Colorado Breweries History: New Belgium Brewery Jeff Lebesch, an American electrical engineer, while pedaling his fat tired mountain bike across Belgium acquired the special yeast strain now used for the New Belgium Brewery'sAbbey Belgian Style Ale. In June of 1991, from a tiny basement operation in the Lebesch's Fort Collins home, New Belgium Brewing Company (NBB) capped its first brews. Fat Tire Amber Ale was named after the Belgium bike ride. In 1995, New Belgium Brewery built a state-of-the-art brewery that inclued two quality assurance labs, a profoundly automated brew house, a one of a kind yeast propagator and 6 miles of stainless steel piping. The New Belgium Brewery is a nationally recognized paradigm of environmental efficiency. From leading edge enviro–gizmos (like the steam condenser on kettle reusing hot water) to conspicuous pragmatism (sun tubes providing daytime lighting), one can witness conservation and recycling throughout many functions of the building. In fine environmental pioneering fashion, the entire New Belgium Brewery staff agreed in 1998 to the financial commitment to make their facility the first wind powered brewery in America.