Brewing, Cideries & Spirits  July 17, 2018

Dilly Dilly! Budweiser toasts 30 years in Fort Collins

FORT COLLINS — A lot has changed in Northern Colorado in the 30 years since beer giant Anheuser-Busch started brewing and bottling Budweiser in Fort Collins.

Tiny craft breweries began springing up in profusion, challenging the market share of the big players such as A-B and Miller Coors and creating a new and vibrant tourism draw. A-B responded by scooping up some of them, upgrading its own brewery to 1 million square feet on 1,130 acres, and buying distributors such as American Eagle in Loveland.

On top of all that, Colorado passed a law in 2016 that will allow grocery stores to transition to selling full-strength beer, a move that some saw as threatening the independent liquor stores that can devote more shelf space to some of the smaller players’ ales, IPAs and stouts.

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It’s all left a lot of Northern Colorado’s craft brewers wondering how long they can run with the Clydesdales.

But Bart Watson, chief economist for the Boulder-based Brewers Association, isn’t too worried.

A report his group published last year showed that Colorado craft beer grew to a $3 billion industry in 2016, up from $1.7 billion the year before and nearly triple the 2014 figure. The study found that Colorado craft beer has the highest economic impact per capita of any state — and that even excludes any data from such major players as Busch and Coors.

A-B “is a major player in building the overall industry,” Watson said. “A lot of talent that comes out of Coors and A-B goes into the talent pipeline. It’s also meant a better regulatory environment than you’ve had in a while.”

For craft brewers, “It’s certainly a much more mature market than it was,” he said, “but we’re still seeing more openings than closings.”

Watson acknowledged that A-B’s acquisition of some major area distributors, coupled with the pressure that supermarket sales will put on small independent retailers “has created some competitive challenges for brewers. But small brewers are always concerned about access to markets, and those are felt broadly in many states.

“We’re lucky in Colorado because of the density of craft brewers we have,” Watson said. “That means we can have more smaller niche craft distributors than there would be in many states.

“Still, we’re going to see a bigger share for chain retailers in the state, which certainly is going to be a challenge for smaller breweries. King Soopers isn’t going to be picking up a lot of brewers that produce 1,000 barrels a year. So some crafters are just going to choose to not package as much and see how consumers’ shopping patterns change.”

Overall, Watson said, “I think it’s going to be better — but in smaller steps than we’ve seen in the past. We’re still seeing the number of breweries increase, but it’s not going to be as big as it has been.”

Under Brewers Association rules, a craft brewery must produce less than 6 million barrels of beer a year and have less than 25 percent outside ownership.

Fort Collins’ New Belgium Brewing is considered the country’s fourth-largest craft brewery, and Longmont-based Oskar Blues Brewing and Left Hand Brewing, Odell Brewing of Fort Collins and Avery Brewing of Boulder also place in the top 50 in the nation.

Whether it’s small breweries boosting beer tourism in Northern Colorado and the Boulder Valley or the major players adding to the employment rolls and tax base, beer has been refreshing for the Colorado economy.

Anheuser-Busch marked 30 years in Fort Collins on June 2 by welcoming the public to a “backyard anniversary celebration” and bringing in one of its trademark teams of huge Clydesdale horses as a special attraction.

A-B “has been a great business neighbor for 30 years,” said David May, president of the Fort Collins Area Chamber of Commerce. “They showed the way for what became a vibrant brewing industry in Northern Colorado.

“Economically, they are a major contributor,” he said. “A-B employs 570 people from the area with a payroll that we estimate to be around $40 million. Those 570 primary jobs create another 855 support jobs with pay around $47.4 million. So, 1,425 residents owe their livelihoods to A-B directly or indirectly. The economic activity generated by A-B puts at least $1.9 million in city government hoppers and an estimated $1.5 million in the school districts.

“That doesn’t factor in the many good causes supported by A-B and its employees, like Habitat for Humanity,” May said. The brewery also is gearing up to quickly switch from beer production to canning emergency drinking water for shipment to disaster areas.

In short, May said, “the region has benefited significantly from having Anheuser-Busch here for three decades. To all of A-B’s employees, this Bud’s for you!”

FORT COLLINS — A lot has changed in Northern Colorado in the 30 years since beer giant Anheuser-Busch started brewing and bottling Budweiser in Fort Collins.

Tiny craft breweries began springing up in profusion, challenging the market share of the big players such as A-B and Miller Coors and creating a new and vibrant tourism draw. A-B responded by scooping up some of them, upgrading its own brewery to 1 million square feet on 1,130 acres, and buying distributors such as American Eagle in Loveland.

On top of all that, Colorado passed a law in 2016…

Dallas Heltzell
With BizWest since 2012 and in Colorado since 1979, Dallas worked at the Longmont Times-Call, Colorado Springs Gazette, Denver Post and Public News Service. A Missouri native and Mizzou School of Journalism grad, Dallas started as a sports writer and outdoor columnist at the St. Charles (Mo.) Banner-News, then went to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch before fleeing the heat and humidity for the Rockies. He especially loves covering our mountain communities.
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