CVB drafts local breweries for fresh tourism campaign

FORT COLLINS — It’s no secret to locals that Northern Colorado is a beer-lovers heaven.

Over the past several decades, Fort Collins has emerged as a virtual beer emporium, with six breweries ranging the gamut from the big beer conglomerate Anheuser-Busch to the mom-and-pop operation of newcomer, Fort Collins Brewery.

“Up to this point, we’ve really taken it for granted,´ said Rich Harter, executive director of the Fort Collins Convention and Visitors Bureau. “The beer industry really is a huge part of the Fort Collins experience, and we’ve never done a nice job of promoting it.”

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But this spring marks the beginning of a new campaign to lure beer lovers to Northern Colorado. Dubbed “Foam on the Range: The Fort Collins Beer Experience,” the CVB campaign will package tours of the six local breweries with hotel accommodations, shuttle service if desired, and promotional items from each of the breweries.

“We’re offering beer aficionados the opportunity to purchase a more formalized beer experience of Fort Collins,” Harter said.

The Bureau has not yet set a price-point for the package, but Harter expects it to be reasonable and quite successful.

“Over 80,000 people visited New Belgium’s brewery last year, “Harter said. “It by itself is a huge tourist attraction.”

New Belgium Brewing Company is the most recognizable craft brewer in Fort Collins and the fifth-largest in the country, brewing more than 285,000 barrels last year.

“After 15,000 barrels a year, you’re no longer considered a microbrewery, but a craft brewer,´ said New Belgium spokesman Bryan Simpson.

Distributed in 14 states, the Belgian-style beer specialist employs about 185, the vast majority locally, making it one of the top 10 manufacturing employe’s in the city. The company grossed $45 million in 2003, up 12 percent from the previous year, Simpson said.

New Belgium and the two other local microbreweries are practically neighbors, turning a small section of northeast Fort Collins into a veritable beer central. In operation since 1989, Odell Brewing Co. was the second microbrewery in the state. Specializing in English-style ales, the company brews about 26,000 barrels a year and employs 30 people. Fort Collins Brewery, the newest kid on the block, recently set up shop just down the street.

Sandy Jones, his wife Karen Jones and friends Dave and Janet Scott launched the lager-only brewery in August 2003.

Jones is no stranger to the beer industry, having started H.C. Berger in 1991. In 1996, he sold the business, which was later seized from the new owners in 2002 for failure to pay taxes.

Jones said he and his partners aim to brew 1,800 barrels in the first year.

“We’re focused on being a small regional microbrewery,” he said. “What’s different about us is we brew only lagers. It’s our little niche.”

Jones admits that eight employees — partners included — does not make a huge economic impact. “We have four devoted employees, and our impact is providing Northern Colorado with craft brewed lagers,” he said.

In addition to the three local craft breweries, Fort Collins boasts two long-standing brewpubs.

Big Horn Brewery, located inside C.B. & Potts restaurant, is a chain brewery owned by Ram International. The six C.B. & Potts brewpubs along the Front Range brew about 5,000 barrels annually.

Coopersmith’s, a long-time fixture in Old Town Fort Collins, was one of the first brewpubs in the state and maintains the status of being one of the top 20 brewpubs in the country.

“For a city of 100,000, that’s pretty good,´ said owner Scott Smith. Coopersmith’s employs 110 people and Smith said his annual payroll exceeds $1 million.