New Belgium rolls out new Fat Tire recipe, environmental action plan
ASHEVILLE - A national beer company that’s made Asheville its second home is making a bold move to make a new — and what’s intended to be an improved — version of its flagship brew.
New Belgium Brewing Co. is rolling out its revamped version of Fat Tire, complete with a different recipe and branded packaging.
According to New Belgium, the change is to shine a light on the company’s ongoing commitment to environmental sustainability, and the new recipe is to bring a better product to consumers.
“Fat Tire’s long stood for two things since 1991 ― world-class delicious beer and a strong commitment to protecting the environment,” said Kyle Bradshaw, vice president of marketing. “One of the things that we’ve done as Fat Tire is we’ve introduced an entire generation to craft beer. You look 30 years later with a looming climate crisis and what we want to do is do our part to inspire a new generation of beer drinkers around great beer for a better planet.”
Founded in Fort Collins, Colorado, in 1991, New Belgium has a production and distribution facility with a taproom at 21 Craven St. in the River Arts District in Asheville. The local “liquid center” produces the company’s full line of beers and hard seltzers as does the flagship location.
Fat Tire’s been a leading brand under New Belgium’s banner with the company’s top-selling Voodoo Ranger IPA and Fruit Smash Hard Seltzer lines, which offer a variety of styles and flavors under each. The rebrand may bring the flagship beer, which was initially released 32 years ago, back to the forefront of beer drinkers who now have many more beer selections to choose from on retail shelves.
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According to a New Belgium spokesperson, in 2019 and 2020, Fat Tire sales were down double digits (about 14% both years) and have since stabilized significantly (about 5% in 2021 and 2022).
Although sales have slowed from their peak, New Belgium reported Fat Tire was the No. 16 selling craft beer brand in 2022.
Original vs. new Fat Tire
Fat Tire’s new look is vastly different but has kept the signature blue, red and white colors on its bottles, cans and packaging. The last batches of the original amber ale have already begun to be phased out as distributors deliver the new product to take its place. Arrival will depend on location, but customers can keep a lookout for it over the next several weeks.
“A part of this is making a crisper, fresher Fat Tire that we think is going to appeal to even more people to, again, drink great beer for a better planet,” Bradshaw said. “The second is about debuting a new look behind that new recipe that highlights our ongoing investment.”
The new packaging touts Fat Tire as “America’s first carbon neutral beer” and incorporates phrases like “alternatively powered,” “high quality" and "low impact.”
“We wanted to communicate in the new design that Fat Tire’s an easy-drinking beer that’s easy on the planet,” Bradshaw said. “A part of that is using lighter, brighter, vibrant colors. But it was really about putting those climate commitments front and center on our package design.”
Brewmaster Christian Holbrook, who developed the new recipe, assures that longtime Fat Tire drinkers will still recognize the original flavor.
New Belgium is confident most of its Fat Tire demographic will approve of the alterations. Conversations and taste tests with new and existing Fat Tire imbibers were conducted, and the final product received overall positive feedback preferring the new recipe, the company said.
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“We’re feeling really great about the new recipe, and we think it’s going to make a great difference for our brand,” Bradshaw said.
The original Fat Tire is an American amber ale with an alcohol content of 5.2% by volume.
The new Fat Tire is referred to as simply a “classic ale” that uses the same malts and brewing and production methods, and it has the same ABV.
“We’re sort of walking this fine line of, it does taste different, (but) at the same time, it's very familiar to the traditional Fat Tire,” Bradshaw said. “What we have changed, we’ve changed the hops in the beer and have done a couple of things that start to lighten the body and just give it a crisper finish.”
Fat Tire is now described as flavorful, well-balanced and “easy drinking, with a medium body, crisp finish and deep gold color” and with a bright flavor profile that offers “subtle caramel and floral aromas and light bitterness.”
No other recipes in the brewery's portfolio will change, Bradshaw said.
“One of our larger goals with New Belgium is to have all of our brands and our brewery become carbon neutral by 2030,” he said.
Creating more change
New Belgium, now owned by Kirin Company, is using the Fat Tire overhaul to call more attention to what the company is doing behind the scenes and how efforts are impacting the world, and how it intended to inspire the next generation of beer drinkers.
“If you like great beer and you care about the planet, we want Fat Tire to be clear that it’s the beer for you,” Bradshaw said.
The climate crisis motivated New Belgium’s commitment to environmental sustainability in its operations, political advocacy and charitable giving.
Several years ago, New Belgium released another beer to raise awareness called the Torched Earth Ale, which was purposely made to taste bad to demonstrate how beer could taste if the global climate crisis continues and breweries were left with limited and smoky ingredients.
“We brew and produce beer, and when we do that it creates carbon emissions in the atmosphere. What carbon neutral is really about is making investments in projects that offset the amount of carbon we put into the atmosphere,” Bradshaw said.
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“When you look at the big parts of our company that produce the most environmental impact, brewing itself only accounts for 15%, so it’s a relatively small amount of our overall carbon footprint,” said Adam Fetcher, senior director of communication and public engagement. “The big-ticket items are things like packaging and transportation. Those are things that we are deeply focused on addressing, working to reduce our carbon emissions and overall environmental impact all the time and have been for decades.”
New Belgium’s packaging leans more into the company’s environmentally friendly efforts that include light-weighting its bottles to reduce the use of glass and advocating for new legislation to improve the number of recycled materials to be used in sustainable packaging.
More climate solutions
Distribution companies are sourced to transport products, so New Belgium representatives stated that the company is limited on what it can do to reduce emissions from distribution vehicles.
“The places where we decided to build our production breweries have been very strategically chosen to try to reduce transportation impact as much as possible,” Fetcher said, referring to the company’s breweries in Fort Collins and Asheville.
New Belgium reported having advocated in support of Advanced Clean Trucks for North Carolina “to ensure the state leads the transition to cleaner trucks while improving air quality and supporting drivers and trucking companies.”
New Belgium developed a carbon-neutral blueprint for reducing emissions that is offered to other breweries and companies. It’s a way the company said it is holding big corporations responsible for most global emissions. Innovative tools are offered to enable customers to take direct action.
“We’re always looking for ways and taking action on climate as well as advocating for policy and trying to convince other businesses to adapt some of these programs. That’s part of the extremely aggressive climate goals that we’ve set for ourselves based on science-based targets,” Fetcher said.
More than $17 million has been reported to be donated to front-line climate organizations through New Belgium’s $1 per barrel philanthropy commitment.
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New Belgium advocates on federal, state and local levels as a part of climate policy coalitions, with examples including the Inflation Reduction Act and Colorado’s Producer Responsibility for Recycling bill. In North Carolina, advocacy efforts for climate change, clean energy and clean air are ongoing, the company said.
In 2019 and 2020, New Belgium reported having collaborated with Duke Energy, community leaders and other businesses “to help avoid the development of the new natural gas plant in western North Carolina through participation in the Asheville Energy Innovation Task Force.”
In 2022 and into this year, New Belgium reported that the company continues “to engage with Duke Energy and state leaders on the development of a Carbon Plan that best serves citizens, businesses and the climate in North Carolina thru stakeholder meetings, submission of public comments, and direct meetings with policymakers.”
Learn more about New Belgium’s Fat Tire customer education and advocacy at DrinkSustainably.com.
New Belgium Brewing Co. - Asheville
Where: 21 Craven St., River Arts District
Hours: 12-8 p.m. daily
Info: For more, visit newbelgium.com/visit/asheville/.
Tiana Kennell is the food and dining reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Email her at tkennell@citizentimes.com or follow her on Twitter/Instagram @PrincessOfPage. Please help support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: New Belgium changes Fat Tire recipe, announces climate action plan
