Due to ever-changing writs, laws and a miasma of bureaucracy, New Belgium does not ship beer directly to individuals. We do mail order soft goods (shirts, hats and the like) from our Groovy Goods store on this website.

If you live outside our area of distribution, your best bet for procuring our beers is a road trip (what fun!). Come to Colorado and visit our tasting room where the beers are free, the tours are informative, and your hosts are both dashing and charismatic.

Good question. Crucial, really. We are a regional craft brewer distributing throughout the western United States. You can find most or all of our line in Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Arkansas, California, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Tennessee, and North Carolina.  Coming this year: South Dakota, Wisconsin, Indiana, South Carolina, and Georgia! Some of our Beer Rangers are online with Twitter and would be happy to answer questions; see our Community and Twitter pages.

Never say never. Never is an ugly word.

Just north of beautiful, sunny downtown Fort Collins at 500 Linden St. Tasting is right inside the front door. See the Visit Us page for more info.

Like the best things in life - tours and tastings are free. You can schedule a tour using our tour calendar, or you can call (888) NBB-4044 for tour times and information. You can also control your own destiny with a self-guided tour any old time between 10:00am and 6:00pm except for Sundays and Mondays. Check the tour calendar for any closings or happenings.

Sadly, no. Go to Groovy Goods and order yourself a shirt though. You deserve one for asking.

It has been replaced by our blog. You can subscribe to the feed and get it delivered straight to your feedreader if you want, or you can sign up for email notifications when new articles are published.  Don't have an account?  Create one!

Each one of our beers has its own unique story of how it came to be. To learn more about each of our beers and their names check out the beer page on our website http://www.newbelgium.com/beer

The bicycle and its use as a marketing tool is one of the greatest unplanned successes of the brewery.  We like to say "we were conceived on the seat of a bike," based upon one of our founders epiphanial voyage through Europe by bike, drinking beer along the way.  Shortly after that trip he made an amber ale and named it Fat Tire in honor of his trip.  This same beer has grown to be our flagship brand, mostly due in part by its beautifully balanced and drinkable nature, but also due in part to the unmeasurable marketing power of the bicycle on the label.  We like to think bikes remind people of how simple and fun it is to be outside, with a smile on your face and a good beer in your hand.  The image of the bicycle really captures New Belgium on a whole, with our whimsical approach to business, the history of our beginnings and our emphasis on sustainability.  You can view a great video of Jeff talking about his trip: Born on a Bike Seat. Also check out the Something Good video.

Why did you change your logo a few years ago? A few years ago we decided to make some changes to the New Belgium logo. We wanted to develop an image that really connected people with our company name, our flagship beer and our love of bikes. Putting the bike as the centerpiece of the logo just made sense.

As of August 25th, 2009 = 348.

New Belgium is a privately held/employee owned company. We do not share any of our financial information with the public.

One of the main points of our organizational structure is that we are an employee owned business.  We operate as an ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan) and practice open book management.  Ownership privileges are granted at an employee's one year anniversary.  Along with the financial benefits of employee ownership program comes the cultural foundation of our company, which is highly family and community oriented.  Here is a brief description of how our company management is structured:

• Board of Directors - Our BOD is made up of two internal NBB folks (our CEO and CFO) and 3 external members
• Compass Management Group - Compass is our Senior management group. This group consists of managers that represent each area of the brewery (HR, Sales, Branding, Production, Engineering, Finance, Sustainability, Supply Chain and IT)
• Departmental Managers - we have about 20 different departments at NBB and a manager or two to manage the business and co-workers of the department.
• Individual Contributors - These are our lovely co-workers that work in our various departments. Anyone that is not at a manager level is considered and individual contributor.

To read a full description of how the Brewers Association defines a craft brewery, follow this link to beertown.org http://www.beertown.org/education/craft_defined.html

We actually surpassed the mirco-brewery mark back in 1994. A micro-brewery produces less than 15,000 barrels of beer per year with 75% or more of its beer sold off site. Follow the above link to beertown.org for more information

One of our Core Values and Beliefs is Promoting beer culture and the responsible enjoyment of beer.  Craft beer has always been about quality over quantity. To that end, we promote beer as a pairing with food and sponsor beer dinners to educate palates and create that level of appreciation.  At all of our events, anyone pouring beer must be TIPS trained which is a nationally accredited alcohol awareness program that helps servers identify and prevent someone from being over served. http://www.gettips.com/  Our Tour de Fat promotes the bicycle as a sustainable form of transportation with beer  as part of the medium and not the message. We have canceled events that we deemed to be too focused on drinking. Our tasting room limits tasters to four short pours and focuses on education over mass consumption. Our price point precludes the kind of binge drinking associated with suitcases of beer and handle bottles.

You can read more about our philosophy and its application in this PDF.

You can read all about our story at http://www.newbelgium.com/our-story

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All materials are delivered to the brewery by truck.   Some materials are transported by boat and rail during initial shipment, but then transferred to a truck at an intermodal transfer center for final delivery to the brewery.

Some products are contracted years in advance.   A majority of our lead times are 3 weeks or less.

1. Historical trend analysis
2. Rolling forecast

1. For empty kegs, it is a collaborative effort between our warehouse and our distributors.
2. For defective material, typically our suppliers will manage the reverse logisitics.

1. Customer Relationship - on an individual basis, depending on the needs/requirements of the particular customer
2. Supplier Relationship - depending on the size/scope of the relationship, it varies on a case by case basis.   We do try to be good customers to all of our suppliers (pay within terms, etc).

1. Some materials operate under a JIT/Kanban system.   We have a satellite warehouse, and materials move from supplier to warehouse to production using this method.
2. On average, we carry 2 weeks of raw material inventory.

1. Distributors must submit orders with a 3 week leadtime
2. Orders are processed and entered into our enterprise software
3. Orders are fulfilled using a warehouse management system, which automatically pushes the order back into our enterprise software for billing
4. Product is shipped in full loads via refrigerated semi truck to most of our customers.

1. Our specific supplier information is proprietary to New Belgium.
2. Our bottles come from Windsor, CO
3. Our cardboard comes from CO and CA
4. Malt comes from US, Canada, and Europe
5. Hops come mostly from the Pacific NW, some from Europe, and a few from NZ.

1. Yes, all alcohol in the United States is required to be sold through a 3 tier system, which involves a manufacturer (NBB), a distributor, and a retailer.  
2. We have 185 current distributors in 26 states.

1. You can find a majority of our information on sustainability at:  http://www.newbelgium.com/sustainability
2. Specifically to Supply Chain, we developed Sustainable Purchasing Guidelines in which we include sustainability and green practices when selecting and evaluating our suppliers. 

1. We typically turn over our finished product in 2-3 weeks.
2. We produce to order so excess inventory is not typically a problem
3. Excess inventory is disassembled into its parts and recycled.

1. Up until 3-4 years ago, we didn't have a formal Supply Chain department.  Prior to that we had 1 forecaster/scheduler, 1 purchaser, and warehouse personnel.
2. Now we have a formal group with 13 people.

An in-depth analysis of what happens to our waste stream can be found in the Sustainability Report (PDF). In summary, we try to create as many closed loop systems as possible when it comes to our waste.  Whenever we have the opportunity to turn our byproducts, otherwise known as waste, back into fuel, we do.  Our Merlin boil kettle actually recycles the steam coming off of the boil and uses it in an energy storage tank to speed up other parts of the process with more efficiency.  All of our production waste water is treated on site in our process water treatment plant, becoming 98% clean before a final rinse through the city's plant.  We clean the water with microbes in anaerobic and aerobic basins, which produce methane gas as a byproduct.  The methane is harnessed and sent back to the brewery, which powers a co-generator during peak load hours.  This accounts for roughly 15% of our electricity needs.  The rest is accounted for by wind credits purchased through the city.  We sell our spent grain from the brewing process to a local farmer, who feeds them to his cattle.  We also have a highly sophisticated recycling center and encourage our employees to have a very mindful awareness of the lifecycle of the resources we use on a daily basis.

We also have answered many questions in our Student Information Packet (1MB PDF).