I found this Canadian article about a new line extension for one of Labatt Canada's brands, Alexander Keith's which I thought was interesting. They're coming out with two single hop varieties, one hopped with Cascade and one with an unspecified Hallertau variety. The article contains a few tidbits of information which I found interesting as it relates to the issue of crafty beers produced by the macros, which more often than not seem to be percieved as underwhelming or boring by many on BA. The question of why they wont come out with something a bit more bolder rather than playing it safe is often raised in connection with these discussions. Well the article has this to say: Basically they will prominently feature hops in their marketing efforts, but the actual hop flavor will be dialed down to suit "most" beer drinkers. They also imply that the people who said they prefered hoppy beers in their consumer research showed a preference for mildly hoppy beers in blind taste tests. It doesn't say whether the sample group consisted of regular beer drinkers or was slanted towards craft beer drinkers, one would guess it to be the former, and as such they are obviously going for a broader market than the craft beer drinkers. They want the single hop beers to have a wider appeal than just those who like hoppy beers. A macro company going with the crowd pleaser is one (perhaps blatantly obvious) take away from this. Another take away is that they did offer more hoppier versions, and theoretically had a majority of the sample group prefered those hoppier alternatives, the final product would have had a bolder taste. Basically the research and testing done by the macros is holding back bolder macro beers from reaching the market. Over here in Sweden I know that at least Carlsberg Sweden has a set standard for how many from the sample group have to like the beer or express a likelihood of buying the final product for a beer to make it past the devlopment stage. It's likely that Labatt and other companies have their own treshholds for when a beer is given the go-ahead. A beer which shows a broad appeal in trial runs or intitial taste testing is more likely to see the light of day than a beer which is found to have a niche appreciation among a smaller audience. The problem for the big guys is that they need instant likability from a large group of consumers, they're weary of putting out a product in the hopes that the product will grow on the consumer and be picked up over time. They want direct results whereas a craft brewery can put out a product in small volumes and hope that people will discover it over time and grow the brand organically from what initially can be a very small base. This logic generates a tendency towards safe bets. But one might argue that by coming out with what they see as safe bets, they are setting themselves up for failure since the product will be bought by "noone". The regular consumer will not be interested enough to shell out more money for a slightly different product, and the craft beer consumer wont shell out the money for what they see as an inferior product which only remotely ressembles a craft beer. The problem here might be the fact that the big brewers go with the majority opinion in matters where the minority opinion is actually of interest. Not all beers can have majority appeal, and if a new brand of beer is aimed at a niche market (such as extra hoppy beers) then perhaps it is wise to focus on those niche consumers rather than on the majority.
Patrik, that was a well written and thoughtful post! Many of the topics you have brought up have been discussed on other threads. The Megabreweries (in this case Labatt’s) approach the beer market in terms of serving a market; their market is the larger beer drinking market (non-craft). Labatt’s (as is true of the other Megabreweries) wants to sell a lot of beer; they are not interested in selling in the amounts that a typical US craft brewery (e.g., Victory Brewing) sells their beers. If you recall, the ‘story’ behind Budweiser Black Crown was similar: “It started with a bold experiment. A year ago, Budweiser asked its 12 brewmasters to envision their own unique version of one of the world’s most iconic beers. After 12 recipes, six beers brewed for national sampling, and 25,000 opinions, the experiment has resulted in a new golden amber lager based on the voice of the people: Budweiser Black Crown.” So what does the typical American beer drinker have in common with the typical Canadian beer drinker (or any other nationality for that matter)? They prefer a beer that is lightly hopped. I am a little bit surprised at the statement of: “Many people claimed to prefer hoppy beers …” I am not a psychologist but I would be willing to bet there is terminology for describing a condition where somebody likes to state they like (or want) something distinctive but the reality is that they really prefer the mainstream. I have read numerous stories about people who opened their craft breweries and they stated: “we decided the brew the beers that we like”. This is part of the ‘build it and they will come’ business philosophy. It is rare for a BIG, established company (like a Megabrewery) to utilize this philosophy for their business decision making. You state: “if a new brand of beer is aimed at a niche market (such as extra hoppy beers) then perhaps it is wise to focus on those niche consumers rather than on the majority.” This would require the Megabrewery to accept that they will be making a beer that will be sold in smaller quantities like the US craft breweries. I would guess that this will not be acceptable for most (all) of the Megabreweries. On a related matter, Yuengling makes a beer similar to the Alexander Keith’s Cascade Hop Ale in Lord Chesterfield Ale. The Lord Chesterfield Ale is moderately hopped with Cascade hops to provide a light tasting beer with a subtle hop flavor of Cascade hops. I do not know how many barrels of Lord Chesterfield Ale are sold per year but it is a small amount (Yuengling Traditional Lager is something like 75% of their portfolio). Cheers!
I forgot to add the link to the article for some reason so here it is: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/repo...-get-a-hop-on-the-competition/article9283225/
