10/14/2025
in 1992, kim jordan founder of approached the owner of the (dennis newlun) at the time about the possibilities of tapping the very first 1/2 barrel of Fat Tire Amber Ale on the retail market. back then, the craft beer culture was still literally in the closets and basements in homes all across Fort Collins. lots of people brewing experiments in their basements similar to how people were growing w**d in their closets. when kim approached Dennis, she told him the story behind this new brew, and dennis’s first thought was, “suuuuure, we can try that.” his theory was based upon this tap handle, PBR Dark, because we were selling it at the time, along with “Michelob Dark”, and it was moving really well. back then, these beers were literally known as “dark beers”…and that’s all we knew at the time. so, in agreement, kim and jeff pulled up to the town pump’s back door, in the tremble court alley, dropped the keg out the back of their station wagon, and we rolled it into the bar and slid it down the stairs. once we got it in the cooler, dennis tapped it and (as I recall) put a hand carved wooden tap handle on the tap upstairs and a star was born. fat tire took off like a bat out of hell, and the rest is history. the point here is that the whole acceptance from dennis to try and sell this “new brew” was predicated on the success of Pabst Blue Ribbon Dark and Michelob Dark…not to mention the fact that dennis newlun was a very open minded bar owner…at least when it came to experimenting with unique and interesting ideas. and THAT, in short, is how the world famous Fat Tire Amber Ale was born on the retail market. As we all know, that was the big staple in the craft beer industry that morphed the closet brewers into the massive culture that it is today.
