New Belgium is still feeling the effects of Hurricane Helene almost one year after the deadly storm devastated western North Carolina.
Even as the company’s Asheville production facility has come back online, New Belgium is dealing with tough decisions made in the aftermath. Its East Coast brewery temporarily went offline and leadership chose to prioritize top brands such as Voodoo Ranger Imperial IPA and Juice Force hazy IPA while deprioritizing others, leading to shortages and distribution losses.
“When you don’t produce and ship Voodoo Ranger IPA and Fruit Force for a couple months, you’re going to lose a lot of distribution,” New Belgium CEO Shaun Belongie explained.
Production has returned to pre-Helene levels in Asheville for New Belgium. The additions of a second canning line and an automated variety packing line – both planned before the hurricane and tacked onto the end of the recovery effort – have helped “max out” the brewery’s capacity at around 500,000 barrels, Belongie said.
By comparison, the company boasts around 1 million barrels of capacity in Fort Collins, Colorado; 500,000 barrels in Comstock, Michigan; and between 200,000 barrels to 500,000 barrels in Daleville, Virginia, depending on the mix, Belongie shared.
The focus on Voodoo Ranger Imperial and Juice Force has paid off. Voodoo Ranger Imperial and Juice Force remain the No. 2 and No. 3 top-selling off-premise craft beer brands, respectively, in Circana-tracked channels. In convenience alone, Voodoo Ranger Imperial ($49.6 million) and Juice Force ($47.2 million) are neck-and-neck as the two best-selling brands.
Voodoo Ranger Imperial has amassed more than $85.4 million in sales, growing dollar sales 4.3% year-to-date (YTD) through June 15. The brand has also grown volume (+2.7%) and increased its share of craft dollars to 4.3% (+0.4%) YTD.
Juice Force has recorded more than $76.4 million in sales, growing +10.1% YTD, while boosting volume 8.5%, according to Circana scans. The brand has grown share 0.54%, to 3.94% YTD.
Both Voodoo Ranger Imperial (+3.4 dollars, +0.7% volume) and Juice Force (+9.9% dollars, +7.3% volume) have maintained positive dollar and volume trends, despite decelerating in the last four-week period.
Tropic Force is the 11th best-selling brand, with nearly $26 million in sales (+40% YTD) and volume growing 38.9%. However, its 4-week trends in multi-outlet and convenience have slowed and fallen into the red (-3% dollars, -7.5% volume). Still, Tropic Force is the sixth best-selling craft brand in c-stores.
Beyond those three brands, New Belgium is working to revitalize other key offerings, including Voodoo Ranger IPA and Juicy Haze IPA, which Belongie said are admittedly “somewhat dated” in an evolving IPA segment.
Voodoo Ranger’s Hoppy variety pack – the company’s top-selling 12-pack – is also getting attention after losing “all of its distribution at Walmart,” as the retailer cut seasonals and rotators, Belongie said. Increased competition from other IPA packs also hurt its trends.
To reverse negative trends (-26.6% dollars, -27.5% volume YTD), New Belgium has released a Tropical IPA pack, which marked a return to its formula of popular beers mixed with pack exclusives or returning fan favorites, in this case Voodoo Ranger Liquid Paradise (7.8% ABV). An imperial IPA pack will follow later this year.
“We’re seeing much improved results on that Hoppy pack,” Belongie said. “We’re still the No. 1 velocity variety pack in the IPA space, but we want to stretch out that lead, and so that’s a big opportunity for us.”
Belongie also shared trends for Bell’s, Fat Tire and more. Here’s a recap.
Bell’s Oberon Light ‘Lights Out Innovation’
Oberon Light, Bell’s Brewery’s extension of its seasonal Oberon citrus wheat ale, has been the company’s “lights out innovation” and “a home run” this year, Belongie said.
Oberon Light has been the No.1 craft launch in the Midwest, and a top-seven debut nationally, even with distribution limited to Michigan and some surrounding Great Lakes markets, he added.
“It’s lifting the Oberon group to positive numbers in June, and we are going to beat our plan actually on Oberon, which has not happened in a while,” Belongie said. “We’re not necessarily going to be positive for the full year, but we’re going to see some really good results.”
Even with some cannibalization between Oberon Light and original Oberon, the total is growing and the new brand is recruiting new drinkers into the franchise, he added.
“It’s refreshing that brand from a new buyer base in a way that we just hadn’t been able to do from an Oberon OG perspective, which is awesome,” Belongie said.
Oberon Light will remain a seasonal offering, in market from late March through September, with Oberon Eclipse replacing it this fall. Belongie believes there’s an opportunity to expand Oberon Light into core Great Lakes markets in 2026.
New Belgium, Fat Tire Closing in on 35th Anniversary
New Belgium and Fat Tire will both celebrate their 35th anniversaries in 2026.
“It’s a nice opportunity to think about what we do on Fat Tire,” Belongie said.
Fat Tire’s trends have remained “challenged,” and the company is exploring “a number of different things,” including “brand, concept, renovation ideas” and pricing, Belongie said.
YTD through mid-June, Fat Tire’s dollar sales (-23%) and volume (-23.7%) have declined double digits, according to Circana data.
Price appears to be an area where New Belgium may experiment with Fat Tire, due to “pricing gaps” shrinking and collapsing as higher ABV products gain prominence, Belongie said. That’s led to Voodoo Ranger Imperial being priced at the same level as Fat Tire by some retailers, which is a dealbreaker for consumers doing ABV math.
On top of those issues is “a lot of scrutiny by retailers,” Belongie said.
“The items on shelf have to pay the rent, and so Fat Tire is one of those brands that just is falling down in terms of where it places,” he said. “It’s still a strong brand, relative to a lot of brands in the category. But relative to how it’s compared versus some of our other brands, it’s just not performing as well to stay on the shelf.”
Nevertheless, New Belgium is seeing some positives for Fat Tire, including a pick up in buyers under age 40, which lines up with the intentions of the 2023 reformulation and brand refresh.
“We’re seeing, consumer wise, the strategy playing out,” he said, which aimed to transform Fat Tire into a lifestyle brand similar to Kona and imports. “The question for us is with those distribution losses we’ve seen, can we move the needle on that consumer perspective fast enough to really affect the business in a positive way?
“That’s where pricing is maybe a component that needs to play a role.”
Catch up on previous coverage:
New Belgium Learns From Focused 2025; Mini Rippers in 25K Outlets; LightStrike Finds C-Store Groove