Alcohol-free beer brand Lucky Saint has introduced a Hazy IPA to its line-up.
The beer is the brand’s first piece of NPD since it debuted in 2018 with a 0.5% abv lager.
While Lucky Saint Lager is brewed in Germany, the new brew is produced in the UK.
Hazy IPA (rsp: £6/4x330ml) would be available online from today (7 December) and was set to land in all major grocers in time for Dry January, said Lucky Saint.
It combined Citra, Mosaic, and Simcoe hops and a California ale yeast, resulting in a “juicy, hazy IPA with notes of tropical fruit, zesty citrus, and fresh pine”.
The launch came with Lucky Saint having established itself as a top 10 alcohol-free beer brand, with sales of £3.76m [Circana 52 w/e 4 November 2023].
The UK’s low & no beer market had reached “an inflection point” with value sales of the category up 25% to £125m year on year [Circana], Lucky Saint founder Luke Boase told The Grocer.
This, and customers and retailers “asking ever more frequently and ever more loudly” for an IPA, had led Lucky Saint to expand its range, Boase said.
“Now is the moment, with where we’ve got to as a brand and where we have got [Lucky Saint] lager to, for us to go from one to two products,” he added.
Boase said increased competition in alcohol-free lager was “definitely not a motivation” for extending into ale, adding its lager “continued to climb up the ranks and perform really well against mainstream brands”.
The introduction of the Hazy IPA would be “net positive” for sales, Boase claimed, dismissing fears the new brew could cannibalise sales of its lager.
“We think it delivers more brand visibility, which helps us to activate more within retail,” he said. “This will drive not just IPA, but also Lager.”
Lager would continue to be “the definitive product and the iconic SKU” for Lucky Saint, with IPA playing “a supporting role”, Boase stressed.
“Lager is 80% of the world’s beer consumption, and we believe if you are going to be a defining brand within alcohol-free, it is going to be with a lager,” he said. “As a brand you need to know what your hero is, and that’s not going to change because we are introducing a new product.”
The launch is to be supported by a multi-channel campaign encompassing digital, social media and influencer activity in December, as well as through the line and PoS in Dry January.
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