Heineken is poised to extend its Birra Moretti range of premium Italian beers with the addition of a new wheat beer to its UK portfolio next year.
Birra Moretti La Bianca, described on the brand’s international website as “light” and “naturally cloudy”, is currently only available in Italy, where it has an abv of 5%.
Confirming Heineken’s plans, a spokesman said it was looking to launch La Bianca in the first half of 2018, following a positive response to the brand’s two Le Regionali beers among “Italian restaurants and wholesalers” in the UK.
La Toscana and La Siciliana launched in May in 500ml bottes (rsp: £2.29), designed to tap increasing consumer interest in matching beers with food.
It comes as part of a wider push to position Heineken’s brands as accompaniments. There was “a big opportunity for cross-category merchandising and matching beer and cider with food” said Heineken category and shopper marketing director Toby Lancaster, such as stocking products alongside chilled meal solutions.
Despite being delisted in Tesco’s cull of Heineken brands early in February, the Birra Moretti brand has proved popular with other supermarkets, picking up a slew of listings in Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Iceland over the past year.
Moretti added a cool £6.7m (32.2%) to its value over the last year, having sold an extra 1.8 million litres as shoppers turned away from mainstream lagers towards pricier world beers [Nielsen 52 w/e 9 September 2017].
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