BrewDog has announced plans to offer retailers and consumers with a wider choice this spring, by introducing draught stout Black Heart to its core range.
Described as “a no-nonsense dry-Irish style stout”, the 4.1% ABV Black Heart is available in single 440ml, 4 x 440ml and 10 x 440ml can multi-packs and launching exclusively with Booker in the convenience channel.
The Stout category is currently worth £150m in the off trade with 93% of sales made up of just one brand, Guinness. Despite holding a steady 3.0% share of total beer sales for past 3 years (MAT), overall sales have struggled, helped marginally by the introduction of the leading brand’s alcohol-free variant. This provides an opportunity for a fresh distinctively positioned brand to enter the category and unlock incremental growth. As the leading Craft Beer brand, BrewDog is well placed to reinvigorate this category, opening it up to a younger and more premium shopper, driving penetration and additional sales.
Black Heart will also be the first stout, other than the category leader, to feature an in-can widget, providing shoppers with the draught experience to enjoy at home, in a convenient packaged format. BrewDog has also developed a range of iconic and disruptive awareness-driving in-store assets and POS, to support the launch.
Alex Dullard, Head of Customer Marketing at BrewDog, noted: “We believe drinking beer is about discovery and experimentation, with a mountain of different types and styles available. However, when it comes to stout, there really is only one choice on shelf currently, that delivers a true draught experience.
“As the experts in taste and quality, we have worked with our brewers to develop a classic draught stout, brewed in and for this century, that can be offered to those looking to try something new. Consumer testing and insight indicates Black Heart has the potential to drive further growth into the category and deliver profit for our customers, by attracting younger more affluent consumers that have all but given up on the chance of an alternative to the category leader.
“And, in typical BrewDog style, we will be supporting the launch with a widespread tongue-in-cheek media campaign, creating noise around Stout and providing some much-needed vibrancy to the category to excite consumers and drive trial.”
