New Belgium Coming to Michigan 8/27 & Escoffier Coming To Lips of Faith

Ft. Collins, CO, August 15, 2012 – After months of anticipation, select beers from New Belgium Brewing will be available in Michigan beginning August 27. New Belgium will initially roll out 22-ounce bottles of Fat Tire, Ranger IPA, Trippel, Shift and Red Hoptober, as well as Lips of Faith offerings Super IPA (with Alpine Brewing) and Biere de Mars; draft will follow in October. With the addition of Michigan, the Fort Collins-based brewery and maker of Fat Tire Amber Ale will be in 29 states and the District of Columbia.

To coincide with entering the Great Lakes State, New Belgium Brewing and Michigan-based Brewery Vivant are launching the first of two collaborative beers. The first, called “Escoffier”, is being brewed in Grand Rapids and will be distributed through Brewery Vivant’s network. The beer is named after the French master chef of the same name, and crafted to go hand in hand with the food-beer experience. It’s deep amber in color and uses one of Brewery Vivant’s house Belgian yeast strains, as well as wild yeast from New Belgium called Brettanomyces Bruxellensis.

A release party is scheduled at Brewery Vivant on August 27, followed by a Michigan release of draft and signature 16-ounce cans. The beer will also be available in Chicago when Vivant begins distribution there in October.

A second beer will be brewed in Fort Collins and released through New Belgium Brewing’s national network. It will be part of the Lips of Faith series, available in 22-ounce bombers and draft in November.

“Michigan has already been a great partner with a broad network of breweries, distributors and beer lovers,” said Bryan Simpson, New Belgium’s spokesman. “Working with Brewery Vivant has been a great way to meet and work with local brewers while making something new and unique for both breweries.”

New Belgium is working with 22 Michigan distributors to distribute its beer.