New Belgium to add year-round IPA, introduce new label artwork
(Fort Collins, CO) – Bryan Simpson, New Belgium Brewing Media Relations Director, confirmed on Wednesday that the third largest craft brewery in the U.S. will begin to roll out new labels for several beers in the first quarter of next year. The brewery will also add a new year-round beer to its lineup at that time.
The neighbor of New Belgium Founders, Jeff Lebesch and Kim Jordan, when the brewery first went commercial, Anne Fitch has been responsible for much of the label artwork for nearly two decades. They have undergone changes over the years with the current look for the flagships and seasonals having been first adopted during the ‘05-’06 winter. According to Simpson, “Abbey, Trippel, Mothership Wit and a few others are getting new packaging but are the same recipe. We feel that this level of beer encompasses some of the more unexpected offerings (from a flavor profile) in our portfolio and we wanted to call attention to that.” A beer like Fat Tire should continue on with the same label considering that the ‘famous’ bike is at the center of the brewery’s history, its community, and its logo.
Perhaps the bigger announcement is that New Belgium Ranger IPA will make its bottled debut in Q1. The beer made an appearance on draft at the Boise Beer Fest this past August but will now be available in 6-packs year-round. This appears to be the brewery’s first-ever IPA to appear in bottles, a feat considering the brewery has maintained several flagship beers for many years. Simcoe, Cascade and Chinook make up the hop profile in this 7% ABV beer (hop level is 60 IBUs). Simpson notes, “Beer Rangers are our beer sales folks and they had long wanted an IPA – something with a lot of hops. This beer was created for them and as a tribute to all they do out in the market.”
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October 1st, 2009 at 12:35 pm
[...] New Belgium is adding a whole new brew to their year-round lineup: Ranger IPA (7% ABV). And they’re taking the opportunity to roll out new label designs, too. Abbey, Trippel, and Mothership Wit will get the new treatment. [...]
October 29th, 2009 at 7:10 pm
Is this New Belgium’s attempt at becoming more earth friendly with their graphics? No offense New Belgium, but these labels look bland. Too generic. Even the Lips of Faith bottle labels are lacking. I suppose they’ll change the label on Fat Tire too to be just a silhouette of a bicycle now too?
December 21st, 2009 at 6:30 pm
[...] hopefully already read about New Belgium Ranger IPA and the new labels coming next year. Now the brewery is starting to roll out plans for its 2010 [...]
January 14th, 2010 at 3:50 pm
[...] reported, the brewery is rolling out new labels, including one for a new year-round IPA called New Belgium Ranger. The brewery also just turned on the largest privately-owned solar panel in [...]
February 2nd, 2010 at 11:41 pm
[...] last year, we caught wind that New Belgium was going to change the labels of some of its beers and simultaneously release a [...]
February 6th, 2010 at 7:57 pm
Just tried the Ranger IPA for the first time tonight and I am pretty impressed! I love hoppy beers and IPAs are my favorites. I can honestly say that the Ranger is my favorite and (IMO) the best of the New Belgium brews yet!
February 17th, 2010 at 8:58 pm
[...] New Belgium’s Ranger IPA (it’s new). http://beernews.org/2009/10/new-belgium-to-add-year-round-ipa-introduce-new-label-artwork/ [...]
October 1st, 2009 at 12:25 pm
New Belgium to add year-round IPA, introduce new label artwork http://tinyurl.com/yakgxop
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October 6th, 2009 at 12:40 am
Would love to sample it as I love IPAs and I just love their sour beers too. http://bit.ly/fOwAN
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October 6th, 2009 at 7:38 pm
http://bit.ly/17vUl – What the heck New Belgium? Your old labels were great! These are just sort of lame. Not diggin’ it.
This comment was originally posted on Twitter