The story of Korev, a very Cornish lager

Originally launched in 500ml bottles in 2010 and then on draught in 2011, Korev lager has been an outstanding success story for St Austell Brewery. It was conceived by St Austell's Head Brewer, the late Roger Ryman as a result of challenge from the companies Board of Directors. They felt that although Tribute had become a tremendous brand in the ale sector, the company needed to look to the future where lager sales were on the increase at the detriment of ale.

To create the new lager Roger worked closely with the St Austell marketing team. One of the first tasks was to come up with a name for the new brand and create its values and imagery. We wanted a brand that was uniquely Cornish but at the same time was a premium lager, capable of taking on the major World lagers such as San Miguel and Heineken. A local advertising agency, Bray Leino who were based in North Devon were instructed to help us achieve this and they came up with the name Korev. 

Korev is the Cornish word for beer so fitted perfectly with our ambitions. The imagery created reflected the Cornish heritage, focusing on the Cornish cross and using the Cornish coastline as a backdrop. However, the name Korev, although brilliant in its Cornishness to those in the far South West, was to prove a double edged trait.  As the brand began to grow from its geographical roots many drinkers wrongly assumed the name was eastern European and that the new lager must come from Poland or similar! 

Roger Ryman pictured at the initial bottling run of Korev

With the marketing of Korev going well, Roger was busy developing the new lager. He used a genuine Bavarian bottom fermenting yeast strain and although Korev was originally brewed in traditional squares, cylindroconical vessels would eventually be installed. The brew time of the new lager was to be two weeks, before transferring to a lager tank at -1degree C holding (lagering) for a further week before packaging.

Korev was initially brewed in bottles, but the challenges really began when it was launched on draught a year later. When Korev was launched Roger likened brewing a lager to running down the beach naked as there was no hiding place - the flavours in lager are delicate and subtle so any imperfections to the taste would be immediately obvious. Roger originally described Korev as being in the Hellas style although overtime he would change this view to being more of a Pilsner style and I'd have to agree with this later description.

It was in the summer of 2011 that the brewing challenges of Korev really began to hit home. St Austell had a very strong sales team and they were champing at the bit to get Korev on draught. By the early summer of 2011 installs were going so well that St Austell had to restrict them, production of the new lager could not keep up with demand. As a result, the lager time in tank began to shrink from the planned one week as sales demanded more - Roger would later reveal that for some brews it had been as little as one day. Regretfully this affected quality and the clean crisp refreshing taste of Korev began to take on other less attractive more sinister flavours - Rogers naked run on the beach analogy was coming true!

There was huge demand from licensees and the sales teams for the new lager but St Austell simply did not have the production capacity to meet this in the first year. Somehow we got through that difficult period and Roger would remark years later that we were a little fortunate that no long term damage was done to the brand with the inconsistency of flavours.  A valuable lesson was learned and further investment in production facilities was soon in place as well as improved awareness of likely demand.

On the marketing front it was important that Korev developed some aspirational brand values. A link to surfing seemed ideal and a contract was negotiated to make Korev the Official Beer of Surfing GB (later to become England). This was a major masterstroke as we were able to place Korev in many high profile coastal bars etc that would become shop windows for the brand. 

Korev sponsored Looe Music Festival

Other sponsorships and appointments of brand ambassadors soon followed including Luke Dillon, Newquay based surfer and the highest ranked British surfer in the World. Sponsorships extended to many outside events/festivals such as Looe Music Festival and North Devon's Oceanfest as a strong link to music was built up giving the brand appeal to a younger market. Evermore engaging and innovative merchandise were developed such as the Korev Ford Ranger which became a familiar sight at events, plus giant deck chairs, steel barrel poser tables, seemingly hundreds of feather flags and there was even sponsorship of a Silent Disco!

The Korev Ford Ranger and a selection of merchandise on show for a sampling at Exeter University

The Korev story was completed in 2017 as a brand update took place tweaking the imagery to make it more contemporary. A new bespoke premium glass was also developed which gave Korev access to an improved head keeper. This latter point was important as Korev could sometimes pour a little flat compared to its peer's and the new glass resolved that issue.

Updated Korev bar font and glassware

As a marketer I was very proud to have worked on the Korev brand and was one of those that put in many hours at festivals etc making sure the Korev branding was always premium and to the forefront. It is a great brand and has led the way for other regional lagers to follow but has always remained true to its Cornish roots with strong premium credentials. I'll end the story here apart from the following, as there can be fewer greater measures of success than these comments from the St Austell sales team.

"Korev is a great door opener for us, licensees want to stock Korev but as they can only buy it from St Austell Brewery they have to trade with us, it has become a must stock brand for many pubs and bars in the far South West".