Mass. Bay Brewing Co. will look to the Harpoon League brand family — including Rec. League hazy pale ale and Big League hazy double IPA — to drive growth in 2022.
Harpoon brand family shipments declined -6% in 2021, but Mass. Bay CMO Jon London said the League family of brands posted positive growth. In fact, London, citing NielsenIQ data, said Rec. League finished as the No. 2 low-calorie craft beer brand in New England, while Big League was the “second most successful new brand launch in ’21 from a volume standpoint.”
“There’s still tremendous upside with both of those brands,” he added. “The big focus for us in ’22 is going to be behind Rec. League. We just feel that Rec. League plays in a very unique space – it ties into the whole evolving better-for-you trend, but with an offering in a hazy pale ale that really delivers from a flavor standpoint.
“It can still be our innovation point, even though it’s been in the market for a couple years,” he continued.
In 2019, Harpoon launched the 4%-ABV, 120-calorie, citrus-forward pale ale in 16 oz. 4-packs and 12 oz. 15-packs. In 2021, the brewery added Big League (7.2% ABV) to the brand family, as well as its Summer League variety 12-pack, which included Rec. League, Big League, and pack-exclusive Pacific League light lager (4% ABV) and Busch League American pilsner (4% ABV).
London said Rec. League boasts the most potential in the off-premise channel as a sessionable beer. As part of its strategy for this year, the company is transitioning its 15-packs – which London said are a “big volume-driving off-premise package” for the brewery – to 12-packs. Some of the smaller packs are already in-market.
“A 12-pack will just merchandise better for us on the shelf, it opens us up to better distribution opportunities,” London said. “And if you think about Rec. League as a better-for-you offering, I think 12 fits better with that than 15 does.”
A new social media campaign for Rec. League will also launch this month, and in May, Harpoon will launch a yet-to-be-announced joint program with a “major athleisure brand in the Boston area.”
Additionally, UFO Light Force wheat beer, from Mass. Bay’s UFO Beer Company, will also shift from 15-packs to 12-packs, eliminating all of the company’s 15-pack offerings. The brand will focus on its core products in 2021, and “double down” on UFO Maine Blueberry (4.8% ABV) – which was up more than 100% in 2021 – with the addition of a 12-pack.
For Harpoon’s other brands, London said local partnerships will be key to the brewery’s overall health.
This year, Harpoon will launch its third annual collaboration beer with Boston-based Mike’s Pastry, and will continue its partnership with sports network NESN and members of the NHL’s Boston Bruins. Last year, the partnership featured a “Don’t Poke the Bear” competition between teammates Charlie Coyle and Chris Wagner, which asked consumers to vote for who had the best beer. London said a “twist” on that collaboration will launch next month.
“Those collaborations that we do, none of them by themselves – other than Dunkin’ Donuts – are going to be huge volume drivers, but they really do a lot to the brand,” London said. “They help reinforce the community connection for us – in particular within Boston and New England – and I think that will always be an integral part of our marketing plan.”
Mass. Bay produced more than 130,000 barrels in 2021 – about 95% of which was from Mass. Bay brands. The remaining 5% was attributed to contract brewing and joint brewing “business development partners,” London said. Last year’s production declined by around 16,000 barrels compared to 2020 (146,400 barrels) and nearly 45,000 barrels versus 2019 (174,900 barrels), according to estimates from the Brewers Association (BA).
2022 Innovation to Include Non-Alc Offering and New Seasonals
Harpoon will release its first non-alcoholic (NA) beer offering in 2022.
While London would not disclose the exact style of the NA beer, he said it was within the pale ale family and “developed in the spirit of something that would definitely be hop-forward.”
“I think the brands that are out there right now – in particular, Athletic – have done a very good job in terms of educating people that non-alcoholic beers open up ‘beer drinking’ to new occasions,” London said. “We were excited to try to get into that segment, but really didn’t want to until we felt we had a liquid that we could feel really good about.”
The plan is to launch the NA beer this May.
Harpoon will also introduce new seasonal offerings this year, including mix packs.
In January, the brewery launched Retro Rye IPA (6.5% ABV), an iteration of one of the brewery’s original releases, Rich and Dan’s Rye IPA.
The winter seasonal is included in Harpoon’s Season Pass winter 2022 variety pack, along with Rec. League, Big League and Bohemian Pilsner (4.7% ABV), available in 12 oz. can 12-packs and 12 oz. bottle 12-packs and 24-packs. London said the pack has outsold last year’s winter mix pack by double digits.
“We’ve got a category that’s evolving so quickly and changing so much, and it’s not always easy to really stay relevant and feel contemporary,” London said. “We’ve taken a whole new approach, both with our seasonal products, as well as our seasonal mix packs in trying to have much more fun, not only with the styles, but with the packaging itself.
“And that’s something we really tried to do over the past three to six months is just have more fun, be a little more witty, a little more engaging, push the envelope a little bit, and tell our brand story in a way that’s going to connect more with today’s craft drinkers,” he continued.
This summer, the brewery will release a new summer seasonal – a unfiltered kölsch – which will replace Camp Wannamango, the 5% ABV pale ale released in 2016. Wannamango will instead be available in Harpoon’s summer variety pack.
London said the decision to replace Wannamango was a “tough one,” as many people are “Camp Wannamango die-hards,” but the brewery wanted to go in a direction that was “lighter, more drinkable, a little more refreshing.”
City Roots Cider Shifted to Taproom-Exclusive Offering
Mass. Bay’s hard cider company City Roots Cider, originally branded as Harpoon Cider and renamed in 2019, was pulled from distribution this year, and is now available only at Harpoon’s Windsor, Vermont-based taproom and Boston Beer Hall.
London declined to share volume numbers for City Roots in 2021, but said the cider is “a very small portion of the business — only 1% — and has had very limited distribution and production.”
“We’ve made the decision to no longer sell City Roots outside of these locations so that we can instead reallocate time and attention to our other Mass. Bay brands,” he continued. “Our goal is to focus more time and attention to our bigger, volume-driving brands like Harpoon, and this will allow us to do that.”
Harpoon’s two taproom locations have had mixed performances since the onset of the pandemic, which London credited to consumers moving out of cities. The Boston location recorded a -20% decrease in revenue during Q4 2021 compared to an average Q4 before the pandemic. The Windsor taproom, however, has consistently set monthly revenue records in the past six to nine months, reporting “higher numbers than we’ve ever seen up there,” London said.
Clown Shoes Debuts Packaging Refresh
Continuing with Mass. Bay’s 2022 beer focus, the company debuted a new logo and packaging for its craft beer brand Clown Shoes.
Pre-COVID-19, Clown Shoes grew production at a “steady 10% to 20% each year,” London said. However, once the pandemic hit, and consumers looked for “tried and true brands,” he said Clown Shoes – which relied heavily on on-premise sales – “hit a wall.”
“The Clown Shoes packaging was really having a much tougher time standing out on the shelf,” London said. “And at the same time, the whole evolution of craft drinkers was getting much more discerning, wanting to really know and understand what they were drinking. And the feedback we got from research we did was – given the look and feel of the Clown Shoes package, which was all sort of illustrative art – people were having a tough time noticing the package on shelf. And if they did see it, they were having a tough time understanding exactly what was in it.”
While the new can designs still feature some of the graphic art the brand is known for, it now includes prominent descriptions of the beer styles and flavor notes. The new logo is also more prominent, to create a “more visible and easily recognizable brand logo.”
Highlights for the Clown Shoes brand over the past two years include its Rainbows are Real hazy IPA (6.7% ABV) – which launched in 2020, but had a “phenomenal” 2021 – as well the brand’s first variety packs, London said.
In November 2020, Clown Shoes launched 12 Beers of Christmas nationwide, its first variety 12-pack. The company brought the pack back in 2021 with 12 new beers, which London said offered “a great sampling vehicle and gave the brand a real boost.”
London also detailed Mass. Bay’s plans for Arctic Chill hard seltzer. Read the coverage here.