Report: New Belgium East Coast search down to Asheville and Philadelphia
I posed this to New Belgium: My understanding is you will be opening a new brewery on the east coast. What cities are you currently considering? On what date will you be announcing your decision? THEIR RESPONSE: Thanks for the email. We are currently in the site selection phase of looking for a 2nd brewery to build. We have narrowed our decision to Asheville, NC and Philadelphia. We will most likely be announcing our decision at the beginning of 2012.
Joe Zinich writes a beer column for Rapid River Magazine.
A spokesman for New Belgium couldn’t be reached.
via I posed this to New….
Breweries: New Belgium Brewing Co.
So what? I’m serious in thinking, does it matter if I can get more Fat Tire? It does to an ambitious company, though be it a cool company. I’m feeling the expansion of Craft breweries is great but if it squeezes my local brands from shelf space then I’m getting a little upset. Hey NB is cool but the small struggling breweries need a chance as well. And as a homebrewer I feel the pinch on Simcoe hops, which is the #1 hop in ranger. There are less Simcoe for the homebrewer because bigger breweries buy hops before the farmers grows them. It’s not a bad gig for the farmer but gets things locked down on competition and hobbyists. So drink local, if you like it! Support small business.
I just hope that New Belgium doesn’t get too big for their own britches. Once you have a brewery that sells in almost every state can you really call them a craft brewery anymore? I’m actually a bit sad that they’ll be making New Belgium out of state. New Belgium has always been uniquely Colorado. Once they open their 2nd brewery, not so much. And with the announcement that they’re going to start selling a 4.5% lager beer (Shift) in 16oz cans come 2012, sounds like they are “shifting” their focus a bit to be more like a large national brewery.
Don’t get me wrong, I love that New Belgium is having a lot of growth and success, but I think once you get to a certain size then you start becoming something else entirely one way or another.
Hmm, they are already the #3 craft brewery in terms of size so already kind of national-ish. Continued expansion is inevitable with them and other mega regional brewers. You should be glad that they are building elsewhere as a way to help them expand East Coast footprint instead of using trucks to haul beer across the country. 😉
Bring it home to the Philly area! We love our locals but a solid strong brewery like New Belgium would be welcomed warmly.
Asheville is beer city for a reason, bring the new brewery here.