(Fort Collins, CO) – 2009 was an important year for New Belgium Brewing. The brewery expanded into six new states, worked on getting its new solar panel up, introduced the Lips of Faith Series in bottles, and started its partnership with Elysian Brewing. For its efforts, Information Resources Inc. scan data measuring sales across the food, drug, and convenience channels showed huge gains last year for the brewery.

When considering IRI data, it is important note that these numbers don’t equal out to total sales but are rather a large sample and a good indicator of how a brewery’s brands measure up with others (breweries, at least the large ones, pay close attention to these figures). The data referenced below is year-to-date through 11/29/09 (in other words, these numbers represent only eleven months of sales, not a full year).

New Belgium Fat Tire made more gains than any other brand when considering both year-over-year case sales and total dollars. Case sales increased nearly 26% over prior year with total sales dollars being just shy of $50 million. The beer, which is the 3rd-ranked craft brand in the U.S., is inching closer to the pedestal shared by Samuel Adams Boston Lager and Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, two long-time icons of the craft beer world. Fat Tire makes up over 50% of New Belgium’s total sales and more than 40% of that is on-premise though it is the off-premise side making the most strides.

Says Sales Director, Joe Menetre, “We have been focused in the off premise side of our business the last couple of years. While new state volume helped, our execution in the off premise has never been better. We have two great national programs and experienced solid distribution growth.”

The brewery’s seasonal line also grew significantly over prior year with case sales increasing 33%. Menetre notes, “In addition to good growth from Skinny Dip and 2 Below, our introduction of Hoptober and the return of Mighty Arrow played a huge role.”

In 2009, the brewery expanded into North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Wisconsin, Indiana, and North Dakota. The expansion undoubtedly helped drive the growth noted above. There are currently no expansion plans for 2010. Instead, the brewery will focus on its existing programs like increasing placements for the Lips of Faith Series and continuing its Tour de Fat campaign.

New Belgium does have some significant additions on its plate early in 2010. As previously reported, the brewery is rolling out new labels, including one for a new year-round IPA called New Belgium Ranger. The brewery also just turned on the largest privately-owned solar panel in Colorado.

There were some other big winners this year as well. Sales of Sierra Nevada seasonals picked up 23%, Alaskan seasonals 21% and Magic Hat #9 22%.

IRI data also shows growth in specific styles. Case sales of Belgian-style witbiers grew the most at 58%, putting it in the top 20, though the style’s market share is still relatively low. That would seem to indicate that Blue Moon is working better than ever as a gateway beer to the craft sector. IPA’s are now #3 after Pale Ale and Amber Ale with a significant 29% jump over prior year. No wonder New Belgium decided to add a year-round IPA.

The losers? Samuel Adams Light case sales dropped 20% from the previous year while Redhook ESB dropped 15%. This is reflective of sales for those styles overall. Case sales of light beers dipped 16%, brown ales 20% and ESB’s 18%. Breweries are aware of the shifts. Deschutes Brewery discontinued its Buzzsaw Brown Ale and Terrapin Brewery changed the name of its India-style Brown Ale to Hop Karma Brown IPA.