Stella Artois volumes have doubled in the past three years and Interbrew UK has its sights set on the brand becoming the biggest selling beer in the UK. This means catching up Carling, which sells one billion pints a year, and Foster's. In the past 12 months Stella sold just under 600 million pints. Interbrew UK, which bought the Whitbread Beer Company last month and Bass this week, is celebrating sales of Stella passing the two million barrel mark in the UK this year, generating sales of £872.3m. The growth of the brand shows no signs of stopping. Marketing and sales director Stewart Gilliland said both volume and value sales of Stella Artois were growing at more than 20%. "We estimate that without its contribution the premium lager category would be in decline in both the on-trade and take home markets." He said its performance was no longer restricted by category in which it operated. Gilliland also maintained the brand could still justify its reassuringly expensive' tag despite the pricing cutting and every day low pricing initiatives in the trade. "Not everybody is using edlp, some have high-low strategies.Whenever the prices are moved, Stella Artois is still at the top end." He believed there is still plenty of room for growth: "In other grocery categories single brands have 25% shares of their markets. Stella still accounts for only 10% of beer sales. "We have ambitious plans for the brand and intend to maintain its momentum. We can get bigger than Carling. We recognise there is an opportunity to get consumers to trade up from standard lager." He put emphasis on the importance of the brand's three pack variants, the can, the 25cl and 33cl bottles. "The success of these three has been a major factor driving incremental sales in all take home outlets. The can is number one in value terms in the take home top 20, the 25cl bottle number 12 and the 33cl bottle number 16." This year Stella Artois is backed by a £22m marketing budget. {{DRINKS }}

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