Cider & Ginger Beer

Everything seems to come full circle in the brewing and brands world. Categories grow and then proliferate into other categories as brand owners look for growth options. One example is cider.

Cider has enjoyed a tremendous last few years with the Magners fuelled growth creating consumer interest and opportunities for other cider makers. A number of quality ciders have emerged to the fore as well as other ciders that are targeted at the 18 to 25 age category.  The latter have taken sales from Premium Packaged Spirit (PPS) brands such as Bacardi Breezer and WKD.

However, as more brands enter the market the traditional cider has begun to take on the uniform of the PPS.  Now, fruit ciders are all the rage and this is where the growth is coming from. Flavour wise these are very close to the fruity PPS brands we became so familiar with. It is basically that sweet fruity flavour that younger people find quite accessible. 

Another example is the ginger beer category. Perhaps initially closer to a PPS in flavour anyway, the market leader here, Crabbies is about to launch a Strawberry version. Consumers will doubtless show interest in this with the power of the Crabbies brand behind it and we’ll soon see the traditional PPS, fighting for the same crowded market place with a fruit cider and a fruit beer!

So, although the PPS brand is in decline, it has been replaced with a version of cider and possibly beer that is not too dissimilar in flavour to its PPS counterpart. I wonder what’s next - perhaps the interest in craft beer is the next category to find its way to the younger drinker?