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Now Viewing: New Belgium Brewing Company
| Our Story begins in Belgium not so long ago with our protagonist- a young American electrical engineer and homebrewer- biking his way across Europe.* Inspired by Belgian brewers' impressive pallet of ingredients (everything from lime leaves to raspberries are fair game) Jeff Lebesch returned to Colorado and began knocking out batches of Belgian-style homebrew. His first two creations- a brown dubbel named Abbey and a remarkably well-balanced amber he named Fat Tire in honor of his trip- scored high marks with friends and relatives. People loved the earthy undertones and estery nose of Abbey. They reveled in Fat Tire's biscuity balance. In fact, folks loved everything about that beer- except the name."'Fat Tire'?" they wondered aloud, "that's just goofy." Jeff smiled politely and carried on. Jeff and wife, Kim Jordan, decided to take their basement brewery operation commercial in 1991. Being the deep-thinking, quiet type – Jeff looked to the gregarious Kim to be his marketing arm (and local distributor, bottler, sales rep and Mom to their kids). “We had a neighbor paint watercolors that we printed up as beer labels,” Kim reminisces. “Jeff would brew, we would bottle together with some help from our son, Zack, then I would call accounts and deliver the beer. I’d get a lot of friendly ribbing pulling up in my station wagon full of beer next to these 16-bay Budweiser trucks." |  |  *Want to learn more about the great hobby of homebrewing? Visit ther free information." | Soon Kim, Jeff and a blossoming crew outgrew the basement operation, then overflowed a second location in a railroad depot, and finally, in 1995, we designed ourselves a happy little home here at 500 Linden Street.Our current facility houses two Steinecker brewhouses, four quality assurance labs, and a wastewater treatment facility that allows us to cleanse our process waters and create our own energy (see technology and innovation). The entire operation is powered by wind after an employee-owner vote to make that conversion back in 1998. Flash forward to today and New Belgium Brewing Company of Fort Collins, Colorado is a diverse collection of exuberant brewers, microbiologists, artists, cowboys, musicians, and everyday folks. The philosophy on the side of our beer packaging still best captures the spirit of New Belgium: | |
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