Brothers has brought back its Toffee Apple cider less than 18 months after retiring the flavour.
The fan favourite has returned as a permanent fixture in the Somerset supplier’s lineup, alongside an all-new Pineapple & Passionfruit flavour.
Both ciders have launched in 500ml cans at 3.4% abv (rsp: £1.50).
They have rolled into One Stop and Home Bargains, with further “positive discussions with major mults at an advanced stage”, according to Brothers.
Brothers underwent a major brand overhaul in February 2024, with an updated lineup, refreshed packaging and a reduction in abv for its fruited ciders.
At the time, sweeter flavours including Toffee Apple and Cherry Bakewell were sidelined as part of a bid to appeal to more mature cider drinkers, as well as spirits and RTD shoppers.
The ciders underwent further recipe tweaks earlier this year, with the new formulations getting “a more appley base flavour”, said Emma Vanderplank, marketing controller at Brothers Drinks Company.
This had “facilitated a credible opportunity” for Toffee Apple to return without jeopardising the brand’s “strategic approach of using only natural flavours to meet the needs of today’s cider drinkers”, Vanderplank revealed.
Toffee Apple ‘back by popular demand’
“‘Back by popular demand’ is an oft-overused term in marketing circles but, in the case of Toffee Apple, it is wholly apt,” she said. “It has been impossible to ignore the volume of consumer enquiries about this much-loved variant.
“It was a tricky decision not to include it in last year’s relaunch but we’re really pleased to have now found a way to align the product to the rest of the range.”
Since relaunching last year, Brothers had successfully recruited new shoppers, Vanderplank said. Some 76% of total shoppers since last February were new to the brand, she said, citing Kantar data. Meanwhile, 26% of Brothers shoppers were new to the cider category.
“We’re on the right path but we know that we can do more, hence this year’s tweaks to packaging, enhancements to formulations and the expansion of our offering with two new variants,” she added.
Meanwhile, Brothers Cider will return as an official supplier at Glastonbury Festival – which takes place at Worthy Farm, three miles from the company’s cider mill in Shepton Mallet – this summer. The brand first appeared at the festival in 1995.
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