New Belgium celebrates one year in West Virginia

Roughly one year ago, with its new Asheville brewery getting ready to brew Fat Tire Amber Ale, New Belgium Brewing Company opened up the state of West Virginia. Things have come a long way in one year.

Last night at T&M Meats in Cross Lanes, New Belgium’s WV market manager, Ron Stenger, led a celebration of his brewery’s first anniversary here.

“We’re celebrating our first year in the state of West Virginia.” said Stenger, “and we have a lot of new beers we’re introducing. West Virginia has been super strong for us.”

Fat Tire was the brewery’s biggest seller during the first year, but now other brands are beginning to come on strong.

Stenger explained that the craft beer market is fluid and evolving. That’s why breweries have to continue to develop and introduce new beers.

“We revamped our hoppy beer portfolio,” he said.

Gone are Ranger IPA, Hoppy Blonde, Rampant, and Slow Ride. Entering are what Stenger called the Voodoo Ranger family of beers. These include Voodoo Ranger IPA, 8 Hop Pale Ale, and Whizbang.

“We’ve moved away from the more piney and bitter IPAs to the juicier  tropical citrusy flavor profile,” he explained. “That’s what the beer drinkers of today are demanding.”

Distributor pleased with New Belgium’s growth

New Belgium’s distributor in the region is Capitol Beverage. They have seen New Belgium’s market develop and it pleases them greatly.

“It’s done really well for us,” said Joey Campbell, Capitol’s craft & import manager. “The great thing about New Belgium for our market is that they make beer for the everyday craft beer drinker, and they also produce beer for the hard-core craft drinker. So they’ve been able to satisfy all my craft customers.

Overall, Campbell says New Belgium’s first year was even a little better than what he expected.

Campbell is now seeing New Belgium’s market begin to shift from being dominated by Fat Tire to a wider variety of brews.

“We’re looking forward to the new brands they’re bringing out,” he said.

For Capitol Beverage, Fat Tire was 65% of New Belgium’s sales during the first eleven months it was available. Now, starting the second year, Campbell says Fat Tire has dropped to a 49% share, as consumers have begun to enjoy other New Belgium offerings.

“People try the Fat Tire; they like it; then, they get into other New Belgium brands,” Campbell says.

Bar promotion key to New Belgium’s success

In its first year here, New Belgium has probably done more bar promotions than any other large craft brewery. Stenger says it’s an integral part of who they are.

“We want to get in front of the people, talk to people,” he said. “We just don’t want to sell beer, we want to be a part of the community. We want to be involved. We don’t want to be a faceless brewery.”

Campbell says Stenger has been invaluable in helping the distributors move New Belgium to the top tier of craft beer lines in only its first year here.

“Ron loves beer and he loves promotions,” Campbell says. “It helps with consumer knowledge and it helps us with the bar itself, being able to tell them we’ll have a New Belgium rep to come in for your event.

“The best thing that New Belgium did for the market is they hired a guy to live and work in West Virginia,” says Campbell. “Out of all the craft breweries that I do business with, New Belgium is the only one that has a guy living in West Virginia, committed to West Virginia. It’s very important.”

Hot craft market leads to T&M expansion

T&M Meats owner Ron Cole used the New Belgium celebration as the occasion to break in his brand new bank of 14 taps. His restaurant/market is among the very best New Belgium draft accounts in the state. Only a few years ago, this store was just a local meat market with a few groceries. Now it has over 30 taps, brick oven pizzas, burgers, salads, growler fills, a solid selection of bottled/canned beer and more. The hot, fast growing craft beer market has given Cole the confidence to invest in several expansions. Business has never been better.