Boston Beer Company has reformulated yet another of its top offerings.
The company announced today the reformulation of its Samuel Adams Cold Snap spring seasonal release. The recipe tweak follows changes made last year to the formulas for Samuel Adams Summer Ale and every Truly Hard Seltzer flavor.
Meanwhile, Boston Beer’s Truly-branded line of lemonade hard seltzers is also beginning to hit retail shelves today.
In a press release, Boston Beer founder Jim Koch cited the “highly successful reformation” of the Summer Ale seasonal leading the company’s brewers to revisit Cold Snap’s recipe and create a “brighter and smoother” beer.
According to the company, Cold Snap’s new recipe lightens the body, maintains the beer’s warming notes and adjusts the ratio of 10 spices — orange zest, vanilla, lemon zest, coriander, rose hips, hibiscus, plum, grains of paradise, anise, and tamarind — to amplify “orange and vanilla ingredient profiles for added brightness.”
Off-premise dollar sales of Boston Beer’s seasonal portfolio are up 0.6%, to more than $85.5 million through December 1, according to market research firm IRI. However, case sales declined 1% year-to-date. Still, Boston Beer’s seasonals have bucked overall craft seasonal dollar sales (-10.3%) and case sales (-11.7%) declines through November.
Through the first 11 months of the year, off-premise sales of Samuel Adams’ seasonal offerings have outsold Boston Lager, with the long-time flagship’s sales down more than 8%, to around $50 million, year-to-date.
Boston Beer senior communications specialist Meaghan Quinn told Brewbound the the company is “constantly evaluating” all of its products to ensure they meet the company’s quality and taste standards, as well as meet consumers’ tastes.
Cold Snap is available nationwide in 6- and 12-pack bottles and cans, as well as draft through March. The company has released a second seasonal, Mountain Berry, which is available in 6-pack bottles, 12-pack bottles and cans, as well as the Samuel Adams spring bottle and can mix 12-packs.
In other Boston Beer news, the company’s Truly lemonade line, which was announced in mid-October, is beginning to show up in retail stores nationwide.
The product, a clear challenger to Mark Anthony Brands’ Mike’s Hard Lemonade line, is available in mixed 12-packs of four flavors: Original Lemonade, Black Cherry Lemonade, Mango Lemonade, and Strawberry Lemonade. Additionally, the Original Lemonade flavor is available in 16 oz. and 24 oz. single-serve cans.
Truly Lemonade checks in at 5% ABV, with 1 gram of sugar and 100 calories per serving.
“We took the feedback from drinkers and created Truly Lemonade for those looking for more flavor than traditional hard seltzer yet not willing to compromise on calories, carbs or sugar,” Boston Beer senior manager of product development Casey O’Neill said in a release. “It really is the best of both worlds and brings together flavor and refreshment in a way that nothing else in the category does right now.”
According to IRI, Boston Beer’s portfolio-wide off-premise dollar sales are up more than 26%, to more than $1.1 billion, through December 1. The company’s double-digit growth has been largely driven by the Twisted Tea and Truly Hard Seltzer brand families, which are up 19% and 178.4% respectively year-to-date.