Fort Collins Colorado

Come Enjoy Bikes, Beer and Benevolence while supporting Overland Mountain Bike Club, Bike Ft. Collins and Ft. Collins Bike Co-op

New Belgium Brewing is bringing Tour de Fat, its traveling celebration of things bicycle, home on September 3. In its 12th season, Tour de Fat is more than an event; it’s a rite of passage that includes a costumed bicycle parade, New Belgium beer, eye-popping entertainment, local food, crazy bike contests and much more. Last year, the Ft. Collins Tour de Fat stop had approximately 15,000 attendees and raised more than $52,000 for local non-profits.

A highlight of every Tour de Fat stop is the annual car-for-bike swap and we’re still looking for a swapper to represent Ft. Collins in this challenge! At each Tour de Fat stop, one person hands over his or her car keys and commits to one year of living car-free. Each car-for-bike swapper will receive a hand-built Black Sheep (http://www.blacksheepbikes.com/) commuter bike in return for his or her car.

Volunteers are chosen after submitting an application describing their desire to live sans- car. To apply, go to New Belgium’s Tour de Fat Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/TourDeFat), click on events and your city of choice, and upload your application in one of three formats: video (two minutes or less, please), photo or the written word.

“Ft. Collins is where this cycling carnival first came to life, so it’s always fun when we get to bring it back home,” said Bryan Simpson, spokesman for New Belgium. “People who haven’t witnessed Tour de Fat don’t quite know what to expect, but that’s what we love. It’s an uninhibited day of quirky costumes, bikes and entertainment while supporting our non-profit friends.”

Here are details about the Ft. Collins event:

Date: Saturday, September 3

Parade Registration: 9:00 a.m.

Ride Times: 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.

Entertainment: 11:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Location: Civic Center Park – North Howes Street and La Porte Avenue

Benefitting: Overland Mountain Bike Club (http://www.overlandmtb.org/) Bike Ft. Collins (http://www.bikefortcollins.org/) Ft. Collins Bike Co-op (http://fcbikecoop.org/)

Sustainable Support By: Zero Hero (http://www.zeroheroevents.com/)

Performances By: The Daredevil Chickens Club – www.daredevilchicken.com The Dovekins – www.myspace.com/dovekins YoYo Squared – http://www.yoyoshow.com Los Amigos Invisibles http://beta.amigosinvisibles.com/ The Claptet – http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Claptet/235723659784548 Matt Skellenger – http://www.mattskellenger.com/ Sambadende – http://www.sambadende.com/ That 1 Guy – http://www.that1guy.com/

Price: Admission – Free Parade – Suggested donation of $5 or more Beer – $5 for a 16 oz. pour

A few tidbits about Tour de Fat:

Tour de Fat encourages everybody to team up and present each city with the most colorful, respectful and creative bike parade ever witnessed. (Hint: No one stands out like the guy who was too cool for a costume!) Tour de Fat seeks to leave as small an environmental imprint as possible and composts and recycles waste. The waste diversion rate for 2010 was 91 percent. Tour de Fat is free to attend, but beer and merchandise proceeds go to local cycling non-profits. During its lifespan, Tour de Fat events have raised more than $1.75 million for philanthropy. Last year Tour de Fat raised $331,428. All musical acts perform on a solar-powered stage decorated with recycled materials; trucks and transport use biofuel sourced from recycled waste oils; and all vendors operate off the grid.

This is a pro-bike celebration, not an anti-car rally…non-cyclists are more than welcome to join the festivities.

Still breaking ground in their 20th year, New Belgium Brewing has dipped into the world of publishing with Tour de Fat; Sights, Sounds, Feelings, Flavors, a coffee table art book celebrating the first eleven years of the Colorado brewer’s traveling, philanthropic bike festival. The limited edition hard cover book chronicles the trials and triumphs of building an event from the ground up. From the early years when the whole show fit in the back of a pickup truck to 2010’s hometown Tour de Far with more than 15,000 attendees, the story is a first-person narrative from the cyclists, carnies, performers and car swappers who lived to tell the tale.

“Having seen this thing grow up from the get-go,” said New Belgium Spokes Model, Bryan Simpson, “the book truly reflects and celebrates the blood, sweat and perseverance it took to build this event into a powerful philanthropic engine and a bike advocacy building block.”

The project stems from a long-standing collaboration with Fort Collins-based independent publisher, Wolverine Farm Publishing. WFP staff and volunteers have traveled with the tour for the last six years extolling the virtues of literature married to activism and art. Publisher Todd Simmons published and edited the book.

“Tour de Fat rises above every other summer festival in its commitment to artistic integrity, philanthropic protest, and complete worship of the bicycle, and this book is merely an extension of that—a wildly flung tail of the last eleven years,” said Simmons.

This season Tour de Fat is expected to surpass $2 million raised for bike advocacy since its inception. With stops in 13 cities throughout the summer and fall, the Tour raises money for non-profits thru beer sales and challenges one driver from every city to give up their car for a year in exchange for a bicycle. Every event starts with a costumed bike parade followed by a mix of music, vaudeville and general spectacle topped off with the actual swapping of a car for bike and a celebratory dance party.

The book is available online at or at Tour de Fat events throughout the year.

New Belgium Brewing (www.newbelgium.com) today announced two new releases in its Lips of Faith series, “Kick” and “Clutch.” Both are collaboration beers suitably named in honor of their collaborative counterparts and each offers something fine and rare in the Lips of Faith tradition. Lips of Faith beers are New Belgium’s more esoteric creations, delivering palate-elevating brews that are only available for a limited time.

New Belgium’s Founder and CEO, Kim Jordan, and Seattle-based Elysian Brewing Founder and Head Brewer, Dick Cantwell, are in cahoots again with Kick, a ruby-hued, slightly sour ale. The rich and tart pumpkin cranberry ale is blended with wood-aged beer to deliver a uniquely complex harvest season sour. Kick’s ABV is 8.5%. Elysian and New Belgium have a history of celebrated creations with past “collabeerations,” including eight beers in the Trip Series.

Clutch is the result of synchronicity with the Maryland-based hard rock band with the same name. The sour stout has a pronounced bass line of dark chocolate, coffee and black malts that bridge the sourness of the dark wood ale for a fluid riff. Clutch’s ABV is 9%.

“Clutch is one of my favorite bands and this collaboration derives from the perfect storm of random happenings,” said New Belgium brewer Eric Salazar. “The band made a stop in Ft. Collins to tour our brewery, but we were closed. That day, I happened to run into them at a Ft. Collins restaurant and we started talking. I offered them a tour and the next thing you know, we’ve produced a soulful beer together.”

Kick and Clutch are available August through October. Pricing varies by market.

To find New Belgium beers in your area, you can use the New Belgium Libation Location tool: http://www.newbelgium.com/beer.aspx. You can also follow New Belgium on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/newbelgium

This year’s festival, the 22nd Annual Colorado Brewers’ Festival in Historic Downtown Fort Collins will take place June 25 & 26, 2011. All Colorado beers, delicious food, Colorado music and fun. Over 50 Colorado beers and thirty Colorado breweries represented along with great live music Saturday and Sunday in historic Downtown Fort Collins.

Adam D’Antonio of Odell Brewing stated, “I read a quote at one point that described Fort Collins as ‘the Napa Valley of beers’, and I really think that’s true. Brewing is a great cultural part of Fort Collins; it helps solidify what Fort Collins is all about. The breweries here are a part of the community, we’re not just employers, and that makes Fort Collins really special.”

he new event format gives Colorado beer fans access to face-to-face brewery interactions, Colorado beer sampling including taster notes, enjoying local food, two stages of stellar Colorado music, and brings the community and long time friends together to celebrate.

The Colorado Brewers’ Fest is made up solely of Colorado Breweries, including host breweries from Fort Collins: Anheuser-Busch, Big Horn Brewery/CB & Potts, Coopersmith’s Pub & Brewing, Equinox Brewing Co., Fort Collins Brewery, Funkwerks, New Belgium Brewing Co., Odell Brewing Co., and Pateros Creek Brewing Co. TASTER’S GUIDE: Pick up the official Colorado Brewers’ Festival guide in the Fort Collins Coloradoan or at the festival. Which breweries and beers came last year? Find out the 2010 Brewery Lineup

NO PETS ALLOWED IN FESTIVAL AREA

ENTERTAINMENT: Nothing goes better with beer than great tunes! Check out the lineup of Colorado bands for the best music show around. Two continuous stages of entertainment! Enjoy bluegrass, comedy, rockabilly, folk singers and all in just two days!

VOLUNTEERING: The Downtown Business Association accepts volunteers to work 4-hour shifts throughout the event. As a Colorado Brewers’ Festival volunteer, you will receive a special edition T-shirt and deeply discounted admission into the tasting festival. Please call (970) 484-6500 to volunteer.

Proceeds from the Colorado Brewers’ Festival help to fund the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, Santa Claus, the holidays downtown, free summer concerts, and the 4th of July Downtown.

Fort Collins Craft Brewers Unite

Local Breweries Collaborate for American Craft Beer Week

The craft brewers of Fort Collins will join forces to brew a collaboration beer for the mother of all beer weeks. Nine local breweries (C.B. & Potts, Coopersmith’s, Crooked Stave, Equinox, Fort Collins Brewery, Funkwerks, New Belgium, Odell Brewing, and Pateros Creek) will work together to craft the unique brew in honor of American Craft Beer Week.

“American Craft Beer Week (ACBW) is all about recognizing and celebrating craft brewers and craft beer culture,” said Doug Odell, founder of Odell Brewing Company. “This collaboration lets us do that and have fun making something special for the craft beer drinkers in our hometown community.”

Brewers from each local brewery worked together to create the beer recipe and wparticipated in two simultaneous brews at Coopersmith’s and Equinox on Friday, April 22nd.

The finished blend will be poured at each brewery’s location, throughout the city, during American Craft Beer Week (May 16-22, 2011).

For more information on American Craft Beer Week, please visit www.craftbeer.com.

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