New Belgium to contract-brew Island Coastal Lager

USA | With plenty of capacity to spare after a drop in sales, the craft brewer New Belgium has signed a contract to brew and distribute an east coast start-up lager brand, first launched in 2017.

Island Coastal Lager, a self-styled easy-drinking lager at 4.5 percent ABV, was brought to market in South Carolina in October 2017. Last year, distribution expanded throughout the Southeast to include South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Florida. According to Brewbound, its sales were only about 6,000 hl beer last year – which does not seem a lot, given that the beer also became available on Carnival Cruise Lines’ entire fleet of 26 ships. I thought that all you do on a cruise is eat and drink …

The lager will be brewed at New Belgium’s Fort Collins brewery in Colorado. New Belgium has about 1.7 million hl of installed capacity across its two breweries in Fort Collins and Asheville, North Carolina. However, New Belgium’s production declined from 1.1 million hl in 2017 to 990,000 hl last year, media say.