Lexington, KY - New Belgium Brewing, the makers of the popular beer Fat Tire have announced that the company will partner with Kentucky Eagle Distributing to sell in central Kentucky, but not until more than a year from now.
In January special Kentucky labels that were sent to the federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau for approval were released online, at the time a New Belgium spokesman said the beer would be released in Kentucky this spring. But in a press release Friday, the company stated Kentucky and another state, Hawaii, will have to wait to get the company's beers until their planned second brewery in Asheville, NC opens next year.
"Robust sales and capacity constraints have pushed plans back until new capacity is complete," the release states.
“We’ve been starting the distributor selection process earlier than in the past,” New Belgium Brewing’s Sales Co-Pilot, Brian Krueger said in the release. “This allows us plenty of time for planning so that we can really hit the ground running when we open these new territories. Kentucky has been on the horizon for a while now so we’re excited to be moving on to the next stage."