from all around the country.

There are a handful of Colorado breweries that will be featured on Beer Geeks. The Beer Geek crew is in Colorado profiling craft brewers in Denver, Boulder and Fort Collins for shows that will air this year. They will be profiling Avery Brewing Company, Denver Beer Company, Great Divide Brewing Company, New Belgium Brewing Company and Odell Brewing Company.

“Colorado is one of the nirvana areas for Geek Beerdom,” Ferguson said. “You can’t stumble and not run into a brewery here.”

In each weekly episode host Michael Ferguson, a pioneer and veteran of the craft beer world, (Director of brewing operations and beer training for BJ’s restaurants) will bring viewers along on a voyeuristic, inclusive and immersive road trip into the heart of the craft beer universe. Each episode will feature the inside story of the making some of the world’s most unique, interesting, even outrageous and bizarre brews.

“We’ll see what they’re doing, what ingredients and techniques they’re using, and then we’ll take their brews from tap to table, cooking with beer, and pairing meals with beer. But wait, this series doesn’t live just in the brewery. We’ll find ourselves at hop farms, berry brambles, pumpkin patches, caves, maple syrup sugaring houses, archaeological sites, monasteries and much more – a smorgasbord of locations that all lead back to the craft beers we’re making.” – BeerGeeks.TV

The premise of Beer Geeks sounds like a solid idea and the show should develop a good following among real-life beer geeks. It will be fun for beer enthusiasts around the country to find out about great beers from Colorado. It is a little suprising that only five Colorado breweries will be featured (there are well over 100 in the state). I guess that opens up the door for other great breweries to be featured in later seasons.