Why this has been the summer of Fat-Tire-mania.

Posted by Colin Clark on Sep 14th, 2009 | Comments home title

Jeb Banner posted an article at Smaller Indiana about how everyone has gone ga-ga for Fat Tire which is a beer brewed in Colorado which has recently become available here in Indiana. I weighed in with a heavy comment so I had to share it.

The story of why this has been the summer of Fat Tire is much much much more complex than packaging. A few years ago Fat Tire was only available in Colorado. This was when I first heard about it. Someone visited there and brought the story back of this delicious beer.

Eventually they started making it available further and further East. I had a friend in college who used to always take trips to St. Louis and bring back cases of Fat Tire. Another friend used to fill his SUV with Fat Tire from St. Louis and drive it to Phish shows on the East coast. He would sell out for a huge profit.

Last December I was in Illinois and found that they had started selling Fat Tire there as well. I bought several six-packs to share with friends. Not long after that, we discovered that it would soon be available here as well. We were pretty excited.

The Fat Tire story has been building and spreading for a LONG time. This is a perfect example of how word of mouth marketing can start a frenzy.

Here’s the thing… Coors used the exact same strategy when they expanded out of Colorado. They had huge market share when they first hit the midwest and east coast in the 80’s. Now, of course, they’ve lost that advantage and go head to head with Miller and Budweiser.

Personally, I don’t like Fat Tire as much now that I can get it everywhere. I think the fact that it was scarce was what made it so good (not that it’s not a good beer – it is – I’m just saying it used to be magical). I wonder how long Fat Tire-mania can continue?

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Kevin Hood

You are completely right, the packaging has little to do with it. I remember friends at Ball State bringing back cases and cases of Fat Tire over ten years ago. The small supply and growing demand made it big. The good taste and cool name helped as well . . . the packaging? not so much.