UK: Heineken unveils new lower-alcohol, less-bitter Heineken Silver beer
Heineken has unveiled its biggest ever launch a lower-alcohol, less-bitter spin-off called Heineken Silver, The Grocer reported on March 4.
The brewing giants new lager (4% abv) uses an ice-cold brewing process to create a significantly less bitter taste than the brands core lager and a lighter drinking profile.
Heineken is set to splash £20 mln on marketing the launch, and will mount a one million can sampling campaign to build awareness.
The launch is especially designed to appeal to gen Z and millennial shoppers. The beer category was underindexing with 18 to 34-year-olds thats a historic trend, Heineken category & commercial strategy director Alexander Wilson told The Grocer.
This age group was looking for a beer that is a little bit less bitter, he added hence the new drink had roughly half the bitterness of Heineken original at 10 IBUs (International Bitterness Units).
It will launch on 21 March in 330ml bottles and 330ml slimline cans, which Wilson said would nicely differentiate it from the rest of the category as well as the core beer.
It marks the second major Heineken launch in weeks: last month, the brewer unveiled Strongbow Ultra Dark Fruit, a lower-calorie cider similarly aimed at younger shoppers.
Its important for the long-term health of the category to bring younger consumers through, Wilson said.
We do recognise that innovation sales have been low during the pandemic, he added. A lot of manufacturers have concentrated on core to keep supply running and pulled innovation back but innovation is critical.
The move comes on the back of a strong year for the core Heineken beer: its sales were down just 0.8% over the year to 29 January 2022, against the tough comparables of the prior period, while many rivals saw much steeper declines [NielsenIQ].
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