fat-tire.JPG
New Belgium Brewing Co. entered the Ohio market Dec. 16, 2013. On Thursday, Dec. 19, a meet-and-greet was held at the Horseshoe Casino in downtown Cleveland. Props included a fat-tired bike. Fat Tire is the Colorado brewer's flagship beer.
(Marc Bona, The Plain Dealer)
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The folks at New Belgium Brewing Co. had an idea for Northeast Ohio: In a market where shelves are crammed with craft-beer offerings and breweries pop up as fast as bartenders can pour pints, what do we really need?
More beer.
And hey, why not?
The brewery, which has been in existence for 23 years, established itself in the origins of Belgian beer styles.
The meet-and-greets all focused on Ohio becoming New Belgium's 35th state for distribution. New Belgium is the third largest craft brewer, behind Samuel Adams and Sierra Nevada. Both of those breweries sell several of their beers in Northeast Ohio stores and bars.
New Belgium reps like to get out "to really get opinions on who are the movers and shakers, about what we need to know about the market," Jordan said Thursday during one of the meet-and-greets at Horseshoe Casino in downtown Cleveland.
Right now that market is packed. Tap handles line bars and countless bottles from across the globe share space on shelves.
"Do I think contemporary beer drinkers will be drinking American light lagers? Probably not," Jordan said. "Will there be a pulling back and when? I think that's inevitable."
If and when the market hits a saturation level, retailers will say "'I don't want to carry all of these [beers] or my customers will be overwhelmed,' " she said. "It's a similar thing at the distribution level, the marketplace works that way: A dilemma pops up, and there will be answers."
New Belgium got into Belgian-style brews when, frankly, it wasn't the cool thing it is now.
"Our portfolio of beers was very experimental," said Jordan, who said that 20-plus years ago, there wasn't even a category at the Great American Beer Festival for such beers. "The marketplace has caught up with us."
She's right: Many craft brewers create Belgian-style ales now. In Cleveland's Ohio City, Sam McNulty's Bier Markt specializes in Belgian ales on tap. And Global Beer Network distributes many beers from Belgium in this region, also.
A keystone in Jordan's business acumen might have come a decade ago, when in a speech to craft brewers, she forecast going after a 10 percent share of the market's volume.
Back then, she said, that number was about 3 percent. Now it is in the "high sevens, low eights."
She told them: "We need to stand for something. We need to figure out what that is."
What that is, for New Belgium, is a diverse variety of beers. Its flagship brew is Fat Tire, a smooth-drinking, flavorful yet medium-bodied amber ale that offers a hint of caramel flavor and is drinkable at 5.2 percent alcohol. But the brewery also offers an IPA, an assortment of Belgian ales and several others. (The beer's name is derived from an early brewer's excursion around Europe on a fat-tired mountain bike, then returning to Colorado to make beer.)
"The marketplace decides what the flagship beer is," Jordan said.
So far, Northeast Ohioans are receptive. A casino rep told us Thursday they had already gone through three kegs of Fat Tire.
Jordan's vantage of the industry is that of a knowledgeable beer person who has a non-traditional background: She holds a master's degree in social work.
"I think entrepreneurship sneaks up on you," said Jordan, who enjoys a hoppy brew but doesn't shy from the other distinct Belgian styles her brewery makes. "I always say, 'You don't envision you're going to have 500 co-workers.' "
"My co-workers take seriously the commitment in the market, to be good corporate citizens," she said. To that end, Jordan added, her field-quality folks try to ensure clean tap lines and other control measures are in place.
"You hope for a particular flavor profile, and you work hard to make that happen," she said.