24/5/2012 Hall & Woodhouse Premium Ale Insight Report 2012

"The premium ale category in the UK offers retailers an exciting opportunity to add value to the wider beer category. The growth of premium ale over the last decade has been driven by customers seeking high quality, crafted ales to drink at home."
Anthony Woodhouse, Managing Director, Hall & Woodhouse Ltd

"Development of the Premium Ale category is key to ensuring value growth of the wider beer category is sustained. Margin pressures, promotional dependence and diminishing brand loyalty within lager
is eroding the value of beer within take home. Developing the premium ale category and delivering what the increasing number of Premium Ale shoppers & consumers require, is an essential element
to maintaining the health of the beer category."
From the report introduction

28/2/2012 – Marston's PBA Report 2012

PBAs continue to deliver! • Double digit growth in volume and value • Outperforms a declining beer market • Recruiting over 450k new shoppers YOY • Meeting consumer demand for authentic, crafted products • Delivers shoppers with the highest average basket spend • Positioned to benefit from legislation to curb alcohol abuse

"In the medium term the PBA category will require significantly more space as it continues to grow, fuelled by consumer demand for authentic, crafted beer and legislative change that will hit lager and cider the hardest and improve PBAs consumer proposition further."
James Coyle, Marston's National Sales & Marketing Director

For the full report click here

11/11/2011 – Off Licence News

"We have seen the emergence of more microbreweries, increased penetration into the category with a younger age profile, and a movement away from cans to PBAs. "Other trends of note include an increase in popularity of local and bottle-conditioned ales. Alongside this we have seen improving levels of customer knowledge."
Gavin Warburton, beer category manager at Tesco

11/11/2011 – Off Licence News

"The biggest trend we have seen is continuing growth in premium ale at a time when the market has become a lot tougher. "Premium ale is bang on trend in the way consumers are shopping and behaving these days. PBAs, in particular, have that point of difference; provenance and authenticity consumers are looking for."
Neil Jardine, director of take-home and export at Greene King

26/09/2011 - NamNews

“Waitrose Beer and Cider buyer said: "It is no longer the case that premium ales and ciders are only enjoyed by men in country pubs. We are thrilled with this latest spike in sales, which proves that people are experimenting with 'real' cider and traditional ales for the first time and coming back for more”
David Wyllyams

13/05/2011 - Off License News

“Having my beer on the shelves at Tesco and Asda has improved consumer brand awareness no end… The knock-on effect in financial terms is that it actually improves cask sales. People go into a pub and they’ve already made a connection with the brand at Tesco or Asda. It gives them confidence it must be of a certain quality.”
Johnathan Hughes, owner, Great Orme Brewery

27/04/2011

“It is really important to offer customers something different in this category – whilst you need the bigger brands you also need variation to keep customers interested and trying new things.  Butcombe has a great following from an on-trade point of view and we already have their Butcombe Gold as a regional listing, so it made sense to expand to a national listing with their flagship ale.  I was impressed by Butcombe Bitter’s clean finish and bitterness as well as by its packaging - a hugely important part of deciding what we put on our shelves.

“We pride ourselves on our range of fantastic tasting beers – giving our customers a reason to keep coming back to us over and above any reliance on promotions. This new addition contributes to maintaining that reputation.”Oliver Chadwyck-Healey, beer buyer at Sainsbury’s

“Morrisons prides itself on offering its customers a wide range of beers and we like to select brands from smaller British brewers like Butcombe.  Butcombe Bitter went into three-hundred stores across the country and sales are growing steadily.  For a relatively unknown brand outside the West Country, this is good news for Butcombe, especially in what is a very crowded sector."
Matthew Cain, Beer and Cider Buyer, Morrisons.

27/03/2011

“Booker wants to support smaller local breweries and Butcombe is a perfect example as it produces fantastic beers.  Butcombe is very well-known throughout the West Country and we are delighted that independent retailers within a 60 mile radius of the Brewery will now be able to buy their beers and cider directly from us.”
Roger Needham, Category Manager Beers & Cider Booker Wholesale

21/02/2011 - NamNews

UK: Asda Sees Younger Drinkers ‘Turning To Ale’

Sales of ale - traditionally favoured by older drinkers - are soaring among younger men and women, according to Asda. A survey by the group found that bottled ales are now favoured over lager by six out of 10 men aged between 21 and 34 while a quarter of women prefer a glass of ale over wine or traditional spirit and mixer combinations. Sales of premium bottled ales are up 22% among shoppers in their 20s and early 30s, Asda said.
 
The south east is leading the trend, as is Yorkshire, and sales of ales among pre-family shoppers in general are up by 26% since last year. More than a third of those preferring ale said they discovered the beer in the local pub while a quarter said it was down to attending beer festivals.

Dewi Williams, from Asda's beers, wines and spirits team, said: "We're thrilled that our younger customers are migrating towards ales and bitter.

In recent years ale has had an old-fashioned tag unfairly attached to it when in reality it is a rich, often fruity and refreshing tipple well-suited to younger taste buds."

Asda surveyed 18,000 shoppers for its Pulse of the Nation study in early February.

08/12/2010 - www.thegrocer.co.uk 

Asda has reported a 47% rise in local beer sales compared with last month as customers “shun glitzy foreign brands”. The fastest rises were from Skinners’ Cornish Knocker, up 346% year-on-year and Easy Rider, which has seen sales rise by 115% at Asda.

“With the festive season nearly upon us, people seem to be reminded of the joys of their home towns and this is reflected in the surge in local beers being bought,” said Terri Saunders from Asda’s local sourcing team. “The trend really kicked off this year with patriotic football supporters snapping up British brands during the World Cup and it seems even the recent cold snap hasn’t dented our passion for regional favourites as sales have taken off even more over the last few weeks”. 

Off License News Beer Report 2010

“At a local level shoppers appear to have a growing affinity for beers familiar to them and their community”
Andrew Tiffin, Asda

04/12/2010

“Our desire is to bring the best quality locally sourced products to our customers"
David Wyllyams, Waitrose Beer Buyer

The Grocer 2010

“Bottled ale can no longer be viewed as a niche. Almost a quarter of all households shop for the category – almost 6 million a year”
Melinda Bowles, Hall & Woodhouse

2009 Marston's PBA Report

“Consumers are increasingly purchasing brands with authenticity, local provenance and heritage”
James Coyle, National Sales Controller Marston’s