Brooklyn Brewery is expanding its Special Effects non-alcoholic beer line with a new 12-pack featuring four varieties of non-alc beers.
The variety pack will launch in select markets this fall, and will be distributed throughout the rest of Brooklyn’s 30-plus state footprint in January, 2022. The pack features two existing Brooklyn non-alcoholic beers — Special Effects IPA and Hoppy Amber — as well as two new, pack-exclusive brews: Special Effects Pils and Special Effects Hazy IPA.
The variety pack will also be available for purchase through the brewery’s website, as well as in Whole Foods stores, through an expanded distribution partnership with the grocery chain.
“We’ve seen this culture of trial and experimentation around all beverage consumers, but especially those who are interested in the low-/no-alcohol space,” Samantha Itzkovitz, Brooklyn VP of marketing, said in a release. “The Special Effects variety pack allows us to showcase our growing non-alcoholic lineup and feeds the customer’s desire to sample and figure out what they like in their own time.”
Brooklyn launched its first NA beer — Special Effects Hoppy Amber — exclusively in Sweden in 2019, before expanding into its other markets in 2019. It released its IPA offering in December 2020.
The two NA offerings have outperformed the brewery’s initial expectations for the brand, Itzkovitz said. Year-to-date, the Special Effects brand family makes up more than 10% of the brewery’s total sales.
“With Pilsner and Hazy IPA, we hope to continue in our efforts to expand the style offerings available to consumers of NA beer,” Garret Oliver, Brooklyn’s brewmaster, said in the release. “The options in this category have been so limited for so long, and we hope to add more styles to the lineup as we continue to sharpen our production process and develop new methods for NA brewing.”
Brooklyn’s Special Effects brand ranks seventh among craft NA brands in year-to-date dollar sales for total U.S. xAOC + liquor plus convenience, according to NielsenIQ data for the week-ending October 30 cited by Dave Williams of Bump Williams Consulting. Special Effects recorded $1.9 million in sales, up more than +75% year-over-year.
Off-premise dollar sales in the non-alcoholic segment have increased 25.5% year-to-date through October 9 in multi-outlet and convenience stores tracked by market research firm IRI. While the low/non-alc segment makes up less than 1% of total off-premise craft dollar sales, it is one of the top growth styles based on year-over-year sales growth, “on par with Imperial IPAs in terms of absolute growth,” Williams said.