News.The TinkererNew Belgium Brewing News and Tinkerings. Published: Thu, 13 Nov 2008 08:15:28 +0000 Can it be? A new Tap Handle with folly?! (Thu, 13 Nov 2008 00:18:48 +0000)
Yes folks, for the first time in New Belgium’s 17-year history, we are introducing a new tap handle. In typical New Belgium fashion, we took what was important to us and our retail partners, applied non-conventional thinking and conceived a handle unlike anything in the marketplace. Then we found local sources to manufacture and bring the vision to life. Now, where wood, enamel and big bulbous heads reign supreme, we entered a slender, aluminum bike rim that reflects New Belgium – literally. And while our dedicated sales team, (we so fondly refer to as “Beer Rangers”) are more than competent in delivering said handles, the creative folks had to get a piece of the action, too: Fortunately for our favorite bartenders and restaurant owners, the creatives will go back to our desks now. Another voting opportunity? Yes you can! (Tue, 11 Nov 2008 22:47:23 +0000)
The Full Pint is having a fun and festive poll: best holiday beer. Our own 2 Below, a dry-hopped ale that’ll rosy your cheeks, is in the running. Vote for your fav! Get your vote on! (Tue, 04 Nov 2008 20:58:11 +0000) We hope you all are exercising your right to vote today! For a little inspiration, here’s a message from our co-founder and CEO, Kim Jordan. She wrote this after meeting Barack Obama when he visited Fort Collins: Somehow, I was selected to be one of about 10 people who were invited to meet Senator Obama. After a crazy chase of trying to figure out how to get to the right spot by 2pm, (it involved climbing under a truck and ripping my skirt, but that’s another story), I met up with the other folks. We were escorted to the administration building at CSU and waited nervously for about a half an hour. Senator Obama rode up on a bus from Denver with Congressman Mark Udall, Senator Ken Salazar and Governor Bill Ritter. They apparently talked a lot about New Belgium, so when I met Senator Obama, he was already familiar with our brewery. He said that he was impressed with all of our renewable energy and conservation work and if it weren’t for leaving directly to go “see his girls” he would have stopped by for a tour and a beer. He said he’d be back when he’s President. I told him that I admired his leadership in inspiring us as Americans to come together and be great, and that all of us at New Belgium are working toward that same goal. - Kim
U.S. Senator and Presidential candidate Barak Obama poses with Kim Jordan prior to Obama’s appearance at a rally on the Colorado State University Oval, October 26, 2008. Jeff’s Tips for Net Zero Electricity Use (Wed, 29 Oct 2008 19:29:59 +0000)
New Belgium founder and brewer extraordinaire, Jeff Lebesch, has been working towards an electric net-zero home for several years. Recently, he presented his tips and findings to the world as part of his work with the Northern Colorado Renewable Energy Society. The coolest part about Jeff’s findings is that they present real solutions that all of us can invest in, especially those who can’t necessarily put a large solar array on their homes. When considering having a home that’s “off the grid” (or even “on the grid” but uses net zero electricity over a year’s time), we tend to think first of renewable energies, which is a great thing. But remember one of the three R’s is reduce? It turns out that reducing power load is the single best thing you can do – plus it’s the most cost-effective. So. Before you install that giant solar array on your house, figure out what’s eating up all the power in your home first. If you can lower your power consumption, you’ll have a lot less solar panels to install – and if you can’t install solar due to the cost, you’ve still made the best impact you can for the money you’ll spend, which helps everyone! While you might be aware that clothes dryers and incandescent light bulbs are some of the most power-thirsty items in your home, you might not know that most of the power in your home is eaten by “always-on” electronic devices. Wireless routers and modems, computers, and any items “waiting” for a remote control to turn them on (TVs, DVD players, etc) are some of the biggest offenders. One of the worst? The DVR. Jeff found that his consumes the same amount of power whether on or off – and that it uses almost as much electricity as a refrigerator! What can you do? Change your light bulbs to CFLs, of course, and hang your clothes to dry when you can. But just as important, unplug electronic devices when you are not using them. You can also try to buy electronics which feature a low-power waiting state (some do). Another help is installing wind-up switches on lights or “forgotten about” appliances, so they turn off automatically after a short period of time. Later, after you’ve reduced your electric demand, install solar, if you can. But, as Jeff said in his presentation, you’d make a better investment helping your neighbors to lower their energy use rather than installing your own solar. Go and spread the good energy-saving word. Read Jeff’s whole presentation (PDF, 4.5MB). We?re kind of a big deal in small workplaces (Tue, 14 Oct 2008 20:13:03 +0000)
We had a BIG Monday. First, The Wall Street Journal announced the Top Small Workplaces 2008 and New Belgium made the list. Pretty cool considering there were only 15 companies chosen from across the country. WSJ describes the winners as workplace environments that foster teamwork, flexibility, and professional growth while providing an atmosphere and benefits that encourage employee loyalty. Check out the video featuring our own Captain Ballyhoo, aka employee-owner Chris Winn. Then, we had the pleasure of hosting Gov. Bill Ritter, Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, and former US Secretary of Transportation Federico Pena. They honored New Belgium as the first stop on their green energy awareness tour. Fort Collins Now had a nice write-up about it. Fun stuff. Good people. Yea team!
Gov. Ritter and Mayor Hickenlooper talk yeast in Brewhouse 2 at New Belgium. Organic Mothership Wit wins gold (Mon, 13 Oct 2008 21:28:05 +0000)
There was something extra sweet about learning that our Mothership Wit won the gold medal in the Belgian-Style Wit category in this year’s Great American Beer Festival (GABF). With 472 breweries entering 2,902 beers into the judging and only 222 medals being awarded, we’d be foolish to measure our brewing success solely by GABF medals and awards. Our own Jeff Lebesch, Peter Bouckaert, Grady Hull, Lauren Salazar and other New Belgium co-workers have been judges over the years and always comment on how many excellent beers never even make it into the final rounds simply because they don’t fit the judging criteria of any one of the 75 style categories. Number of GABF medals should never be the sum ruler of a beer or brewery’s excellence - and that’s coming from a brewery with a pretty impressive GABF trophy showcase. Still, for Mothership to win Gold after winning Bronze in the same category last year was extra rewarding for us. Even prior to last’s GABF nod, we didn’t feel Mothership was the Wit it could really be. We’ve challenged, tweaked, and massaged the heck out of its recipe until we’ve lately been thinking we had finally nailed it. So it was mighty gratifying to see the judges at the GABF concurred. Next time you have a Mothership Wit let us know what you think, it’s your scoring we care about most. Look at the big, bad award on Bryan (Wed, 08 Oct 2008 17:33:20 +0000) Early this October our own Public Relations Director, Bryan Simpson, won employee owner of the year at The ESOP Association Western States Annual conference in San Diego. How cool is that?! It you’re thinking, “What does ESOP have to do with beer? Is it a form of ESB?” then it might not sound that cool. Allow me to explain. ESOP is an Employee Stock Ownership Plan which provides, after one year of employment, the employees of a New Belgium ownership of stock in our company. It is intrinsic to our high-involvement culture and what breeds an environment of trust and pride. Back to Bryan. When Bryan is giving an interview to a news crew or a magazine crew, he can’t help but mention our employee-ownership status. Bryan is not one to brag, in fact, everything Bryan does is quite authentic; he is just so proud that we can call ourselves “employee owned.” Thus, he deserves this award and we’re mighty proud. Our own Tour de Fat allstars, Chris Winn and Michael Craft, brought down the house with their keynote address at the gathering. Bryan Simpson (center) will compete for the national title in Washington DC next spring. Lucky for us, we got a visit from Grist (Mon, 06 Oct 2008 16:09:22 +0000)
Thanks to Grist for including us on their Road Trip 08. Take a looksee at what they had to say about our general air of cheer. Another lovely season of bike-in rides into the sunset (Fri, 03 Oct 2008 02:51:28 +0000) For all of us Fort Collins locals, ’tis a sad Thursday without the bike-in movies. Alas, another bike-in movie season has passed, but not without an outstanding turnout for the last show, “The Big Lebowski”. As some of you may know, the last film was shown in honor of Rebecca Allen, a Fort Collins cyclist who was hit and killed by a motorist this past summer. With “The Big Lebowski” being Rebecca’s favorite movie, the film was added to the bike-in line up in effort to celebrate her life. Nearly 1,000 attendees, many of which were her friends and family, raised $2,001 at the door which will go toward cycling advocacy (non-profit TBA). An additional $4,152 was raised through beer sales and will go into the Rebecca Allen TV Alumni Scholarship given through Colorado State University’s journalism department. It was a great season with plenty-o-bikes, beer and great flicks. Props to all those who made it happen. Off to work we go (Mon, 29 Sep 2008 03:43:27 +0000)
|
