New Belgium Brewing Company

[EarlofWarwick]

Has anyone heard of any plans for Fat Tire Ale to push any further East? I've seen it in Chicago and St Louis, but no further. Anyone else have the scoop on this great beer?

[DLB]

Has anyone heard of any plans for Fat Tire Ale to push any further East? I've seen it in Chicago and St Louis, but no further. Anyone else have the scoop on this great beer?

I tried this beer on a recent trip to Phoenix. It is a good beer, I recalled the bartender telling me it was made in Colorado.

[TedE]

I tried this beer on a recent trip to Phoenix. It is a good beer, I recalled the bartender telling me it was made in Colorado.

New Belgium is a CO brewery. It's very popular on the left coast but is only slowly making it eastward. I had some on draft on a business trip in Kentucky (?) a couple years back, and Chicago as mentioned. That's about as far as it's come, which surprises me given its incredibly loyal following. Their website doesn't give distribution info surprisingly. I personally think it's only a so-so beer, but that's only because I rarely like American amber ales (typically not balanced enough). Fat Tire is one of the better ones though, along with Bell's Amber which has finally made it's way to DC/MD/VA.

[edenman]

Has anyone heard of any plans for Fat Tire Ale to push any further East? I've seen it in Chicago and St Louis, but no further. Anyone else have the scoop on this great beer?

Above is the states where you can get New Belgium beers. There is a sixpack of their "2 below" winter seasonal in my fridge, as I'm in TX for thanksgiving. They are very carefully expanding...I heard reports from some in California that originally Fat Tire came in aggressively, seeking tap handles everywhere. They were successful, but apparently sales didn't measure up and they started to lose tap handles. Not sure how that has affected their future expansion strategy. For my money, I'll drink the (frequently impressive) New Belgium seasonals over Fat Tire, but it's not a bad beer by any stretch. Certainly a great "intro to good beer" beer.

If you're seeking a Fat Tire fix in DC, here are a few other american Amber ales that are similar, if not quite the same...but that are available in DC:

1) Anderson Valley Boont Amber

2) Dogfish Head Raison D'Etre (a stretch, but quite good)

3) Cap City Amber Waves

Can't think of any others offhand, but I'm sure a trip to the Brickskeller would reward you with a few options if you ask the right person about a good American Amber.

[ManekiNeko]

With regards to the beers of Fort Collins Brewing Company (i.e. Fat Tire, et al.) it has long been my understanding that the good folks at Fort Collins are absolutely anal about which distributors they are willing to do business with. They place a high priority on shipping conditions, storage conditions, cleanliness and more. Their beer has to be kept refrigerated from the time it leaves Colorado until it actually gets to a retailer or bar/restaurant, they insist on that guarantee. At least this is what I've been told from one long time beer distributor.

New Belgium Brewing Company is the actual name of the brewery. I've not tried Fat Tire, but La Folie is probably the best beer of it's kind made anywhere. God bless their attitude if that is actually true. Getting tied to a distributor is such a one-sided relationship it's sick. What I've heard from others is that they'd rather grow their distribution slowly so that they aren't stretching themselves too thin. They'd rather not deny beer to customers they've had for over 5 years just to be able to say they distribute to the East Coast.

[Joe Riley]

New Belgium Brewing Company is the actual name of the brewery.

Quite right. My error. Learn a lesson from this, kids - never post after 3 straight 70+hour work weeks

[dcs]

ARLnow.com is reporting a New Belgium Draught Beer Launch Party at IOTA for this evening. Sounds tasty.