AB InBev is extending Stella Cidre into the pear cider market.

The brewing giant today announced that it would begin rolling out Stella Cidre Pear to the on-trade in the next few weeks, before its off-trade launch in grocers, indies and wholesale from June.

It will be sold in single 568ml bottles and six-bottle cases and is described as having a crisp, sophisticated and refreshing taste.

The launch comes after a strong first year for Stella Cidre, which has clocked up  £36m in supermarket sales [SymphonyIRI 52 w/e 17 March 2012] and now holds a 16.8% share of the off-trade cider market by volume [Nielsen 31 March 2012].

“We are absolutely delighted with the success of Stella Artois Cidre and it is our intention to continue to innovate to give choice to our consumers, and growth opportunities for our customers,” said Stella Artois European marketing director James Watson.

“With the proven success of Stella Artois Cidre and the research results we have seen for Stella Artois Cidre Pear, we anticipate our new variant will give a further boost to the cider category.”

An integrated marketing campaign for Stella Artois Cidre and Cidre Pear will run throughout the summer.