Dear Client:
Continuing our coverage from yesterday’s CBA-CON, we’re bringing you a wealth of info on 2016 initiatives for new and old Craft Brew Alliance brands. Much of it centers on their new brands, so it’s a case study in what you can expect as CBA makes more partnerships, as they’ve promised they will.
Indeed, CBA is “tackling the changing landscape of the beer industry today” through strategic partnerships, said Karmen Olson, CBA’s senior manager of emerging business. As you know, two of these strategic partnerships have resulted in the addition of Cisco and Appalachian Mountain Brewery
to the portfolio.
Karmen provided some background on the new brewers and discussed CBA’s plans for them moving forward.
TOP THREE PRIORITIES FOR AMB. Their first priority for the Boone-based brewery in 2016 is to “reinforce” the company “as Boone’s beer pioneer.” To accomplish that, they’ll connect the beer to North Carolina through packaging like that of their Long Leaf IPA, which will be their primary brand focus. The can features artwork from a local Boone artist as well as the state flag. Its namesake also comes from the North Carolina state toast. The number two focus will be with Boone Creek Blonde, which gets its name from the creek that runs alongside AMB. The third focus will be Spoaty Oaty Appalachian Pale Ale named after and old mountain blues song.
The second priority for AMB next year is to “bring the story to life” by investing in the market, as CBA will bring dedicated sales reps to Boone and in North Carolina. AMB will also release specialty and small-batch beers only available to Boone community and invest in the community through philanthropy.
The third and final priority is to do all this in channels where they “can actually make a one-on-one connection with consumers to reinforce our local relevance,” Karmen said.
The number one channel with AMB is on-premise, and they plan to make brews available on draft throughout the state starting November 30. The number two channel will be independent grocery, where they’ll launch of cans statewide in February. Once the cans get moving they’ll target the chain groceries to drive volume growth.
Last year AMB did about a 1,000 barrels and since joining CBA’s distribution network in April they’ve shipped out about 1,500 barrels. That’s about “1.5X more than what they did in an entire year in six months,” Karmen said.
TOP THREE PRIORITIES FOR CISCO. Cisco is a little different than AMB as it is more established so the plan for Cisco is to “accelerate the trend.”
The Nantucket-based brewer’s first priority is “phasing production to Portsmouth to provide consumer and wholesalers with consistently fresh beer,” Karmen said. Second, they’re going to bring in dedicated sales reps to New England. The third priority is putting together a national sales team with contacts at New England’s chain retailers like Market Basket.
Whale’s Tale Pale Ale is growing at 59% in its home market, according to Karmen. It will be the brand’s number one priority in 2016. The witbier, Grey Lady, is the number one selling beer at the Cisco brewery but will be their number two priority for next year. Their third focus in beer will be Shark Tracker, a light lager.
As far as channels, the number one priority will be chain grocery, so they want to unlock their national retail sales team to bring more Cisco beer. The number two directive is to “increase velocity” at independent liquor through storytelling and POS. Third is the on-premise.
REDHOOK’S NEW LOOK. Brady Walen, director of brand marketing for Widmer Brothers and Redhook, took the stage to reveal the upcoming plans for Redhook.
You might have caught a glimpse of the new throwback packaging for Redhook ESB. The retro look is successfully driving growth, up 9% and growing. They see huge upside for this package across the country. Redhook will rollout this “classic new packaging across the entire portfolio” and will be their biggest marketing investment for the year.
ESB and Long hammer will continue to be the top brand priorities for Redhook as they enter into 2016. The two brands are the number two and three craft brands in Washington, respectively. Their third priority will be the new seasonal lineup of Blackhook Porter, Summerhook Golden Rye Ale and Winterhook Dark Ale.
Also of note: Audible Pale Ale has become Redhook American Pale Ale as they no longer have a partnership with Dan Patrick. Brady said they’re really trying to “redefine the Redhook position” by moving away from partnerships and “taking a more standalone approach.”
WIDMER BROTHERS KEEPING FOCUS ON HEFE. Widmer Brothers made it their mission last year to rally around Hefe and bring a renewed focus to the brand — and it worked. Hefe maintains its status as the number one craft beer in the uber-competitive state of Oregon. “If this isn’t a success story that we can take outside of the home market and really rally around than I don’t know what is,” said Will Mestayer, assistant brand manager for Widmer Brothers.
Will also shared that Hefe is up 12% in Oregon, up 6% in Washington and up 9% in the Pacific Northwest. Widmer’s Upheaval IPA is up 38% in Oregon and up 36% in the Pacific Northwest. Their seasonals are up 32% in Oregon and a lot of that is attributed to Hefe Shandy’s success, Will said. “We’ve kinda learned that what’s good for Hefe is good for Widmer Bros,” he said.
In 2016, Widmer Bros will “continue working on what’s working for us,” which is focusing on Hefe as the number one priority nationally. They’ll launch Hefe cans in six-packs and 12-packs in Oregon in March of 2016.
They’ve marketed Hefe as Oregon’s favorite craft beer, but they soon may be state’s favorite craft brewery, according to Will. “We have looked at some numbers over the past 30-60 days and we will surpass Deschutes most likely before the end of the year and when that happens we want to position ourselves as Oregon’s favorite craft brewery,” he said.
The company will also place a focus on Replay IPA in Oregon, Washington and California, and expand that package in six-packs and 12-packs to California and Washington. Then to “round out their portfolio” they’re going to add a dark beer as a new core offering with Steel Bridge Porter, which will hit Oregon and Washington in six-packs.
Last few brand family highlights tomorrow.
LATEST IRI: HARD ROOT BEER MAKE SERIOUS GAINS AMONG TOP CRAFT
We’ve heard that hard root beer could already be slowing (seasonal sensitivity?) in the trade. If that’s the case, latest IRI certainly doesn’t reflect it.
The data to October 4 shows Not Your Father’s Root Beer hitting as the sixth biggest craft brand in multi-outlet and c-stores YTD, at 2.72 dollar share of craft (no dollar sales percentage gains, ’cause it doesn’t have a comp). For the latest four weeks, it’s at 7.61 dollar share of craft, and for 13 weeks, it’s at 5.67. That means it actually tops the craft brands list for these latest periods. (Although some readers have already taken offense to it being listed as “craft.”)
But Coney Island Hard Root Beer is starting to show up, too: It’s debuted on the top 30 MULC craft brands in our data this month, at 0.58 dollar share of craft YTD. But it, too, is making serious gains in more recent periods: it’s at 2.15 dollar share the latest four weeks, putting it among the top six craft brands or so, and 1.57 for 13 weeks.
Other notable trends: Still lots of bleeding at the top. But Sierra Pale is still up a solid 7% in dollars YTD at the top, and trending in the +5% range for more recent periods. Also conspicuous: Shiner Bock has held steady among top five craft brands, even accelerating its 7.3% YTD dollar growth to 9.1% the latest four weeks (it’s up about 7% for 13 weeks).
Lagunitas IPA is still up 50% in dollars YTD, 36% for latest four weeks and 42% for the 13-week period. Sumpin’ Sumpin’ is still trending in the high ’50’s – 60% dollar growth trend.
BEER BRIEFS:
NO-LI GETS INAUGURAL NBWA BREWER PARTNER OF THE YEAR AWARD. The award was presented during the general session of NBWA†s 78th Annual Convention and Trade Show. Straub Brewery of St. Marys, Pennsylvania, was recognized with the Brewer Partner Sales Execution Award, and Dust Bowl Brewing Co. of Turlock, California, was presented the Brewer Partner Marketing Innovation Award.The awards recognize the brewers who do the best job in the marketplace producing great beer; building strong partnerships; providing valuable education; and offering support to their distributor customers in order to bring their beers to market. In other No-Li news, the brewer is introducing its first Born & Raised IPA 12 oz. 6-pack can package.
Until tomorrow, Jenn
“Defining and analyzing humor is a pastime of humorless people.”
– Robert Benchley
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