New Belgium's Iconic Fat Tire Gets Full Makeover After Sales Tumble

From the article with emphasis in bold by me:

“Following years of declining sales for Fat Tire, New Belgium Brewing’s once-flagship Amber Ale, the company has completely revamped the beer—apparently changing its packaging, branding, and the liquid itself. No longer an Amber Ale, Fat Tire is now lighter and more golden in color, a move that New Belgium presumably hopes will help reverse steep sales declines.”

It is not unusual for breweries to ‘refresh’ the packaging (e.g., artwork and labeling) of their beers but this update to Fat Tire includes changing the beer as well. It will no longer be an “Amber Ale”. And from the article:

“Lucas says he wasn’t informed by his distributor, Keg 1, what style of beer the new Fat Tire is, but he was told it’s “an all-new formula” and “easier drinking.”

So, is Fat Tire now a Golden Ale? Is it prudent for New Belgium to change the style of what they label as “Fat Tire”? Won’t long term consumers of Fat Tire be confused by the change of the beer itself?

Maybe there are examples of other beers where the company changed the type/style of a beer and retained the brand name and this was a financial success?

Cheers!

 

That’s a pretty boring label. So much white. Might look better on a bottle.

ambers/reds just don’t sell. If Fat Tire wasn’t such an iconic beer for their brand it probably would have been revamped or retired earlier. The malt character is what makes the beer good IMO so lighting it up seems like it would be less flavorful.

while a completely different beer their wild ride which is a stronger hoppier version of Fat Tire was pretty good.

 

Do you have any idea why they decided to retain the brand name of "Mountain Standard" when they changed from a Black IPA to a 'regular' IPA? Why not just select a new brand name to mitigate customer confusion?

I couldn't shake the thought as I read the article: why not just give this updated beer a new brand name?

Cheers!

 

Because they now want the beer to be "easier drinking"?

And as I discussed in the above post, if you want to create a 'new' beer which is "easier drinking" why not choose to re-brand the name as well. Maybe call it Skinny Tire? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Cheers!

 

I was listening to a podcast and the owner of revolution brewing was talking about how Juice Force and their imperial ranger ipa has blown up for them. I think the price point kills it for them. People see value in an 10% beer at a low cost. Also, talked about how the market for big DIPAs has really grown. They brewed a 10% ipa and it flew off the shelf.

 

yeah just follow suit with the ranger series. Fat Tire, skinny tire, knobby/hoppy tire….

 

Fat Tire and Boston Lager used to be legitimate, substantial flagship beers worth drinking. Sad to see both get sanitized and diminished. They're the two beers that got me into craft beer, and are a shell today of what they were then

 

Because it was time?

Cheers!

 

I am unfamiliar with the terminology of "flash boiling". Can you please explain what this means and how it impacts the qualities of a beer?

Cheers!

 

Wild Ride sounds interesting, iso... I clicked on this thread thinking they'd revamped the recipe to something I'd enjoy drinking... I've only had Fat Tire maybe 3 times. First around 2011, then twice last year; the second of those sips at the brewery. Never clicked with me... Alaskan Amber, which I had only for the first time a year ago, was almost similar, but I enjoyed that more... Maybe a reinvention was warranted?

 

Many years ago Fat Tire was a real nice bready beer. I have tried to like it again over the years but it always feels thin and tastes like sugar water.

Hope they keep the black lager, I do buy that when I see it.


Enjoy

 

Hmm, yes, Palm does make sense as far as 'style' comparison, but the flavors (in my recollection) are only marginally similar... Now I want to sample them together, ugh. But I can't remember the last time I saw Palm on any shelf or in any fridge...

 

Looking at images of Fat Tire labels, man, did it need a rebranding bad. Especially for such and historied brand... Baffled as to why a beer with this history never had a unique enough font to match its iconic (bike) image.