BrewDog Black Heart stout launched into convenience channel

BrewDog has introduced Black Heart, a brand-new draught stout, to its core range, providing retailers and consumers with choice this spring.

Available in single 440ml, 4 x 440ml and 10 x 440ml can multi-packs and launching exclusively with Booker in the convenience channel, Black Heart (ABV 4.1%) is a no-nonsense dry-Irish style stout.

The Stout category is currently worth £150 million in the off trade with 93 per cent of sales made up of just one brand, Guinness. Despite holding a steady 3 per cent share of total beer sales for past three years (MAT), overall sales have struggled, BrewDog noted, helped marginally by the introduction of the alcohol-free variant by Guinness.

BrewDog said 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 claimed it 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 Guinness, to feature an in-can widget, providing shoppers with that much-loved draught experience to enjoy at home, in a convenient packaged format.

“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,” Alex Dullard, head of customer marketing at BrewDog PLC, commented.

“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.”

BrewDog has also developed a range of iconic and disruptive awareness-driving in-store assets and POS, to support the launch.