Fierce Beer is to launch a range of ‘beer coolers’ in a bid to lure gen Z drinkers away from fruit ciders, hard seltzers and ready-to-drink cocktails.
The Scottish craft brewer has added Hard Lemonade with Raspberry, Hard Iced Tea with Lemon and Hard Cola with Cherry.
The 4.5% abv gluten-free and vegan friendly drinks are to launch later this month, initially via the brand’s DTC store and bars (rsp: from £2.50/440ml).
The NPD was inspired by the rise of beer and wine-based mixed drinks – typically known as ‘coolers’ – in global markets including the US and South Africa, said Fierce managing director Dave Grant.
Best served ice cold and with a fruit garnish, they were aimed at younger drinkers seeking “flavourful refreshments that aren’t bitter, but are also not overly sweet”, he added.
The trio differed from ready-to-drink cocktails as they were “still a brewed product”, Grant explained.
“It still gets its sugars from barley,” he said. “It’s still a beer, but we don’t think it tastes anything like a beer. It’s properly fruity, refreshing and quite different.”
Fierce elected to distance its coolers from hard seltzers after research undertaken with Scotland Food & Drink showed shoppers had negative associations with the term, said sales manager Craig Cargill.
“Hard seltzers have failed in the UK because people don’t know what they are, and the companies have done a really poor job of trying to communicate that,” he said.
The brewer – stocked in Asda, Aldi and Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Tesco stores in Scotland – was “in conversations with a few of the mults” about listing its coolers, Cargill said.
He insisted, however, the brand would want them positioned alongside craft beers rather than among RTD cocktails and hard seltzers. Here, they could act as an accessible alternative for consumers bewildered by terms like “DDH Mosaic Pale”, he said.
“This is something to pull market share from RTDs back into the beer category,” he said. “We’re hoping to change perception of what beer can be and get retailers to move out of their safe zone of fruited, hazy things and put a bit of variety back into that category.”
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