Brewing seasonal gifts: a sober strategy for the holidays

Discount Store News, Nov 3, 1997 by Laura Liebeck

Holiday gift giving to friends and neighbors

has often meant a bottle of wine or

stronger spirit. Now it also means beer.

The nation's top beer producers are

poised to introduce a host of special beers

designed specifically for the holiday season. What

makes these brews distinctive is the formulation as

well as the packaging. In some cases, even advertising

has been created specifically for the event.

At the heart of the special holiday brews, created

by the specialty beer divisions of the major

brewers, is robust taste often with some added

spices, that are intended to warm the body and

heighten the flavor of the drink on a cold day.

For the beer companies as well as the retailers,

the specialty seasonal brews also were created to

heat up sales during the lull of the colder months.

Beer sells best during the summer (Memorial Day to

Labor Day) and slows somewhat during the winter.

Seasonal beers aren't new, as they harken back

to Roman times when special Christmas beers

were brewed. But they have been getting more

exposure in recent years as brewers try to smooth

out the cyclical nature of beer sales. This is

especially true with entertaining now that the specialty

beers are becoming more acceptable beverages

with which to celebrate special events and as

appropriate accompaniments to food.

"What we're finding now with the specialty beers

is that as consumers become more educated, it's

becoming a more acceptable thing to bring beer to

or serve at a dinner party," said Mark Wildman,

manager for specialty brands at Miller Brewing Co.

Miller, via its specialty beer division, has embraced

the seasonal beer philosophy and reports increasing

sales from its brands: Leinenkugel's, Celis and The

Shipyard. Miller handles seasonal product via this

division, mostly with the Leinenkugel line.

Leinenkugel has five seasonal beers that take the

division through the whole year, Wildman said.

At Miller, no seasonal/holiday beer is identified

by the specific holiday because the company didn't

want to produce a product obsolete the day after

the event. Instead, the beers are associated with a

season and are available for only a short

period of time.

Under the

Leinenkugel name is

Leinenkugel's Winter

Lager, which is

available only during

November and

December.

After the holidays,

Leinenkugel's offers:

Leinenkugel's

Genuine Bock and

Leinenkugel's

Big Butt Doppelbock

for January

through

April; Leinenkugel's

Berry Weiss

(a traditional

wheat beer with

real berry juice),

available May to

August; and

Leinenkugel's

Autumn Gold (a

very smooth,

traditional German

Lager), available September and October only,

Wildman said.

"The idea is to make the specialty beers available

for a three- to four-month period, rotating

them in and bringing the retailer and consumer

something new and interesting," he explained.

At The Shipyard, based in Portland, Maine and

acquired by Miller three years ago, the holiday

beer is called Longfellow Winter Ale (available

October to January), named for Henry Wadsworth

Longfellow, who was born at the site of the brewery,

and Prelude Holiday Ale, geared specifically

for the holidays (November/December).

Celis doesn't offer a seasonal beer.

The only other beer within the Miller family to

get holiday treatment is Lowenbrau, which typically

is promoted at holiday time since it is a premium

beer.

Labatt USA is trying to tap the mounting interest

in beer as a gift/entertaining beverage and for

the holidays will offer Noche Buena by Dos Equis.

Available only for the holiday season, Noche

Buena is intended for holiday gift-giving as well as

for entertaining.

"The interest in holiday beers is growing as people

develop more discriminating

tastes in beer," said Karen

Brew, senior brand manager

for Dos Equis at Labatt USA.

"Wine and champagne are

traditional holiday gifts, but

beer also is becoming a gift,

and there's room to grow this

segment even more."

Also by CCM and Labatt

USA is Tecate, which will be

the subject of a special

Christmas promotion this

year, "Cerebra Las Posadas

Con Tecate!" or Celebrate

Las Posadas with Tecate.

This is a nine-day celebration

in Mexico leading up to

Christmas. It is a time when

friends and families go door

to door in the evening singing

and sharing holiday drinks

and food. This campaign is

intended for Mexican-American

communities.

Beer sales totaled more

than $6.2 billion from food,

drug and mass merchant outlets

for the 52 weeks ended

Sept. 14, according to Information

Resources Inc. Approximately

5% of beer sales, or

about $309.9 million, is

attributable to specialty

beers, sources estimated.

According to IRI data, beer

sales at mass merchants is

rising more quickly than the

other two retail channels, up

97.1% to $112 million for the

recent 52-week period. Food

retailers do the most volume,

however, $5.4 billion, up 4%

from a year ago. Drugstores

are losing ground, down

10.6% to $666.7 million for

the period.

When it comes to holiday/

seasonal beer, AnheuserBush

utilizes its Michelob

brand. For fall (through

Thanksgiving), Anheuser-Bush

will offer Michelob

Maple Brown followed by

Michelob WinterBrew Spiced

Ale, specifically geared to the