Thatchers Cider is to introduce a new Apple & Blackcurrant variant in the off-trade.
The flavour is made with dessert apples including Fuji and Gala, supplemented by a “natural” blackcurrant flavouring.
It would offer drinkers “a rich, refreshingly fruity” taste, Thatchers said.
The new cider will be available in 4x440ml (rsp: £5.89), 10x330ml can packs (£12) and 500ml single glass bottle (£2.25) formats.
It will initially roll into Tesco from 7 November. A price-marked pack of 4x440ml cans (£6.69) will also be available via Booker.
The 4% abv cider was developed after the West Country cider maker identified an opportunity to trade up ‘dark fruits’ cider drinkers, according to Thatchers’ commercial director Jonathan Nixon.
The sub-segment makes up over half of cider and perry sold in the off-trade [Circana 52 w/e 12 August], and Nixon said there was “huge potential ahead” to revive and premiumise dark with “a fresh approach” and “a relentless focus on quality, taste and consistency”.
“We have been inundated with requests from consumers for some time to produce a blackcurrant-flavoured cider for the off-trade based on its success as a fusion flavour in the on-trade,” he said. “We know the category needs reviving.”
Thatchers introduced a Blood Orange variant in January 2022. Nixon said the line had added more value than any other product in fruit cider in the last year with £12.1m [Circana].
“It’s a quality product with great taste and great consistency. And now we’re hoping to bring that to dark fruits,” he added.
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