Spring 2015 | V.83 ORIGLIO BEVERAGE IPA EASTCOAST WESTCOAST & EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN Retail Edge Seasonals The Beer Guy New Products Programs NOT THE SAME OLD CINCO | SPRING SELECTIONS | MARKETING PLANNING Letter toTHE TRADE Dear Valued Customer, In This S WE APPROACH THE SPRING SELLING ISSUE season, I wanted to share with you that A consumers’ current preference for beer is the highest it’s been since 2005. Although there has been a shift in specific beer-style preferences, light Cover Story .........................1 beer still dominates with about 49% of the total beer category. Americans still drink light beer, just on fewer occasions. Those light-beer drinking occasions Brewer Highlight .................2 are coming in the next few months when many beer drinkers will be choosing lighter, more refreshing, sessionable beers. Bensalem Beer and Soda .....3 Research shows Millennial consumers [legal drinkers age 21-33] prefer authenticity. Many of our light brands are the most authentic and award-winning Blue Dog Tavern ..................4 in the business! Coors Light was recently awarded a silver medal in the light beer category at the 2014 Great American Beer Festival. And this spring, Coors Light is offering Citrus Radler, the first American light lager seasonal. It is the New Products .....................5 “World’s Most Refreshing Beer” combined with a blend of natural citrus flavors, creating a beer that is perfect for warm weather consumption. Yuengling Light Lager is an exceptional brew that appeals to consumers who don’t want to Seasonal Selections .......... 11 sacrifice character for a low-calorie beer. As the traditional lager-buying, brand-loyal beer drinker has had to scale back, the industry has sought to understand its potential new customers. It has found Available Year-Round Millennials are variety seekers who like to try different things. Brand loyalty Perfect for the Season ....... 23 is not as important to them and that is a major factor in current beer trends. Today, consumer tastes are evolving, which means they are willing to trade-up to imports and crafts with more flavor. To satisfy the trade-up and meet the desire Programs ......................... 24 for light beer, offer a few selections from the craft and import segments. Check out pages 11 through 22 for some exciting seasonal selections. As for imports, Corona Light has twice the IBUs as an average domestic light beer, which offers Retail Edge ...................... 28 a true taste advantage in the light beer category. Other light imports we have available are Heineken Light and Amstel Light. These are great options for a light beer with full flavor. Tecate Light is an established brand which has shown The Beer Guy ................... 29 impressive growth. Our import brands will also have programming and support for several key beer-selling occasions in the coming months. The importance of a balanced lineup is the constant that remains to increase beer sales. Take a look at the following pages and consult your Origlio sales representative for updates to your portfolio that will work for your customers. As always, thank you for your business. Sincerely, ® Dominic Origlio President Heady Times is published five times a year, courtesy of Origlio Beverage. CoverSTORY East Coast IPAs, West Coast IPAs And Everything in Between T’S AN IPA WORLD AND WE ARE JUST LIVING IN IT,” A CRAFT BEER Stone Go To and Oskar Blues Pinner have enthusiast said at a recent beer festival. And who could argue with lower ABVs. Then, customers started looking Ithat? Innovative craft brewers, unconstrained by style dictates, have beyond ABVs and noticed the new IPA styles.” access to an unprecedented variety of hops which they combine to While speaking about the abundance of new create new and exciting flavors. Because beer drinkers continue to crave IPA styles, Ron Lindenbush of Lagunitas said, hops, there is still demand for the stream of new, style-bending IPAs “ “Beer drinkers that like hoppy beers need to hitting the market. Backing up that claim, Bump Williams Consulting understand the many [IPA] sub-categories reports that IPAs are the most “called for” style of beer across the bar so they can find the beer that they like to and in stores today. The company also reports that an astonishing 40% drink.” Some IPAs are more bracingly bitter, of all tap handles in the U.S. are devoted to IPAs. while others lean toward hop flavor rather Once upon a time it was enough to know that English IPAs and American IPAs than bitterness. Lagunitas beers are full of were different. The English beers tend to be mellower and less hoppy than their rich, juicy hop flavors, but not so bitter on modern American counterparts, which have more citrusy hops. Easy drinking the finish. Lindenbush added, “We’ve made Samuel Smith India Ale is a perfect example of an imported English IPA. Closer several hoppy beers with different malt to home, Great Lakes Commodore Perry IPA is well-hopped, but with a dry, fruity varieties. Our flagship IPA and our Maximus finish. “It’s the perfect introduction to the world of IPAs as the mouth feel is IPA are both brewed with crystal malt to bold with just enough bitterness and a nice clean finish,” says Mark Weinman, maintain the richness and to harmonize with Great Lakes Sales Manager for Eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey. the massive hop favors. A Little Sumpin’ Sumpin’ is brewed with 50% wheat malt Then the IPA landscape became a bit more complicated. American IPA styles that really allows the hops to shine. A Little soon fell into two distinct camps, East Coast and West Coast. East Coast styles, Sumpin’ Wild has lots more wheat as well as such as Harpoon IPA, contain their fair share of hops, but these beers are also more pale malted barley, and it is fermented appreciated for their malt complexity. West Coast IPAs, on the other hand, are all with a Belgian yeast strain which has unique about hops – big, bold American and Australian varieties in particular that impart flavors of its own that add to the hoppy flavor flavors described as citrusy, fruity, piney, herbal and even resinous. Beers brewed and aromas.” in this style include Firestone Walker Union Jack, Sierra Nevada Hop Hunter & Torpedo, Green Flash West Coast IPA and IPAs produced by 21st Amendment, Mark Weinman agrees that the craze and Stone, Lagunitas and Oskar Blues, just to name a few. demand for IPAs will continue. All the more reason, he believes, to be aware of the To further complicate the situation, Harpoon, previously identified as the styles you offer. American or English? Hop producer of East Coast IPAs, prefers to be known as the maker of New explosion or bitter sweetness? Weinman England style IPAs which they define as a style that balances big bold hops cautions, “The candy store is open but with a strong malty backbone. which candy are you going to sell? If you Chris Wilson, head brewer for Weyerbacher and creator of the brewery’s Last don’t know the difference, then you might Chance IPA, reminds us that despite their East Coast location, Weyerbacher be selling only one piece of candy.” is known for creating Double Simcoe IPA, in addition to Belgian-style ales Jersey Dan, who represents Brooklyn’s like Merry Monks and Blasphemy. “We are known for our use of Simcoe Sixpoint Brewery which makes Sweet Action, hops. But in creating Last Chance, our objective was to create something Bengali and Resin to name a few, agrees with that is our OWN. So we used Simcoe hops – our signature hop – to give the Weinman. But he is concerned that some beer a bright, hoppy taste, but the beer also has an earthy aroma and slight retailers think any hoppy beer is an IPA that malty finish. The flavor of Last Chance IPA to us says, this beer is a modern will be a slam dunk, tap list cash cow. Dan American IPA, but it’s a Weyerbacher IPA.” adds, “The variety is mind blowing. With many Yes, all this underscores that there are a lot of IPAs on the market with establishments dedicating multiple tap lines more arriving daily. But saying that new IPAs are coming to market is a bit to IPAs, having a balanced list with a pointed misleading. Brewer innovation is at an all-time high and they are actually bit of education will lead to a more intelligent/ creating entirely new sub-categories of American IPAs. That’s actually the crux delicious experience [for the consumer]. of this discussion. How do you wrap your head around the IPAs that might just Choosing to have 3 IPAs on tap out of 12 be described as “everything in between”? lines is only a sound move if they are diverse in style and strength. A ‘too many cooks in Matt Guyer, owner of the retail store, Beer Yard in Wayne, PA says, “Oddly, the kitchen’ situation can be avoided when the arrival of session IPAs has highlighted the fact that there are many a carefully curated tap list runs the gamut of different kinds of American IPA sub-categories. Initially customers just focused flavor, ABV and price.” on the fact that IPAs like Sam Adams Rebel Rider, Lagunitas DayTime IPA, www.origlio.com HeadyTimes v.83 1 BrewerHIGHLIGHT Ryan Krill Cape May Brewing Co. YAN KRILL, CO-OWNER OF CAPE MAY BREWING CO. HAS always been interested in beer, visiting various bars while attending R graduate school at New York University. “My favorite spot, the Spring Lounge, had a great selection of craft beer and I had the opportunity to begin trying exciting varieties from breweries all over the country,” he says.