New year, new beer: New Belgium’s Fat Tire has a new taste and a new look
Beer fans, pay attention. Fat Tire — a familiar brew on the national scene since 1991 — is getting a makeover.
New Belgium Brewing has revamped the Belgian-style amber ale’s 32-year-old recipe to make it crisper and brighter — and has given the label a brand new look to go along with the shift. It’s trading the familiar navy and red can for a white one with a brighter blue and red label, featuring an updated bike at the center.
The moves are part of the brewery’s investments in solutions to combat climate change.
When and where can you get a taste? Beer drinkers in Colorado and North Carolina will be the first to try it. (New Belgium is based in Fort Collins, but has a second brewery in Asheville.) The new recipe is hitting the supply chain now, so it should reach the Charlotte area over the next few weeks.
The new Fat Tire taste
The brewery describes its new Fat Tire Ale as easy drinking, with a medium body, crisp finish and deep gold color, noting that the bright flavor profile offers subtle caramel and floral aromas, and light bitterness.
“Longtime Fat Tire drinkers will clearly recognize the original Fat Tire flavor when tasting the new recipe,” said New Belgium Brewmaster Christian Holbrook, who developed the new recipe. “So far, many are telling us they prefer the crisper, brighter version and feel excited for the change.”
What’s different? While the new recipe Fat Tire includes the same malts as the original recipe, it features all new hops. The brew also includes raw barley, which lightened the body of the beer, said Kyle Bradshaw, New Belgium’s vice president of marketing.
Beer and climate change
New Belgium has long had a commitment to environmental sustainability. In fact, Fat Tire became America’s first certified carbon neutral beer in August 2020.
Its other work includes:
Investing in carbon reduction initiatives, such as solar, biogas and solar thermal generation at its breweries, funding climate-friendly barley breeding research and supporting suppliers in reducing their own climate impacts. (For example, a new solar installation at the Asheville brewery is expected to offset roughly 11,100 tons of carbon dioxide over the next 25 years.)
Brewing innovative beers such as Torched Earth Ale, made only with ingredients that would be available in a climate-ravaged future to raise awareness about climate threats.
Donating more than $17 million to climate organizations.
Holding big corporations accountable for global emissions.
Providing climate policy leadership at the federal, state and local levels. Recent successes cited include the Inflation Reduction Act and Colorado’s Producer Responsibility for Recycling bill.
What’s that all got to do with the new Fat Tire recipe and new look? In short, New Belgium wants to get its carbon-neutral beer in the hands of a new generation of beer drinkers
“We’ve made Fat Tire even better at what it’s always done best — taste delicious, bring people together and spark our customers to engage in the climate movement,” New Belgium Brewing CEO Steve Fechheimer said. “It’s our sincere hope that beer fans — whether they love the planet, simply love great beer, or both — will embrace the chance to change along with us.”
New Belgium Brewing Company
Location: 21 Craven St, Asheville, NC 28806
Cuisine: beer
Instagram: @newbelgium
